Re: [asa] Almost Half of Evangelical Theologians Accept Evolution?

John Walley wrote:

 Agian, I contend the schools are localized, and the 46% that accept
> evolution and the 44% that hold to a literal reading of Genesis are as
> well. For instance is Southern Evangelical Seminary represented in FESP? I
> bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone there that accepts evolution
> and if so it is likley a closely a guarded secret.
>
> Excepting what they believe in Ivory Tower seminaries, I can tell you that
> where it matters on a practical level like on the staffs of churches, down
> here in evangelical churches, a non-literal reading of Genesis is not really
> on the table and accepting evolution is a one way ticket out of the
> fellowship.
>

The discussion concerned evangelical theologians. And as I stated
previously, I think that the statistics given by Waltke are probably close
to being correct.

However -- and this is a point that I make repeatedly when speaking on these
issues -- there is a significant gulf between what the people in the pews
think about these issues and what is taught and accepted in their own
denominational seminaries. Folk theology dominates at the local level just
as folk science does. It is in my view absolutely essential that academic
theologians make much greater efforts at communicating to the lay public,
and that pastors are encouraged to think deeply about these questions as
part of their seminary training. Those pastors then must provide
opportunities for their church members to grapple with these questions as
well -- that need not mean sermons on evolution from the pulpit. One of the
most important areas for lay instruction is in hermeneutics.

A big complication in this is that there are so many church leaders who have
never had an formal theological or seminary training of any kind. This makes
it really easy to continue to propagate folk theology.

Keith

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Received on Fri Oct 23 13:49:27 2009