Re: [asa] Keller on Evolution

On Feb 25, 2008, at 6:56 PM, David Opderbeck wrote:

> George, this is completely unfair. Keller is not purporting to be
> an expert on faith and science issues. This is a very brief
> statement relating to a broad, populist apologetic book, not a Ph.D.
> dissertation. And far from being timid, he's putting his tush on
> the line within his denominational context by saying as much as he
> did. He has an outstanding church in New York City through which
> many, many people have come to Christ and grown in the faith. I've
> personally benefitted greatly from his church's programs.

George is taking a passing comment in an interview without taken into
consideration what Keller said in the book which has a more
comprehensive survey of the range of opinions:

> Different Christian thinkers use all of Barbour’s models of
> relating science to faith—conflict, dialogue, integration, and
> independence. Some Christians in the highly publicized Creation
> Science movement take the conflict model and insist that Genesis 1
> teaches that God created all life-forms in a period of six twenty-
> four-hour days just several thousand years ago. At the other end
> of the spectrum are Christians who take the independence model and
> simply say that God was the primary cause in beginning the world
> and after that natural causes took over. Other thinkers occupy the
> central positions. Some hold that God created life and then guided
> natural selection to develop all complex life-forms from simpler
> ones. In this view, God acts as a top-down cause without violating
> the process of evolution. Others, believing there are gaps in the
> fossil record and claiming that species seem to “appear” rather
> than develop from simpler forms, believe that God performed large-
> scale creative acts at different points over longer periods of time.

Having served as both an elder and prosecutor in this denomination I
can attest to what David says. If putting yourself at risk of
ecclesiastical sanction is being timid we should all be so timid.
Referencing the "crossing the divide" thread we not only need
scientists to help sheep in need we need those who hold the office of
shepherd to do so, also.

One of the things we found disappointing at our latest regional
meeting was the small number of pastors attending. We should encourage
pastors to co-labor with us even if we believe their support is in
some of our considered opinions too "timid". Randy and David may I
suggest that we open a dialog between Redeemer and the ASA? Dr. Keller
in his book expressed a desire to have outreach to scientists who are
skeptical of Christianity. (That was the purpose of the controverted
section of his book.) In addition to this there is a desperate need
of ministry to those who are already believers but feel increasingly
isolated both from their respective professional and faith communities.

Rich Blinne, Member ASA

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Received on Mon Feb 25 23:14:34 2008