Conservative Christians Defending Evolution
Thursday January 6, 2005
Is it possible to teach evolution at a conservative Christian college? Richard Colling does exactly that at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais. His work isn't exactly popular, but he defends evolution from the perspective of conservative Christianity and argues that denying the truth of evolution is simply foolish.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
His central claim is that both the origin of life from a primordial goo of nonliving chemicals, and the evolution of species according to the processes of random mutation and natural selection, are ''fully compatible with the available scientific evidence and also contemporary religious beliefs.'' In addition, he says, referring to Christian conservatives, "Denying science makes us look stupid.''
''People should not feel they have to deny reality in order to experience their faith,'' he says. ... Colling finds a place for God in evolution by positing a ''random designer'' who harnesses the laws of nature he created. ''What the designer designed is the random-design process,'' or Darwinian evolution, Colling says. ''God devised these natural laws, and uses evolution to accomplish his goals.''
Colling has a book explaining his position and it would be interesting to read how he reconciles certain orthodox positions with evolution. For example, evolution undermines faith in a literal Garden of Eden and a literal Fall from Grace. That's not an immediate problem because so much in the Bible can be read metaphorically, but the absence of a literal Fall seems to make a literal Death and Resurrection of Jesus unnecessary. That is a problem.
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Comments
A position which held the new testament ,possibly excepting elements of Paul, to be literal but the old testament to be largely metaphorical would seem to be the obvious way out of this ‘problem’.