Science in Christian Perspective
A Speculative model
Biblical Evolutionism?
RICHARD H. BUBE
Department of Materials Science Stanford University Stanford,
California 94305
Additional comments by Russell L.
Mixter, Russell W. Mattman (
Reply to Maatman),
and Walter R. Hearn
From: JASA 23 (December 1971): 140-145.
Evolutionism is a philosophical perspective on life which sees evolutionary process as a dominant mechanism in the unfolding of world history. The impact of anti-Christian evolutionists has been so pronounced that Christians tend to write off any statement of evolutionism as unbiblical and unchristian. Writers such as Teilhard have had some influence to the contrary, but even Teilhard does not make clear the relationship between evolutionary process and Biblical Christianity. It is not necessary for this sharp dichotomy to exist between evolutionism and biblical Christianity, since a model can be constructed which will be reasonably faithful to the perspectives of both disciplines. It is the purpose of this paper to present such a speculative model for comment and criticism.
Traditional Philosophical Evolutionism
Traditional philosophical evolutionism has been so anti-Christian that the very
phrase is practically anathema in orthodox or evangelical circles.
Anti-evolution
Christians attack the validity of the General Theory of evolution and
the relevance
of the Special Theory primarily because they are convinced that philosophical
evolutionism is one of the greatest evils in the world, and that philosophical
evolutionism in turn is based on the General Theory.
Traditional anti-Christian evolutionism holds to the following points which are
in fundamental opposition to biblical Christianity.
1. Denial of the importance or reality of divine
Creation. The laws of nature (whose origin is unknowable) arc
sufficient to account
for the origin of life and spirit in its various manifestations.
2. Substitution of metaphysical for moral evil. The evil in the world results
from the incompletion of the evolutionary process. What appears to he
moral evil
is only a remnant of man's bestial nature. There is no ultimate right or wrong,
no responsible moral choice.
3. The nature of man is defined by his being a
higher evolutionary animal. If man is not guilty of moral sin, he is also not
capable of unselfish love. (This is a double contradiction of
Biblical Christianity.
It vastly underestimates the exalted position that man has as a creature made
in the image of God It vastly underestimates the debased position that man is
in as a creature engaged in moral rebellion against his Creator.)
4. Man can save himself by taking charge of the
evolutionary process. If there is no such thing as moral guilt, then there is
no need for deliverance from moral
guilt, for the forgiveness of sins, or for a divine Savior from the bondage and
guilt of sin.
5. Reality is confined to the natural. Natural processes are
sufficient to account
for the being and nature of man; it may be concluded that only
natural processes
are needed to describe man and the universe.
6. The evolutionary process will deliver all men.
Since the evolutionary process has brought us to the present state of
development,
it will continue to work until the whole race is brought to a higher state of
consciousness and fulfillment. Possibilities of judgment do not exist, unless
man frustrates the evolutionary program and destroys himself and his world.
It is true that traditional philosophical evolutionism has generally developed
the themes summarized above, and that therefore Christians have been impelled
to oppose such a system of thought. What is not true, however, is
that any possible
scheme of philosophical evolutionism must be based on these themes.
Christians frequently find themselves in the dilemma of fighting a
given perspective
because that perspective is used by others to discredit Christianity.
It is important
to know whether or not the same data or starting points could be used
in a Christian
perspective to arrive at quite different conclusions that would be consistent
both with the data and with the biblical revelation. It is the purpose of this
paper to present a speculative model, the purpose of which is to show that the
basic concepts underlying philosophical evolutionism can he
consistently interpreted
in a Christian and biblical framework.
Scientists are accustomed to proposing models simply for the
usefulness they may
provide in guiding thinking or experiment, without making any initial
commitment about the relationship between the model and physical reality. This
is the kind of model proposed in this paper. I do not "believe" it.
I propose it as a possible approach to cutting the knot that binds us when we
attempt to hold simultaneously the insights from evolution and the Bible.
