Earlier this summer, I had the privilege to attend BioLogos‘ Evolution & Christian Faith conference. It was easily the best experience I’ve had at an academic conference. Every day began and ended with a time of worship, singing the kinds of hymns you can really dig into, with the kind of accompaniment that encourages everyone to join in. I usually have a hard time talking to people at conferences, but everyone was very gracious and friendly so I got to have a lot of great conversations with new people. It was particularly exciting to meet several of my fellow ESN bloggers in person. [Read more…] about Science Corner: BioLogos Conference Recap, Pt 1
incarnation
Science In Review — Christmas Craft
At a neighborhood Christmas party, I had a lively and stimulating conversation about some of the technical elements of filmmaking–editing, cinematography, action choreography, and the like. Neither my neighbor nor I work in the field, and we don’t have serious aspirations of movie careers. We just find that our appreciation of the movies we enjoy is enhanced by understanding the processes involved. [Read more…] about Science In Review — Christmas Craft
Cur Deus Homo. An Advent Devotional
In the eleventh century, Anselm and theologians like him began to interact with a larger world of ideas, specifically the Muslim theologians who were challenging some of the central tenets of the Christian faith. In the centuries previous, theology had largely been an increasingly ad intra discussion among the theologians of Christendom. As Muslim writings (and even the occasional Muslim thinker) began their movement into Europe, they began to challenge theological positions which had been taken for granted. It is in this context which Anselm developed his most famous contribution to the world of ideas: the Ontological argument for the existence of God. This argument was Anselm’s attempt to argue for the existence of God from the basis of reason alone, not from the preconceived assumptions of Christian understanding of God. While the argument was challenged almost immediately as flawed, Anselm believed he had demonstrated reasonably the fact of God’s existence. Although the argument has never been that popular, it still has had its advocates: Descartes’ famous cogito is a form of the ontological argument, Alvin Plantinga also advocated a modified form of the argument, and C.S. Lewis uses it in The Silver Chair in the Narnia series (the latest issue of Touchstone has an article on Lewis’ use of the ontological argument). [Read more…] about Cur Deus Homo. An Advent Devotional
Science Corner: Good Grief! Even My Dogma Has Gone Commercial!
Well, this is interesting. Over in Science, we have the headline “Wealth may have driven the rise of today’s religions.” Meanwhile, the Huffington Post’s science blog says religious believers will become a world minority, and ultimately perhaps disappear entirely, thanks to economic prosperity. Seems like there’s a need to get the story straight. [Read more…] about Science Corner: Good Grief! Even My Dogma Has Gone Commercial!
Theotokos – Mary as the Mother of God. An Advent Devotional
In the history of theology, there have been many issues which for those who are not “professional†theologians seem rather abstract. I know that there are times when I drive my wife crazy talking about some minutia of theological detail which has no connection to her world as a pre-school teacher, and she has never had a taste for the kind of hypothetical speculation which makes systematic theologians so excited. She is, however, very patient and tolerant, and I can even get her to do final proof-reading of manuscripts before I send them out. I think that most people are like my wife and as I have grown older, I try to think more about the work of the theologian as a service to the Church. I try to think from the perspective of how the issues which occupy so much of my time can be brought into the larger conversation of the Church and the people who are my brothers and sisters in the mission of God. As the recent survey of the theological opinions of American evangelicals demonstrated, there is work to be done to make these doctrinal truths more well-known as well as why these issues are important for people to know and to get right in their theological thinking. [Read more…] about Theotokos – Mary as the Mother of God. An Advent Devotional