From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Mon Dec 16 2002 - 09:55:43 EST
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 12/16/02 7:53:58 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> gmurphy@raex.com writes:
>
> > Christians are certainly _not_ called "to interpret the Bible from a
> > Darwinian
> > perspective." Instead, they should interpret evolution (which is not
> > synonomous with
> > "Darwinism," though Darwin's insights are major components of an adequate
> > evolutionary
> > theory) from a Biblical perspective.
> >
>
> Charles Darwin articulated the processes of natural selection. It is
> selection that runs through the Bible. Natural selection is the Biblical
> perspective, not evolution which can be applied to any type of system
> biological or otherwise, no quite specifically, darwin himself pointed out
> the Bible's reference to the "principles of selection" in biological systems:
>
>
>
> In Chapter 1 of Charles Darwin’Äôs The Origin of Species, titled Variation
> under Domestication under the heading Principles of Selection Anciently
> Followed and Their Effects, Darwin makes the following reference: ’ÄúFrom
> passages in Genesis, it is clear that the colour of domestic animals was at
> that early period attended to.’Äù
>
> He says principles of selection which describes perfectly Darwin's biological
> focus, not principles of evolution.
People of the Bible - like many people thousands of years ago
- knew some things
about plant & animal breeding. We have already discussed one
explicit indication of
this in Genesis. It is, however, a considerable overstatement to say
that "selection
that runs through the Bible."
It has often been noted that in the _Origin_ Darwin never uses the word
"evolution" or related words until the very last word of the book.
But of course this
doesn't mean that he isn't talking about "evolution" in the modern
sense of the term
throughout.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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