Teilhard de Chardin
One of the most thorough attempts to unify evolutionism and Christian faith is
that carried out by the French priest-paleontologist Pierre Teilhard
de Chardin.
He identified the evolutionary process with the triumphant work ofGod in the
world, and sought to show that the previously diverging branches of
evolutionary
development began to converge when man became conscious of himself
and the universe,
the final focus of convergence being none other than the Omega Point, God Himself.
Teilhard proposed that the love ofGod was the driving force of evolution, and
that the love of man was the sign of our participation in this process. To hate
is to resist the work ofGod in evolution. Rather man is called upon to oppose
every effort that would lead to divergence between men, and to
support every effort
that would lead to convergence between men.
Teilhard's thought has been criticized as taking little account of the reality
of sin and of the necessity of Christ's work of atonement. Because the driving
force of evolutionary process so dominates Teilhard's thought, evil and sin are
relegated to simple by-products of the uncompleted process of
evolution, and appear
to have no real importance for the central issues of life. Either all men will
arrive at Omega or none will.
In the long run it may be Teilhard's optimism that is the most destructive. In
his adoration of the Creation and the Incarnation, lie seems to find
it difficult
to accept the reality of moral guilt and the need for divine forgiveness.
In the model proposed in the remainder of this paper, we attempt to appreciate
the efforts made by Teillsard, but also to learn from his
shortcomings in coordinating
a scheme of philosophical evolutionism with biblical revelation.
Creation of Man
The Bible says that God created man from the dust of the earth.
The intrinsic points that Biblical evolutionism must encompass are
(1)God created,
(2) He created man as distinct from the animals, and (3) He created
man from the
"stuff" of the earth.
In biblical evolutionism, the process of evolution is the manifestation of the
work ofGod in nature. The creative work ofGod may therefore be considered to
have two aspects: (a) the foundational aspect in that the finite existence of
the natural world depends moment by moment upon the activity of God and (b)
the
progressive aspect in that new creatures and characteristics emerge creatively
in the process of evolution. Before all else, therefore, biblical evolutionism
affirms that God created.
The evolutionary process results in the emergence of the human being
as distinct
from the animals. As God produced a living creature by the
appropriate patterned
interaction of nonliving matter, so He produced a living creature with a soul
by the appropriate patterned interaction of living matter. Although all
The purpose of this paper is to show that the basic concepts underlying philosophical evolutionism can he consistently interpreted in a Christian and biblical framework.
living creatures have attributes of soul, the higher animals more
obviously than
the lower, it is the unique attribute of human soul to have communion with God
to be able to make responsible choices on the basis of the knowledge
of a man-God
relationship. Biblical evolutionism certainly affirms thatGod made
man as distinct
from the animals.
The General Theory of evolution proposes that living matter emerged
from non-living
matter when the combination of environmental conditions was
appropriate to bring
about that particular patterned interaction of non-living matter that
we recognize
as life. In almost a drastically literal sense, therefore, biblical
evolutionism
affirms thatGod mode man from the dust or stuff of the earth.
Nature of Evil
The Bible says that evil in the world results partially from human sin (moral
evil-as when one man murders another), and partially from forces not directly
related to human sin, although possibly indirectly related even in
the case (metaphysical
evil-as when an earthquake, flood, or falling tower destroy human life).
Biblical evolutionism recognizes the necessity for
the involvement of the human being in order for evil
to exist, and recognizes the distinction between metphysical evil and
moral evil-between
an amoral product of the natural environment which assumes the category of evil
only when injury to human beings is involved, and the deliberate
choice of a human
being to harm another human being.
When rocks slide down a hill and kill a rabbit, when volcanoes
overflow and kill
mice, when a lion kills a deer, or when a cat kills a bird, we do not attribute
the category of "evil" to the event at all. When sliding rocks kill
a man, or when volcanoes or lions kill a man, we recognize that this is a case
of metaphysical evil. It is evil because human life was taken, but it
is not moral
evil because rocks, volcanoes and lions are not moral agents. Only a man can he
guilty of moral evil.
