Category Archives: Politics and sociology

Trade secrets

Posted on 12/02/2014 by Jon Garvey

The Biologos thread on the Ham-Nye debate has prompted good conversations there and in a few posts here – very few actually about creationism versus atheism, which is understandable enough as neither site is either creationist or atheist. One titbit was a very gentle dig at New Testament scholars by Ted Davis speaking as a historian, about the criteria they use to date the gospels: In the absence of hard evidence, I regard the date of the composition of the various gospels as highly conjectural, and if I were a biblical scholar (obviously I’m not), I would hesitate to be too dogmatic about such a theory-laden conclusion.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 2 Comments

Recognising cultural blinkers

Posted on 06/02/2014 by Jon Garvey

There is a current BioLogos thread on the recent debate between atheist Bill Nye and Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham. In it, our own Lou Jost continues to try and educate the benighted theists by responsing to John Walton’s affirmation of his shared belief (with Ham) in the inspiration of Genesis. Lou complains that Genesis “screams out ‘cultural document’”, and in a later post slips in the “nothing buttery” that C S Lewis noted as a hallmark of modern materialism by amending it to “just a cultural document.”

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 124 Comments

Evolutionism and the Fundamental Problem of Biology.

Posted on 29/11/2013 by Sy Garte

In 1853, a mere 6 years before the publication of Origin of Species, a minor textbook written for the education of the public was published with the title Library of Natural History, and the subtitle “containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds,  birds, fishes, reptiles, and insects, compiled from the works of…” and there follows a list of the most active and well known naturalists of the day. While most of the text is not very interesting, there are some remarkable aspects of this book, clearly meant to be an up to date summary of the field. First, the word biology is never used.

Posted in History, Politics and sociology, Science, Sy Garte | 14 Comments

Broadening the conversation

Posted on 25/10/2013 by Jon Garvey

I’ve commented here on the decreasing number of those contributing to discussions at BioLogos – majoring, of course, on the unwillingness of most of their own people to get involved. Well, now it seems the problem is to be solved by closing comments on most of their articles, following the controversial lead of Popular Science. People are to reply by e-mail, and the “best” will be put in a “Letters to the editor” section.

Posted in Politics and sociology | 13 Comments

On an unrelated subject

Posted on 04/10/2013 by Jon Garvey

Do you sometimes get the feeling that there’s a whole world of news Out There which, for some reason, the usual media won’t touch? The BBC Radio 4 news was this morning covering the terrible tragedy of the sinking of a boatload of refugees off Italy.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | Leave a comment

Biologos – infinitesimal change or stasis?

Posted on 03/10/2013 by Jon Garvey

It seems to be rather quiet over at BioLogos recently. Two things to note, though, about themes that particularly interest me. On an apparently uncontroversial thread, the failure of those influential at BioLogos to engage with the questions raised by many of us, about its ongoing fudging of the issue of God’s involvement in evolution, was noted.

Posted in Creation, Politics and sociology, Science | 9 Comments

Science and probabilities

Posted on 23/09/2013 by Jon Garvey

At the heart of the concept of Intelligent Design, though surprisingly often obscured in the discussion, is the issue of probabilities. William Dembski’s work, for example, seeks to show that the probabilities of, say, self replicating molecules arising by known natural processes are too low to be practically feasible. In contrast, he argues, a process that is intelligently planned is, by its nature, improbable (like the contents of this post), and so is a good candidate explanation for complex, organised, entities. I don’t think that would be controversial if it didn’t lead to theological conclusions.

Posted in Politics and sociology, Science, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

At the movies again!

Posted on 08/09/2013 by Jon Garvey

Well, as I said in the last post I’m not a movie-goer (or haven’t been since I was a kid and seemed to see everything that came out with a “U” certificate). But we sat down last night to watch a long-recorded video of The King’s Speech, and jolly entertaining it was too. 

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War postponed

Posted on 30/08/2013 by Jon Garvey

I was as surprised as everybody else that our Parliament has soundly rebuffed the call for airstrikes against Syria in the light of the (so far only probable) use of chemical weapons by Assad. But I’m also glad.

Posted in Politics and sociology | 2 Comments

The hermeneutic of suspicion and the paranoid society

Posted on 03/06/2013 by Jon Garvey

A very good article here. It is primarily about the ascendency of the hermeneutic of suspicion in contemporary (meaning mainly post-modern and feminist) theology, but usefully beds that into the state of society itself. US theology and society are in its sights, and rightly so, but the rest of the world is far from immune: Dan Brown is popular over here, too, as are more academic manifestations of the idea that knowledge is a function of power, not of truth. We’re slightly less obsessed with conspiracy theories as yet, though. Slightly.

Posted in Creation, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 57 Comments