Re: [asa] Happy Birthday Charlie

You need a new needle for your 78rpm record player.

I was confined to 2000 words.

Do you ever anything constructive to say?

Michael
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Gregory Arago
  To: asa@calvin.edu ; Michael Roberts
  Sent: Friday, February 13, 2009 10:05 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] Happy Birthday Charlie

        "The book, which gave the greatest challenge to some theological views was The Descent of Man (1871), which posited a totally evolutionary view of humans...The great achievement of Darwin was to show how all life is inter-related and tied into the physical structure of this planet. By showing the evolution of humans he demonstrated that we are part of the natural world and not separate from it."

        Actually, for thousands of years people have thought that we are not 'separate' from the natural world, but part of it. Darwin's inter-related 'synthesis' (degree, not kind) was then modified in connection with Mendelian genetics into a 'modern synthesis' which has gone beyond Darwin's imagination. Unfortunately for us, some of the key players in the 'modern synthesis' included 'culture' as a type of scientific theory of evolution, when they had little or no professional familiarity with the cultural realm. In other words, they spoke about what they didn't know.

        I was just in India and each and every person I met there re-affirmed the continuity of humankind with nature. Was Darwin really a belated karmic thinker? Is there nothing separate, distinct or 'spiritual' about humanity that escapes the cage of naturalistic thought?

        What seems to be missing in your report, Michael, is any connection with the human-social sciences, notably, anthropology, culturology, sociology and psychology, which are indeed still threatened by the legacy of naturalism which Darwin left in his wake (cf. Darwinism). You've identified 'the greatest challenge to theological views' quite correctly in my opinion, i.e. not in the origin/process of species, but rather in Darwin's 'Descent of Man.' Yet you then revert to discussing geology and anti-geology, without indeed even addressing 'the greatest challenge' on its own terms. Why is this?

        What is with an approach that priviledges geology and biology in the realm of evolutionary thought and yet which leaves 'the greatest challenge to (some) theological views' left untouched?

        Gregory

        --- On Thu, 2/12/09, Michael Roberts <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk> wrote:

          From: Michael Roberts <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk>
          Subject: [asa] Happy Birthday Charlie
          To: asa@calvin.edu
          Received: Thursday, February 12, 2009, 10:07 AM

          Michael Roberts, Charles Darwin: a Fulcrum Appreciation

          http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=342
       

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Received on Fri Feb 13 05:32:37 2009