In the process of evolution, therefore, there is no evil on earth
before man appears
on the scene. Since metaphysical evil requires the involvement of man
as victim,
and moral evil requires the participation of man as both perpetrator
and victim,
only amoral events transpired among subhuman creatures before man emerged. The
analogy with the absence of evil from the Garden of Eden is readily drawn.
When the human being emerged in the process of evolution, both metaphysical and
moral evil became possibilities. The creation of the human being in the image
ofGod endowed him with the ability and the responsibility to make
moral choices.
When lie rebelled against his role as a child of God lie became
guilty of moral
evil. Moral evil requires atonement and forgiveness.
The Entrance of Sin into the World
The Bible says that sin entered the world when man made a deliberate choice to
disobey God.
Biblical evolutionism affirms that sin (moral evil) as well as
metaphysical evil
entered the world when the human being emerged in the process of evolution, and
made a deliberate choice to disobey God. The first man sinned. In a
common biblical
interpretation, sinless man is transformed into sinful man at the sin
of the first
man. In the perspective of biblical evolutionism, the emergence of
the first man
made metaphysical evil possible, and the sin of the first man made moral evil
a reality. What might have been only metaphysical evil with man as the victim,
became
moral evil as man's first sin made him the perpetrator. The end
result is sinful
man with moral guilt.
The Need for a Savior
The Bible say's that sinful man needs a Savior from the guilt and
power of sin.
Biblical evolutionism affirms in an identical way that sinful man
needs a Savior.
The human being is in rebellion against God and since this rebellion
is the result
of a responsible moral choice, he is also guilty of moral evil. Every aspect of
the biblical presentation of the need for the forgiveness of sin and
for restoration
to the position that a man created in the image of God should have, is present
in identical form in biblical evolutionism.
Christian Conversion as an Evolutionary Process
The Bible says that when a man becomes a Christian, lie becomes a new creature.
He is to be described as the firstfruit of a new order in Christ, as
the representative
of a coming order that will glorify God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Biblical evolutionism agrees with the traditional biblical theology
which considers
the ultimate goal for man to be realized in his restoration to full fellowship
with God forgiven and freed from sin, and engaged in \vilhrsg and fulfilling
service. The way that man is advanced toward this ultimate goal is
through Christian
conversion, through recognizing his need of a Savior and committing himself to
God through
faith in Jesus Christ. A man becomes a better man when be accepts
Christ; he undergoes
an "evolutionary" experience that may be rapid or may
extend over many
years.
Biblical evolutionism is at one with biblical theology is seeing the spreading
of the Gospel and the winning of men to Christ as the only effective
way of making
men truly siren, made in the image of God. Sometimes we act as if we
were little
more than animals; vet we are destined to he like Christ.
The uriiversahism of traditional philosophical evolutionism need not
be adopted.
Biological evolution has never been universalistic, weeding out those
forms that
did not contribute to the continued flow of evolution. There is no
reason to attribute
any universality to the
ultimate success of the evolutionary process other than the
universality of those
who have committed themselves to Christ.
To speak of Christian conversion as an evolutionary process ceases to
he an offensive
phrase if it is remembered that evolutionary process" means God's activity
in the world. Certainly it is biblical to view Christian conversion
as the product
of God's activity.
Conclusions
It is possible to develop a model of biblical evolutionism which includes the
affirmation that God created man, that He created him distinct from
the animals,
that He created him out of the stuff of the earth,
that man is the participant in real moral guilt, that sin entered the
world through
the first man's choice to rebel against God, that man guilty of moral
evil needs
a Savior, and that the only way to bring man to his creation-intended position
is through his acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his
sins.
