"If TEs don't like the term "theistic evolution" then why don't they
endeavour to come up with a term that they *do* like?"
I have done exactly that. After giving a brief outline of my perspective in
the book, _Three Views on Creation and Evolution_, (Zondervan Publishing
House, 1999) I say the following:
"What would I call such a perspective? Oddly, that presents me with a minor
problem. I wish to employ a name that does not carry all of the negative
baggage that has come to be associated with some of the more familiar
terminology of the creation/evolution debate. And since this book is
directed primarily to a Christian audience, I wish also to employ a name
that most clearly demonstrates the Christian foundation on which my
perspective is built.
"Views similar to mine are sometimes identified with the label, 'theistic
evolution.' But that term has some very serious shortcomings. As I see it,
it turns the order of importance of divine and creaturely action upside
down. Because it appears as the noun, the term 'evolution'--which focuses
our attention on the natural action of creatures--appears to be the central
idea. Meanwhile, by referring to God only in the adjective, 'theistic,' the
importance of divine creative action seems to be secondary. But that
implication would be unacceptable to me.
"As a means toward restoring the relative importance of divine and
creaturely actions I have sometimes used the label 'evolving Creation' for
my perspective. I think it's a much better term than theistic evolution,
but it still has the problem of having to deal with all of the negative
attitudes that a majority of Christians have toward anything that even
sounds like 'evolution.' As I have already indicated, the scientific
concept of evolution, properly defined, does not entail any idea that
conflicts with the historic Christian doctrine of creation. The reality is,
however, that many persons, both within and outside of the Christian
community, and both within and outside of the scientific community, have
been led by the rhetoric of the creation/evolution debate to associate the
word 'evolution' with the worldview of naturalism. That association is, I
believe, the result of a serious misunderstanding of both 'evolution' and
'creation.' But even if the association of evolution with naturalism is
entirely unfounded, as I believe it is, that association is deeply
established in our culture and extremely difficult to correct.
"So, then, what label shall I choose for my concept of a Creation that has
been equipped by God with all of the capabilities that are necessary to
make possible the evolutionary development now envisioned by the natural
sciences? For the purposes of the discussion to be carried out in this
book, I shall call it the "fully-gifted Creation perspective"--a vision
that recognizes the entire universe as a Creation that has, by God's
unbounded generosity and unfathomable creativity, been given all of the
capabilities for self-organization and transformation necessary to make
possible something as humanly incomprehensible as unbroken evolutionary
development." (pp. 172-173)
Howard J. Van Till