Re: [asa] Dowd

Hey Randy,

I reviewed Dowd's book amongst three others in the March PSCF, in the
article "God and Evolution: A Review of Four Contemporary Books."

Essentially, I agree with Steve that Dowd does not even approach fringe
orthodoxy. It is an unfortunate story where he got caught in the science or
religion dichotomy, and ended up throwing out everything important about the
Christian faith in order to try and "make it work".

Bethany

On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 5:44 AM, Steve Martin
<steven.dale.martin@gmail.com>wrote:

>
> Hi Randy,
>
> Check out this review of Dowd's book
> <http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/review-thank-god-for-evolution-by-michael-dowd>from
> a while back. Michael Dowd joined the comments as well. Here is my
> response to Michael:
>
>> Hi Michael D.,
>> I read through your essay “Evolutionary Christianity”. First, let me say
>> that I agree with you that biological evolution is the best explanation for
>> the development of life on earth. Second, I too believe that the acceptance
>> of biological evolution is compatible with an Evangelical expression of the
>> Christian faith.
>>
>> However, I am concerned that the way you define Evolutionary Christianity
>> is nowhere close to being compatible with Evangelical Christianity, or even
>> Orthodox Christianity for that matter. I’m not sure I’d agree with Michael
>> S. that your view is equivalent to pantheism, but there is certainly enough
>> evidence in the short essay that I read for me to infer that your view of
>> God is very different from the Triune God of the scriptures. I’m not sure
>> there is much point in discussing the finer points of your theology or
>> worldview until something as basic as this is addressed.
>>
>> I’m going to respond to one short point here. You stated above:
>> * Reinterpreting the core elements of our faith: Original Sin, Salvation,
>> the Trinity; the Incarnation, Life, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of
>> Jesus; the Second Coming of Christ, Heaven, Hell, and so on is not only our
>> responsibility, it is our Great Work.*
>>
>> I would agree the Church’s theology cannot remain stagnant (after all,
>> theology is only our limited, fallible, human view of an infinite God) but
>> my fear is that you are not only reinterpreting / rearticulating the
>> historic view of the Church, but rewriting it. And it is definitely NOT our
>> Great Work.
>>
>> George Murphy, both an eminent scientist and theologian, has written an
>> excellent book entitled “The Cosmos in the Light of the Cross”. He discusses
>> modern scientific concepts like cosmology and biological evolution from the
>> standpoint of an orthodox Christian whose basis for reality is the
>> incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ. “Evolutionary Christianity”
>> looks to me like it has things rotated 180 degrees from this. Ie. “ “The
>> incarnation, cross, and resurrection in the light of Evolution”. It appears
>> to usher in Teilhard’s omega point, but not necessarily the Kingdom of God.
>>
> thanks,
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 8:26 AM, Randy Isaac <randyisaac@comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> Are any of you familiar with Michael Dowd? He's speaking at a church in
>> our area this week and a friend asked me for my opinion. I hadn't heard of
>> him. A quick check with Google indicates he describes himself as an
>> "evolutionary Pentacostal." He's promoting his recent book "Thank God for
>> Evolution" http://thankgodforevolution.com/. I couldn't get a good handle
>> on his thinking so I wondered if any of you had taken time to read or hear
>> him?
>>
>> Randy
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Steve Martin (CSCA)
>

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Received on Sun Apr 19 09:17:13 2009