>The Galileo affair is interesting and relevant. But, is it really a strong
>parallel situation to the evolution affair of today? It seems to me that
>accepting an interpretation of Scripture that matches Galileo's science is
>*very* easy compared to accepting an interpretation of Scripture that has a
>lack of miracles in the creation of life and man.
I think you're jumping to conclusions, Jim. The TE's and EC's I know have
not excised miracles from their interpretation of Scripture. Whether He
did it by instantaneously creating things -- I believe one YEC even claims
that birds were created in flight -- or by a process of design which
created and employed natural proceses to bring about a most unexpected
result, life is still a mriacle. The greatest miracle of all -- the
creation of man -- is something science can't address or "demiracleize" at
all, because man is a spiritual as well as a physical being.
>
>Are there any other case studies where the church has really had to invent
>new interpretations of Scripture, because the observable facts just didn't
>line up with the existing ones?
>
I hope we never have to invent new interpretations of Scripture. The
interpretations most friendly to TE's and EC's did indeed come from Basil
and Augustine. Howard Van Till's article, "When Faith and Reason Meet" in
"Man and Creation" (1993, Hillsdale Collge Press) develops this case.
Bill Hamilton | Vehicle Systems Research
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