{"id":8337,"date":"2010-08-31T05:05:27","date_gmt":"2010-08-31T10:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=8337"},"modified":"2014-04-07T18:01:51","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T23:01:51","slug":"theology-after-darwin-1-rjs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2010\/08\/31\/theology-after-darwin-1-rjs\/","title":{"rendered":"Theology After Darwin 1 (RJS)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the more important and more difficult pieces of the puzzle as we feel our way forward at the interface of science and faith is the theological implications of discoveries in modern science. A comment on my post Evolution in the Key of D: Deity or Deism<\/a><\/strong><\/em> noted:<\/p>\n

\n

\u2026this reminds me of why I get annoyed so much by those who write on theology and evolution. It\u2019s usually just deism and fluff, to be frank.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve enjoyed reading through the comments and seeing some of the ideas shared by others. I firmly believe that this discussion on deism vs\/compared to theism in natural theology should be given much more attention. Some of the scientist-theologians (Barbour, Polkinghorne come to mind) speak of a \u201ctheology of nature\u201d instead of a natural theology, but in my mind, they haven\u2019t really given us a good framework for how God acts in and through nature. It\u2019s important to note that while natural theology is only one component of theology, it\u2019s clearly a vital one today.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Justin developed these thoughts a bit more on his own blog A Biologists View of Science\u00a0 & Religion<\/a><\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

I think that this is an extremely important issue that should receive more attention by theologians (especially those that have training or a fairly deep understanding of evolutionary biology).\u00a0 The scientists like me or those at BioLogos have got to admit that our theology of evolution is weak.\u00a0 You cannot persuade Christians that evolution is not the enemy (and literal Creationism is bunk) if you don\u2019t provide them with a meaningful and understandable natural theology alongside thescientific evidence.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What kind of discussion do you think we need to develop a workable theological understanding of evolution? What is the most significant issue? <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I agree with Justin here. As a result one of the things I intend to do over the next many months is to post on ideas and books that delve into the details of theology in the context of evolution from a variety of different viewpoints. We will examine different facets of the relationship between science and theology. Some, perhaps all, will fall short in various ways \u2013 erring in the understanding of science or wavering on the edge of the trap of deism, removing God too far from creation. This will be something of a meander, don\u2019t expect resolution in three short lessons or seven easy steps. Real life simply doesn\u2019t work that way.<\/p>\n

So \u2013 to begin\u2026<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I received a book recently Theology After Darwin<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (not available in the US \u2013 but available from amazon UK (HT DV<\/em>)). This book contains 11 scholarly essay on theology in the context of evolution. I haven\u2019t read much of the book yet \u2013 but intend to post a sporadic series through the book as I have a chance to read and process the ideas put forth in the various chapters.<\/p>\n

The first chapter, by R. J. Berry, an evolutionary biologist and Professor Emeritus at University College London, explores biology after Darwin. While the emphasis is on science rather than theology the essay brings up some important issues. I am not going to bother to try to summarize the entire chapter, but rather concentrate on a common conception, or perhaps misconception, regarding evolution that came to mind as I read.<\/p>\n

Evolution is bloody and violent and inconsistent with the revealed nature of God.<\/strong><\/em> It is often suggested that evolution is inconsistent with the notion of God as creator and creation as good. After all evolution relies on death and destruction, competition and conquest for life to develop and to progress \u2026 doesn\u2019t it? Alfred Lord Tennyson famously addressed the conflict between the love of God central in the Christian faith and the apparent bloody callousness of nature with an image that sticks in the imagination:<\/p>\n

\n
\n

In Memoriam A. H. H., 1850
\n<\/a><\/strong><\/em>
\nAre God and Nature then at strife,
\nThat Nature lends such evil dreams?
\nSo careful of the type she seems,
\nSo careless of the single life;<\/p>\n

That I, considering everywhere
\nHer secret meaning in her deeds,
\nAnd finding that of fifty seeds
\nShe often brings but one to bear,<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018So careful of the type?\u2019 but no.
\nFrom scarped cliff and quarried stone
\nShe cries, \u2018A thousand types are gone:
\nI care for nothing, all shall go.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

Man, her last work, who seem\u2019d so fair,
\nSuch splendid purpose in his eyes,
\nWho roll\u2019d the psalm to wintry skies,
\nWho built him fanes of fruitless prayer,<\/p>\n

Who trusted God was love indeed
\nAnd love Creation\u2019s final law-
\nTho\u2019 Nature, red in tooth and claw
\nWith ravine, shriek\u2019d against his creed-<\/p>\n

(excerpts from canto 55 and 56<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nature red in tooth and claw, of fifty seeds but one brought to bear, a thousand types are gone. Tennyson wrote before Darwin\u2019s The Origin of\u00a0 Species<\/em> (1859), but after the influential book by\u00a0 Robert Chambers Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation<\/em> published in 1844. (Darwin did not, we must remember, drop a new idea in the lap of an innocent and unsuspecting age, he was part of a swirling mass of ideas. He rushed publication of his ideas to avoid being scooped. Darwin had an important new insights, but if he had not published, some one else would have \u2013 and soon. )<\/p>\n

It appears difficult to reconcile evolution with a God of love. For Tennyson the observation of the predators and prey along with the apparent wastefulness of the natural world was sufficient to raise questions. Darwin\u2019s ideas of gradual change by natural selection takes it one step further. Predation, waste, extinction, and death are part of the creative process. A commenter put it quite bluntly on the post linked above: \u201cTheistic evolution gives a false representation of the nature of God because death and ghastliness are ascribed to the Creator as principles of creation.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n

But is this really true?<\/strong><\/em> When we consider evolution and natural selection we often think of it in terms of survival of the fittest. The vision is of competition and bloody fight, of victors and vanquished. But this is not the point. Fitness in biology has little to do with competition and victory in the local specific situation. Rather the fittest are those who raise most offspring, nothing more, nothing less. In the long run a variant with greater fitness will survive, but in the short term many will coexist. Evolution does require a natural cycle and process of life and death with successive generations. But this need be neither violent or wasteful. Each succeeding generation fulfills a role in the process of the unfolding of creation.<\/p>\n

When we come to mankind and human mortality the theological issues become more complex. But leaving that off the table for the time, there is nothing in Genesis, or in a careful reading of Romans, that suggests that immortality was the norm in biology. prior to the Fall There is nothing, so it seems to me, that suggests that predation or hunting is the result of human sin. Evolution is a marvelous creative mechanism to explore and expand the possibilities and potentialities for life on this planet. It is more akin to growth and flowering than to violence and conquest.<\/p>\n

What do you think? How do you view evolution \u2013 as violent, wasteful, ghastly or as natural growth and flowering or perhaps something else?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

If you wish you may contact me directly at rjs4mail[at]att.net<\/p>\n

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One of the more important and more difficult pieces of the puzzle as we feel our way forward at the interface of science and faith is the theological implications of discoveries in modern science. A comment on my post Evolution in the Key of D: Deity or Deism noted: \u2026this reminds me of why I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[480,337],"tags":[116,17076,17069],"class_list":["post-8337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science-and-faith","category-theology","tag-evolution","tag-science-and-faith","tag-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nTheology After Darwin 1 (RJS)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the more important and more difficult pieces of the puzzle as we feel our way forward at the interface of science and faith is the theological\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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