It is suggested that the intense animosity generated between
Christians and traditional
philosophical evolutionism may be only a special ease, and that
careful consideration
of tile possibilities of this speculative model of biblical
evolutionism he given
before Christians make any kind of ultimate decision on what kind of model may
or may not he consistent with the biblical data.
DEVELOPMENTALISM?
Russell L. Mixter
Department of Biology
Wheaton College Wheaton, Illinois
It is my impression that one's attitude toward evolution depends a great deal
on his educational and religious background. IT he is well read in Dobzhansky,
Simpson, Stebbins and others he sees biology as a dynamic science
revealing considerable
possibilities of change. If he is steeped in the anti-evolutionary
books of O'Toole,
Rimmcr, Price, Wilder-Smith and Davidbeiser, he is likely to feel his faith is
challenged by any implications of the evolutionary scientists. In
plain English,
there is much prejudice in this whole business of evaluating evolution. So one
should be careful to sec if it is his preferences or his reason that
are dictating
his attitudes.
There is much prejudice in this whole business of evaluating evolution.
Just one objection to Bube's evaluation. He says that traditional
anti-Christian
evolutionism holds that "there is no ultimate right or wrong, no
responsible
moral choice." This attitude may be true of some, but I think
Huxley, Dohzhansky
and Simpson, as examples, would believe that moral wrong is any activity that
impairs the full development of one's personality. Man has now
arrived at a level
where he can determine values, and it is morally evil if he does not
use his intelligence
instead of his urges to provide a good life for mankind. Herman Mnller believed
evolution has no programs so it was up to man to supply the program,
such as disseminating
scientific information. C. C. Simpson believes man is the result of a
purposeless
process that did not have him in mind, but he is responsible to
himself and society.
lie can introduce purpose into evolution. And Dobzhansky comments that "It
is up to man to supply the program for his evolutionary developments
which nature
has failed to supply."
In Genesis I the word soul means "a living creature" and is
not synonymous
with "spirit" as used in the New Testament. Animals were
called living
souls or living creatures (Gen. 1:24) and man was called the same (Gen. 2:7).
The same Hebrew word is used in both verses. Man's spirit is
mentioned in Genesis
1 as the image of God.
One more suggestion. Since it is true that many of
the forty million evangelicals object to the term "evolutionism", why
not speak of biblical "developmentalism" instead of
biblical "evolutionism".
If you call something a rose you expect it to smell like a rose. Any use of the
disparaged term will be an offensive odor in the sense of many Christians.
CONTAINS AN UNPROVABLE AND INADMISSIBLE ELEMENT
Russell W. Maatman
Department of Chemistry
Dordt College
Sioux Center, Iowa 51250
As I see it, it is very important to examine carefully the creation of man in
Buhe's model. I say this because the creation of man in the model seems not to
he part of what is ordinarily meant by "evolution", i.e., that which
is encompassed by the General Theory of Evolution. According to the
General Theory,
the events in an evolutionary process hear a cause-and-effect relation
to one another.
Furthermore, the causes are physical, e.g., mutation, and the
evolutionary process
is held to be not random, but with a favored direction, with
improvement or progress;
and progress occurs because of the survival of the fittest.
But according to Bribe's thesis, man became man when the acts performed by the
animal(s) which became man (men) could potentially break the law of God. That
is, moral evil entered the universe. At one moment an animal could die, and no
evil would be involved. At the next moment, after the creation of man, the same
physical event, the death of the animalbecome-man could still occur,
but now evil-metaphysical
evil-would he associated with the event. Furthermore, the animal-become-man was
now able to commit moral evil. What happened to bring about the transformation?
According to Bnbe, that which had the attributes of soul in the
animal was transformed:
the new soul could commune with God Such a transformation is qualitative, not
quantitative-the being either communes or does not commune with God, and there
is no half way point-and the transformation could only take place
instantaneously.
