The Johnson article called attention (in Johnson's usual style) to the
articles by Fred Crews that we chatted about some time ago.
For another (and I think far more interesting) reflection on Crews' essays,
see the article, "Christ and Darwin," by Stephen J. Pope, in the January
2-9, 2002, issue of Christian Century. A paragraph near the end reads:
"Crews's essays illustrate the power of an emotionally driven materialistic
ideology to steamroll distinctions, to propound grossly inaccurate
historical generalizations, to mistake nuance and subtlety for evasion and
rationalization, to introduce ad hominem accusations in place of reasoned
argument, to equate Sunday School catechism with systematic theology, and to
beguile people into thinking they face a forced choice between two
simplistically formulated and mutually exclusive options -- Christ or
Darwin."
Johnson's reading: "Crews told me that I would hate his pro-Darwinist
essays, but of course I loved them."
As I noted in an essay in Theology Today: "William Provine, a vocal
proponent of naturalism, heartily agrees with Johnson's claim regarding the
incompatibility of evolution and theistic religion. Johnson takes this
agreement as confirmatory of his rhetorical strategy. 'Provine and I have
become very friendly adversaries, because our agreement about how to define
the question is more important than our disagreement on how to answer it.'
(I would have expected their religious differences to be far more important
than their agreement on rhetorical strategy.)"
Howard (another dupe) Van Till
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