A bit over a year ago BioLogos commissioned a survey conducted by Barna Group to understand the views of clergy on questions of creation and evolution. The results of the survey are now being released by BioLogos and you can see the initial summary from the survey in April edition of their monthly newsletter The [...]
A Miraculous Creation (RJS)
May 9, 2013 @ 5:15 By Leave a Comment
No matter how we look at it the question of miracles is a key one as we consider faith, worldview and science. Certainly I have been asked many times on this blog how I can dismiss a miraculous creation (I don’t – but we’ll get to that), yet accept (apparently arbitrarily) the miracles performed by [...]
It Goes Deeper (RJS)
May 7, 2013 @ 5:25 By Leave a Comment
There is an excellent article in the March edition of Christianity Today: Bigger Than We Think by David Wilkinson that describes how the Christian doctrine of creation goes far deeper that just explaining how the world began. It goes far deeper than explaining the origin of life or the origin of the diversity of life. [...]
A Competent Creator? (RJS)
Apr 23, 2013 @ 5:12 By 19 Comments
Chapter five of Daniel Harrell’s book, Nature’s Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith, begins with a joke (p. 69): A scientist tells God that he’s figured out how to create life from the dust of the ground, just like God did in the beginning. Consequently, the scientist says, he’s shown that God is no longer [...]
The Tortuous and Torturous Path of Evolution (RJS)
Apr 11, 2013 @ 5:08 By 30 Comments
What about death? The next few chapters of Daniel Harrell’s book, Nature’s Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith, looks at the theological questions raised by the possibility of evolutionary creation. Providence. He considers the question of providence and introduces some categories. There is ordinary providence (the everyday workings of the “natural” world), extraordinary providence (as [...]
Cosmic Consequences? (RJS)
Mar 26, 2013 @ 5:20 By 53 Comments
In the post last Thursday I focused on Ch. 10, The Problem of Sin, in Tim Keller’s book The Reason for God. I found this chapter to contain many important insights and felt that it was worth serious consideration, free from distraction. There is one passage in the chapter, however, that I found somewhat less [...]
God’s Role in the Cosmos (RJS)
Jan 8, 2013 @ 5:57 By 15 Comments
We’ve taken a bit of a break from the series on the book of Job – but today we return and begin to dig into the debate between Job and his friends. The new commentaries by John Walton (Job (The NIV Application Commentary)) and Tremper Longman III (Job (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom [...]
Creation Groans; But Why? (RJS)
Oct 30, 2012 @ 5:55 By 39 Comments
One of the passages that comes into play in the discussion of modern science and the Christian faith is Romans 8, especially verses 19-22. Certainly Romans 8 provides another reflection on Genesis 3 and the consequence of the Fall. Or so many think. In Genesis 3 we read: To Adam he said, “Because you listened [...]
Origen on Origins, Adam, and Eve (RJS)
Oct 2, 2012 @ 5:28 By 13 Comments
The fourth chapter of Peter Bouteneff’s book Beginnings: Ancient Christian Readings of the Biblical Creation Narratives looks at the role the creation narrative plays in the existing works of two somewhat controversial early Christian thinkers and writers – Tertullian (around 200; ca. 160 – ca. 225) and Origen (ca.185-254). Tertullian is sketched briefly, and Origen [...]
The Evolution of (Im)morality (RJS)
Jul 3, 2012 @ 5:40 By 41 Comments
A couple of weeks ago I received a request for a post on the evolution of immorality from a frequent reader. Is there any chance that you will at some point write about the evolution of immorality in your blog? For me, this question is at the front line of my personal battle with these [...]
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