Can such a qualitative change, such a quantum (hut not quantified)
jump, be related
to the General Theory? That is, can this transformation be caused by that which
existed in the physical world before the change? According to the
General Theory,
changes are indeed related to that which exists in the physical world
before the
change takes place. But Bube properly emphasizes that man and animal
are distinct.
Man can commune with God, arid the animal cannot. In other words, the
change which
took place was in the very nature of the being which was changed.
With good reason
Buhe does not attempt to connect whatever happened when man was created, with
other events in the hypothesized evolutionary process. He does state that all
evolutionary events are caused by God, but he does not show that
physical causes
are behind the transformation of man in the same way they are involved in other
evolutionary steps. F doubt that Bribe would suggest that anything
like a mutation
would change an animal without a soul into a being who is not a
body-with-soul-added,
but something new under the sun, a "bodysoul", an image of
God. Whatever
"vestigial" organs, mutations, etc., tell us, they tell us
nothing about
the transformation which Bube postulates, the formation of the image
of God.
What proof is there that at some point in time an animal was changed to a body-soul, a man?
Let us now turn to the conditions a model must satisfy. A model must not only
fit the known facts, but we may not put into a model an unnecessary
element. For
example, suppose a student performing a typical elementary physical
science experiment
attempts to declare by weighing, shaking, etc. what an object inside
of a "black
box" is like. Very likely the instructor will reprove him if he concludes
not only something about the shape, density, etc., of the object but also that
it is a green object. His experiments just don't answer the question about its
color. If the object is a model, i.e., if deductions concerning its nature are
to be used to predict the results of future experiments, the student
may not specify
the object's color as part of the model. Similarly, llolir put too
much into his
model of the atom when he described the path of the electron. Had the Principle
of Uncertainty been known at that time, the Principle could have been used to
prove the Bohr model incorrect, since according to this Principle the path of
the electron cannot be known. Bohr's description of the path of the
electron was
an unprovable, and therefore an inadmissable, element in his model.
If Bube's description of the origin of man is indeed not a part of
the evolution
referred to in the General Theory of Evolution and any proof of this
theory does
not apply to his model, then what proof is, there that at some point in time an
animal was changed to a bodysoul, a man? First of all, we do know
that there were
animals before man came on the scenic. Although Bribe does not explicitly offer
Scripture as proof, lie does cite Scripture at this point. He says that man was
created from the dust of the earth, and that the term "dust" in Gen.
2:7 could refer to the material which produced life and eventually the animal
which produced man. Let us assume for the moment that there is nothing in Gen.
2:7 which contradicts this understanding of "dust". Even so, no one
holds that the Scriptures tell is that thus is the interpretation. As far as I
can tell, the dispute over "dust" in Gen. 2:7 is only whether or not
"dust" as used here can include the idea of a living
animal, or alternately,
the dust from which life evolved.
The student who said that the object in the black box was green knew that the
object had some color, but he had no right to deduce that it was green. In my
opinion, Bube knows that man was created from some pre-existing material, dust,
but be does not have the right-on the basis of the evidence he
presents or refers
to-to be as specific as lie is about the nature of that preexisting material.
In other words, since the General Theory seems not to lie relevant, Bube has
apparently introduced an unprovable, and therefore inadmissible,
element-the animal
origin of man-into his model.
I realize that the element in his model which I call unnecessary is a
key element.
I do not, however, propose to examine here what happens to his model
if the animal-origin
question is left unanswered. Rather, I suggest we attempt to decide if we eon
know something about the (lust of Gen. 2:7. We read there
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, arid breathed into his nostrils the breath of
life; and man became a living soul.
I have discussed this question in some detail elsewhere1, and here
I shall make
only one point. The Hebrew word which is translated "living
soul", nephesh,
means nierehv "living creature", used for either animal or
mmni in other
passages (see Gen. 1:24 and 9:16). In other words, the soul is not mentioned in
Gen. 2:7, but the passage does state twice that man was given
life-in the sense
that both man and animals have lifewhen lie was created from the (lust of the
ground. The event of Gen. 2:7 was not a soul-adding event, but a
life-giving event.
