Denyse O'Leary wrote:
..............
> I have no difficulty assuming that there are so
> many varieties of theistic evolutionism that I
> lose the thread after a while. However, there IS
> a thread. TE usually seems to mean that there is
> no evidence for God's intelligence or agency in
> the world we see. Faith is then an exercise in
> irrational choice.
>
> In other words, theistic evolutionism is a
> classic "modernist" point of view. Science is
> rational but faith is not...............
Michael has already described this accurate as "rubbish." I'll be a bit more
specific.
It has not seemed to occur to you, as it hasn't with Johnson & other
superficial critics of (poorly named) theistic evolution, that there might be excellent
_theological_ reasons for upholding methodological naturalism, the hidden character of
God's actions in the world, &/or evolution. Awareness of these realities goes well back
before Darwin. A number of the church father realized that Genesis 1 is talking about a
mediated creation of life, & Gregory of Nyssa comes close to some kind of evolutionary
understanding of human development.
As far as the specific point you raise, you might note the statement of Pascal -
who knew a bit about theology & science - in the 17th century. Alluding to Is.45:18, he
said: "What meets our eyes denotes neither a total absence nor a manifest presence of
the divine, but the presence of a God who conceals Himself. Everything bears this
stamp."
& of course later theologians, especially those who have been involved in
science-theolgoy dialogue (N.B., not diatribe) have dealt extensively with these issues.
You might, for example, read some of Bonhoeffer's _Letters and Papers from Prison_. But
in any case learn some real theology before you talk about it anymore. Otherwise you'll
just embarass yourself. That doesn't hurt too much on this list but if you do it in the
wide world it will just be another contribution to making Christianity look dumb.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
Received on Fri Mar 12 14:43:44 2004
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