"evolution" antithetical?

lhaarsma@OPAL.TUFTS.EDU
Mon, 18 Dec 1995 16:01:10 -0500 (EST)

Stephen Jones wrote:

> May I state that I regard "evolutionary creationist" as an oxymoron -
> like "military intelligence"! :-) The idea of evolution (an unfolding
> from within) is competely antithetical to the the idea of creation:

I am puzzled. Why is the idea of "evolution (an unfolding from within)"
completely antithetical to the idea of creation of SOME THINGS (e.g. first
life and certain (as yet unspecified) higher biological taxa), but NOT
antithetical to the creation of certain OTHER things (increased diversity
within taxa, the ocean, the atmosphere, stars, galaxies, and the heavier
elements necessary for life to exist)?

> "The fundamental contrast between the Hebrew-Christian doctrine of
> creation and the Greek-modern doctrine of evolution is therefore
> crystal-clear. The Genesis creation account depicts a personal
> supernatural agent calling into existence graded levels of life by
> transcendent power. The Greek-modern theory depicts a simple primitive
> reality temporally differentiated by immanent activity into
> increasingly complex entities that retain this capacity for future
> development." (Henry C.F.H., "Science and Religion", in Henry C.F.H.,
> ed., "Contemporary Evangelical Thought: A Survey", Baker: Grand
> Rapids MI, 1968, p252)

IMO, Henry's strong dichotomy here doesn't fit the facts.

First, while some ancient Greek thinkers had some form of evolutionary
theory, I don't think the modern theory can be so easily linked to it; the
modern theory is the result of the modern scientific method of
experimentation plus observation plus induction-to-universal-processes, a
method which in turn was largely an outgrowth of THEISTIC philosophy.
Inbetween the ancient Greek and the modern evolutionary concepts, there
lies Platonic Forms and much of Aristotelean Metaphysics --- concepts
which would seem to hinder, not help, the development of modern
evolutionary ideas.

Second, while Genesis certainly depicts a personal supernatural agent
calling into existence different kinds of life by transcendent power, the
term "graded levels" implies something not in the text. The Genesis story
does not require that each of the "kinds" listed in the text occurred by
separate miraculous acts, but that is the implication behind the term
"graded levels."

I believe it would be more accurate to say: the Hebrew-Christian doctrine
of creation is that every past event, every detail of the present, every
on-going processes, and every future occurrence, were and are all called
into being, sustained, and under the control of the transcendent Creator.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"... No, but the truth is more complicated." | Loren Haarsma
--Dad (_Calvin_and_Hobbes_) | lhaarsma@opal.tufts.edu