Animals have the kind of life re
ferred to here-since nephesh can refer to them- and they cannot
receive the life
which they already have. Thus, the dust in Gen. 2:7 could not have
had life before
it was changed into man. I conclude that although there is a question
concerning
what the dust was, the dust could not have been alive. Bube does suggest that
the dust was the material from which the first life was made. However, if my
contention that man in his model cannot be logically associated with
the General
Theory of Evolution, there is then no more reason to expect that man was made
from non-living dust via animals, than that lie was made from non-living dust
without intermediate animals. Relating man to this pre-life dust
would he another
way of including an improvable, and therefore inadmissible, element
in the model.
REFERENCES
1 R. W. Maatman, The Bible, Natural Science, and Evolution,
Reformed Fellowship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1970; pp. 147-154.
Reply to Maatman
Richard H. Bube
Department of Materials Science
Stanford University,
Stanford,
California 94305
1. I am concerned primarily with the philosophical and theological implications
of evolutionism. In speaking of evolution I do not therefore feel constrained
either to accept or defend currently proposed scientific zncchaoiims
for the evolutionary
process. The possibility that what I propose is or is not fully expressihle ill
terms of currently understood evolutionary mechanisms does not hear
on the issue
I raise.
2. In the two great areas of evolutionary emergence (if this view is
to be held)
: the area of the emergence of life from the appropriate patterned interaction
of 0011-living matter, and the area of the emergence of human soul
from the appropriate
patterned interaction of living matter, there must of necessity-or so it seems
-he gray areas where it is not possible to ascribe with certainty the specific
state of matter. I do not know in detail how to describe this; I believe it is
justifiable 00 the basis of our present knowledge however, to bold
this position
with respect to the non-living to living transformation, and I do not
see a priori
wily the same should not he held of the non-human to iluman transformation.
3. Although Maatman is correct ill assuming that I would not imply'
that anything
as simple as a single mutation would change an animal with animal
"soul" nto a man with human soul the implication that I would not attribute
this transformation
to physical causes at all is not correct. First of all, when I speak
of physical
causes, I mean God's activity. Second in my model emergence of the human soul
results from a multitude of processes concerned primarily with the
size and complexity
of the brain and nervous system, processes and matter interacting according to
a pattern appropriate for the manifestation of human soul as a
systems property.
I have discussed this question at much greater length in my book, The
Human Quest:
A New Look at Science and Christian Faith. (Word Books, Waco, Texas 1971).
4. The type 0f argument from Genesis 2:7 by which Dr. Maatmen derives
the conclusion
that the "dust" from which God "made man" could
not he alive
when God "made man" is curious indeed. It is based on the assumption
that the phrase "God made man from the dust of the earth" must have
a hterahstic interpretation in terms of an event that occurred on one day. The
model of biblical evolutionism maintains that God made marl from the
dust of the
earth, by a process which started with the dust of the earth literally and then
proceeded through a series of evolutionary developments until man was produced.
The kind of exegesis proposed by Maatmall, ill which it is assumed
that the Hebrew
devotional literature of Genesis 2 was written to reveal subtle
scientific chronology
and mechanisms, has long been the source of confusion.
(Sec pp. 153 and 157 of this issue for a continuation this ths discussion. Watch
for the Maatman/Buhe Dialogue on "Inerrancy, Revelation and
Evolution"
in next year's journal ASA.)
TRUCE OR CONSEQUENCES?
Walter R. Hearn
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics Iowa State University Ames,
Iowa 50010
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called soils of God."
