WesleyNexus Participant Feedback
A number of WesleyNexus participants wrote replies to our posting anti-evolution
materials on our website. You can find them here.
Biological Evolution and Its Critics
The Huffington Post has a science and religion section that posts regular and engaging
articles by a variety of commentators. In Once More, With Feeling: Adam, Evolution
and Evangelicals, Pete Enns does a nice job of laying out the challenge faced by many,
though not all, evangelicals as they try to engage what we know about biological evolution
and the text in Genesis.
In Science and Origins, Byron Borger reviews two books that could not be more
different. The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy by Nancy
Pearcey & Charles Thaxton and The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to
Genuine Questions by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins. Published in 1994, the Pearcey
and Thaxton book has not aged well and, within the scientific community, has essentially
been ruled as irrelevant. However, it does reflect the perspective of many evangelicals as
noted by Pete Enns in the above mentioned article. The Giberson and Collins book was
published last year and presents a new line of thinking for those within the evangelical
community still struggling with the issue of biological evolution. The very fact that Byron
Borger chose a book that is clearly outdated to support balance within his review reflects
the truly difficult task that many evangelicals have coming to grips with current findings in
the biological sciences.
The article in First Things Intelligent Design: Atheists to the Rescue by Howard Kainz
also reflects this ongoing tension and argues for support against biological evolution from
an unsuspected source: secular atheists. WesleyNexus supports the United Methodist
Book of Discipline which states that “we affirm the validity of the claims of science in
describing the natural world and in determining what is scientific.” (160. Part IV - Social
Principles - I. The Natural World) and therefore side with Giberson and Collins on the
status of evolutionary understanding in biology. We also recognize how difficult it is for
many in the Wesleyan tradition to come to grips with this understanding while still
affirming their faith. The topic is important and one around which conversation is
needed. So let’s talk!
A number of WesleyNexus participants wrote replies to our posting anti-evolution
materials on our website. You can find them here.
Biological Evolution and Its Critics
The Huffington Post has a science and religion section that posts regular and engaging
articles by a variety of commentators. In Once More, With Feeling: Adam, Evolution
and Evangelicals, Pete Enns does a nice job of laying out the challenge faced by many,
though not all, evangelicals as they try to engage what we know about biological evolution
and the text in Genesis.
In Science and Origins, Byron Borger reviews two books that could not be more
different. The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy by Nancy
Pearcey & Charles Thaxton and The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to
Genuine Questions by Karl Giberson and Francis Collins. Published in 1994, the Pearcey
and Thaxton book has not aged well and, within the scientific community, has essentially
been ruled as irrelevant. However, it does reflect the perspective of many evangelicals as
noted by Pete Enns in the above mentioned article. The Giberson and Collins book was
published last year and presents a new line of thinking for those within the evangelical
community still struggling with the issue of biological evolution. The very fact that Byron
Borger chose a book that is clearly outdated to support balance within his review reflects
the truly difficult task that many evangelicals have coming to grips with current findings in
the biological sciences.
The article in First Things Intelligent Design: Atheists to the Rescue by Howard Kainz
also reflects this ongoing tension and argues for support against biological evolution from
an unsuspected source: secular atheists. WesleyNexus supports the United Methodist
Book of Discipline which states that “we affirm the validity of the claims of science in
describing the natural world and in determining what is scientific.” (160. Part IV - Social
Principles - I. The Natural World) and therefore side with Giberson and Collins on the
status of evolutionary understanding in biology. We also recognize how difficult it is for
many in the Wesleyan tradition to come to grips with this understanding while still
affirming their faith. The topic is important and one around which conversation is
needed. So let’s talk!
| Biological Evolution and Its Critics |
