Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"

God's action in the world is indeed one of the major issues in science-theology dialogue but it isn't the only one. The question of how scientific knowledge of the world should inform our theology is, if anything, even more fundamental.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Alexanian, Moorad
  To: George Murphy ; David Opderbeck ; John Walley
  Cc: _American Sci Affil
  Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:45 PM
  Subject: RE: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"

  George, does it not boil down always to the question of how God interacts with His creation, which is the apex of all theological/philosophical questions?

  Moorad

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  From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu [mailto:asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu] On Behalf Of George Murphy
  Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:23 PM
  To: David Opderbeck; John Walley
  Cc: _American Sci Affil
  Subject: Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"

  Of course it's not just "Church: bad; Wilson: innocent." But our concern should not just be to absolve the church from blame. Churches in general haven't done a very good job over the past few centuries of dealing with issues raised by science and technology - especially biological evolution. Even "liberal" churches in which most clergy have no problem with evolution usually haven't said anything about these issues unless people ask explicit questions about them. & people often don't ask pastors &c the questions they have because they're afraid of the response they'll get. & the reason clergy don't have any problems with evolution is often because they don't really understand it & don't take the trouble to learn.

  Churches - & clergy in particular - need to be pro-active about these matters, bringing them up in appropriate & sensitive ways in educational settings & sermons. They need to create an atmosphere which conveys an openness to issues raised by science & technology & which encourages people to voice the questions & concerns that they have. Clergy & others involved in Christian education can't be & needn't be expert in all scientific areas (who can?), but should be interested in them & have some tentative ways of dealing with the major theological issues which are involved. There's nothing wrong with responding to a question with "I don't know but I'll try to find out" or "I'll try to see where you can get an answer."

  Shalom
  George
  http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

    ----- Original Message -----

    From: David Opderbeck

    To: John Walley

    Cc: _American Sci Affil

    Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 1:25 PM

    Subject: Re: [asa] E.O. Wilson "Baptist No More"

    I suppose the point here is that the Church was at fault for not giving Wilson other options. Perhaps there is a fair point there given the particulars of Wilson's upbringing. But what if Wilson's response had been to continually ask God to help him better understand the truth. Would Wilson then have found organizations like the ASA that existed at the time? Would he have found friends and mentors to help him work through the questions everyone faces when they grow out of a childish fundamentalism into a more mature faith? Would he have felt freer to question some aspects of "evolution" as a metanarrative while at the same time broadening his understanding of theology and scripture? In short, do we really have to buy hook, line and sinker the story: "Church: bad; Wilson: innocent?"
    ..................

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Received on Tue Nov 27 19:15:31 2007