True. But we are likely to be called other things as well for trying
to reconcile
opposing people or opposing ideas. To stand in the middle, often means catching it from both sides, since to each,
we appear to be out i front leading the vanguard of
the other side. And trying to identify with both sides simultaneously (wearing
a green beret with a Viet Cong outfit) may make us look to both like
half-traitor,
half-spy. Recently I circulated among my university departmental colleagues a
paper on "A Christian View of the Origin of Life" prepared
for a symposium
at a conservative Christian college. To one group this paper identified me as
something of a fundamentalist, to the other as a theological
"rad-lib."
Perhaps that question mark in the title of Bube's "Biblical
Evolutionism?"
is the white flag intended to keep both sides from firing on a truce
parley going
on in no-man's land.
Many of the battle-weary will welcome Bube's attempt to bring
together ideas and
people that never should have been at odds in the first place. Even
his discordant
nomenclature (Viet Cong Americanism?) may help the combatants reexamine their
categories. On the other hand, it is quite a gamble to expect the undesirable
connotations of the two terms to cancel each other out. I acknowledge
the features
of Bube's speculative model as being part of my own thought over the years, but
I have reservations about being identified as a "biblical
evolutionist."
If we have a biblical theology of discontinuous supernatural acts only, and a biological science of continuous natural processes only, the twain never meet-except on the battlefield.
Bube points out the present atheistic connotations of philosophical
evolutionism
that make many of us hesitate to call ourselves evolutionists, even though we
embrace evolution in biology. When forced to choose between
"evolutionist"
and "anti-evolutionist" camps, we have tried to insist on
being "theistic
evolutionists" to negate atheistic accoutrements. At times I have borrowed
the terminology of the "special creationists" and called
myself a "general
creationist and special evolutionist." What designation is appropriate to
indicate "belief" in evolution as a concept useful for some purposes
but of no use for others?
The same difficulty faces us with the Bible. The Bible is useful for some purposes
("for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness")
but not for others. We often hear the Bible described as the answer to all of
life's questions, even to questions undreamed of when its contents
were written.
Trying to be "biblical" is thus pushed to ridiculous
extremes of wringing
from Scripture what was never intended to be there. With that connotation, some
of us are also reluctant to be known as "biblical" even
though we are certainly not "anti-biblical." Does taking
the Bible seriously
but not always literally make one biblical? Does taking evolution seriously as
science but not as atheistic philosophy make one an evolutionist? Then perhaps
I am a biblical evolutionist, after all.
For me at present, to take
the creation
narrative in Genesis seriously means to consider it a parable, as
thoroughly inspired
and as "true" as New Testament parables. The parables of Jesus about
seeds and weeds and soil contain a commonplace agricultural wisdom along with
their religious message, but hardly form a basis for a science of
agronomy. References
in the rest of the Bible to the Genesis creation account all seem to
me to focus
on its religious message: the relationship of God to nature, of man to nature,
and of man to God. Bube's model shows that these same relationships fit into a
conceptual framework emphasizing God's continuous creative activity
just as well
as into a framework of discontinuity. Both aspects can be subsumed
under the biblical
category of fiat creation. ("let it be done") but only the continuous
mode seems amenable to scientific understanding. Hence a model such
as "biblical
evolutionism" is necessary for rapprochement. If we have a
biblical theology
of discontinuous supernatural acts only, and a biological science of continuous
natural processes only, the twain never meet-except on the battlefield.
It is worth holding our fire to see what kind of truce this new
parley may bring
us. Admitting that a biblical view of creation can include
far-reaching but gradual
change is not really much of a concession to make in the 20th century. Making
it in the right spirit, at a time when science is under fire from
other quarters,
might lead to the concession that mechanistic explanations of
bio!ogical processes
do not exclude the possibility of divine purpose beyond the scope of science.
If divine purpose is possible, then so is moral responsibility. If
moral responsibility
must be faced, then so must the possibility of failure, of guilt, of
sin. If men
(theologians, philosophers, scientists) have sinned, then we have
need of atonement-and
so on to the gospel of Jesus Christ.
For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both toGod in one body through the cross, thereby bringing the hostility to an end.