Re: The Washington Post "Dissing Darwian"

Keith,

I agree with you that

"the failure is not of the public schools, it is a
> failure of the church. The church has increasingly abrogated its
> responsibility to train its members in the faith. The theology taught in
> many sunday schools and from many pulpits is poor at best, and does not
> prepare its members to be the transforming power that the church is called
> to be."

One of the reasons the Episcopal church's committee on science, technology
and faith created the "Catechism of Creation"
(www.episcopalchurch.org/science and click link; the printer friendly
version is recommended), is that we became convinced that Episcopalians were
getting very little sound instruction in theology of creation. We have
noted in this respect signs of a "creeping creationism" (as Phina Borgeson
put it) among some Episcopalians, usually in the ID version, which reflected
this lack of knowledge; and a broad lack of understanding of what science is
and what science does. The latter is mostly due to the fact that students,
for a variety of reasons, do not often come out of the public schools with a
good science education. But I also think that instruction in the theology
of creation needs to be supplemented in the churches by an introduction to
basic scientific concepts (to compare the latter with how theology works),
and the modern world-picture of cosmic and biotic evolution, so that our
members will be better informed citizens as well as better informed
believers.

In his book _Participating in God: Creation and Trinity_ (Fortress Press,
2003), Samuel Powell, who teaches philosophy at Point Loma Nazarene
University, lays out a model that I think would serve any Christian
community well. Here's how I summarized it in my review in "Anglican
Theological Review":

"Trinitarian creation theology remains rooted in patristic theology founded
upon biblical revelation and codified in the Nicene/Constantinopolitan
Creed. While the doctrine has endured as a rule of faith (the regulative
dimension), understanding of the Trinity's relationship with the creation
has been shaped by culturally conditioned modes of thought and prevailing
cosmologies (the hermeneutical dimension); these in turn have shaped
attitudes and actions toward God and the world [e.g., caring for creation]
(the ethical dimension)."

Without realizing it we used a model very muich like Sam's in constructing
our Catechism of Creation.

Bob Schneider

----- Original Message -----
From: "Keith Miller" <kbmill@ksu.edu>
To: <asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 8:17 PM
Subject: Re: The Washington Post "Dissing Darwian"

> Terry:
>
>> Why should schools be any different from church? I doubt that you think
>> that church should be "public" (let's say "neutral" here) in order to
>> enrich the experience. If education is as worldview-based as I suggest it
>> is, then in our current model we have to decide which worldview is going
>> to undergird the educational experience. To exclude religion from public
>> education the way it is currently done is by no means neutral.
>
> I would argue that the failure is not of the public schools, it is a
> failure of the church. The church has increasingly abrogated is
> responsibility to train its members in the faith. The theology taught in
> many sunday schools and from many pulpits is poor at best, and does not
> prepare its members to be the transforming power that the church is called
> to be. We should not expect the public schools to do what the local
> church has failed to do.
>
> I am convinced that Christians who are well grounded in their faith will
> have that faith strengthened in a diverse public school setting. They
> will also begin the life long process of learning to live out their faith
> in the real world.
>
> I am not saying that there is no place for private religious schools and
> colleges. I certainly think that there is. However, I believe that the
> majority of Christians would be served best by a diverse public education.
>
> All the best,
>
> Keith
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Fri Jun 3 22:24:43 2005