[asa] Historical trends in acceptance of evolution by orthodox Christians WAS Re: [asa] Denomenational Change

Hi Ted,

You stated of Pupin that:

> He was also the only scientist of his stature from that period that I have
> yet found who was genuinely orthodox theologically and also an evolutionist.
>

So, using a Venn diagram, the intersection between the set of “theologically
orthodox scientists” and the set of “eminent scientists” was virtually null
during this point in history – maybe because the set of theologically
orthodox scientists itself had been reduced to near zero.

I’d be interested in comparing the sets of “theologically orthodox
scientists” & “scientists that accept biological evolution”. My take on the
historical trends for this would be that:
• During the latter third of the 19th century / first decade or so of the
20th century, there was a “small but healthy” intersection between these two
groups
• Then came the Fundamentalist dark ages – about 30 years or so – when
the intersection remained virtually null.
• This was followed by several decades of tentative rapprochement between
scientific and theological orthodoxy and thus a slight overlap (the ASA can
probably take some credit here!)
• This rapprochement has accelerated rapidly over the last couple of
decades such that a majority – maybe significant majority - of the first set
(theologically orthodox scientists) are now contained within the second set
(scientists that accept biological evolution)

Is this more-or-less an accurate assessment at a high level from your
perspective? At least a good guess?

I’d like to put out another conjecture (prompted by the “almost half of
evangelical theologians accept evolution” conclusion from Bruce Waltke’s
report for Biologos”). This trend of

a) slight intersection
b) no intersection
c) rapprochement & slight intersection
d) healthy intersection

is duplicated historically (and being duplicated now) by orthodox biblical
scholars, orthodox theologians, and orthodox church leaders (eg. Pastors).
However, the level of support for evolution by orthodox biblical scholars
may be 10-years behind orthodox scientists, evangelical theologians may be
20 or so years behind (I personally think Waltke’s numbers will prove to be
somewhat inflated), and orthodox church leaders are at least 30 or 40 years
behind.

Hmm, maybe I should have drawn a graph to explain myself better.

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 8:02 AM, Ted Davis <TDavis@messiah.edu> wrote:

> This matter of the Orthodox view of evolution is very interesting. I know
> almost nothing about current views on this. However one of the people I've
> done research on, Columbia physicist Michael Idvorsky Pupin, a leading
> scientist from the early 20th century, was also a leading public
> intellectual at the time. And, he used his platforms to advance a subtly
> Orthodox and loudly orthodox position on religion and science.
>
> Pupin was president of the AAAS in 1925, the year of the Scopes trial, and
> he was absolutely a TE. He was also the only scientist of his stature from
> that period that I have yet found, who was genuinely orthodox theologically
> and also an evolutionist. (The fact that he wasn't a Protestant could be a
> factor here, since the rest of the people I've looked at were all
> Protestants.)
>
> His colleague at Columbia, Dobzhansky, was likewise (obviously) an
> evolutionist and also an Orthodox believer, but I don't think he counts as
> orthodox theologically.
>
> Details on Pupin's beliefs and attitudes are found in "Cosmic Beauty,
> Created Order, and the Divine Word: The Religious Thought of Michael
> Idvorsky Pupin (1858-1935).” In Nicolaas Rupke (ed)., Eminent Lives in
> Twentieth-Century Science and Religion (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang,
> 2007), pp. 197-217. An abstract is at
> http://home.messiah.edu/~tdavis/Pupin%20Abstract.htm<http://home.messiah.edu/%7Etdavis/Pupin%20Abstract.htm>.
> A slightly revised
> version has just appeared in the second edition of this book, which is
> still
> probably not yet in American libraries; the first edition is hard enough to
> get ahold of but ought to be available by ILL from a good library.
>
> Ted
>
>
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