We've been taking a look at what an evolutionary natural history implies about God's nature, human nature, and other theological topics. Last week I addressed some of the benefits of an evolutionary perspective. I think affirming evolution doesn't mean settling for an otherwise undesirable position out of obligation to science; I believe looking at the world through an evolutionary lens is actually consistent with the narrative of scripture. At the same time, I am a biologist and this is a science column, so I'd like to … [Read more...] about Science Reader Question: Putting the Biology in Evolutionary Biology
evolution
Science Reader Question: Life on the Edge
Throughout this ongoing series on evolution, inspired by some reader questions, we've looked at a lot of the challenges an evolutionary natural history presents for traditional Christian theology. Accounting for the modern biological understanding of life's origin and diversity is usually framed as a series of conundrums requiring either substantial effort to resolve, or an ultimate rejection of either science or scripture. If evolutionary natural history is so problematic, why bother? If there's any uncertainty, why … [Read more...] about Science Reader Question: Life on the Edge
Science Reader Question: Which Came First, the Sinner or the Sin?
In the previous installment of my ongoing series on evolutionary biology questions, I shared my conversation with Mike Stell about original sin within the context of an evolutionary natural history. That topic leads naturally to a related question about who the original sinners were. Actually, both the blog commenter whose questions inspired this series and Mike Stell independently asked me very similar questions. What exactly does evolutionary biology say about the first humans? … [Read more...] about Science Reader Question: Which Came First, the Sinner or the Sin?
Science Reader Question: Original Sin Goes Viral?
This series on evolutionary biology (1st post, 2nd post, 3rd post, 4th post) was prompted by some reader questions on the blog, but in parallel I was discussing some of the same issues via e-mail with theologian Mike Stell. Mike is an ESN contributor. He and I met in person at last summer's BioLogos conference, and we struck up a correspondence on some of the topics that came up at that meeting. Last week's post covered our conversation on humanity's creation in God's image. This week is our exploration of original sin. … [Read more...] about Science Reader Question: Original Sin Goes Viral?
Science Reader Question: Becoming Made in God’s Image
This series (1st post, 2nd post, 3rd post) was prompted by some reader questions on the blog, but in parallel I was discussing some of the same issues via e-mail with theologian Mike Stell. Mike is an ESN contributor. He and I met in person at last summer's BioLogos conference, and we struck up a correspondence on some of the topics that came up at that meeting. For a change of pace, I thought I'd address the image of God question with some excerpts from that e-mail conversation. … [Read more...] about Science Reader Question: Becoming Made in God’s Image