Category Archives: Science

Enduring myths and their aftermath

Posted on 23/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

When I cited Os Guinness in a recent post, I noticed a reference to an important essay by C S Lewis whilst re-reading Guinness’s assessment of humanism. It’s well worth reading, though from the 1940s, and gives that feeling you always get with Lewis that, although a mediaevalist, he was half a century ahead of his time.

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Science | 115 Comments

When stories become science (and when they don’t)

Posted on 21/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

I hesitate to continue on the subject of maths in evolution, as it takes us into some deep philosophical waters, and especially as evolutionary programming is outside my comfort zone. But some useful stuff arose from the comments on previous threads, and there may be a couple of posts in it to make us think more critically.

Posted in Philosophy, Science | 14 Comments

On metabiology, natural law and divine action

Posted on 19/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

I’d like to pick up on a remark made by our friend Darek Barefoot on a recent thread: God may be working outside the pattern of lawlike regularities in countless irregular nudges of the genetic code, but given how many of these nudges there seem to have been it becomes difficult to distinguish them from lawlike regularities.

Posted in Creation, Science | 10 Comments

Frontloading, maths and logic

Posted on 17/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

After our worthwhile diversion into the christology of creation for three posts, I want to drop back briefly to the previous discussion on frontloading, natural v supernatural action in nature and so on. A post on Uncommon Descent about scorpion burrows prompted  one of my infrequent comments there.

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 23 Comments

Check out McGrew

Posted on 11/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

Lydia McGrew has done an excellent piece, Special agent intention as an explanation, which though not addressed to the same specific subjects, relates to the discussions we’ve had here over the last few posts, on frontloading, natural causes, etc. It’s in the comments that much of what is relevant to our concerns crops up, so I recommend reading those, and the article itself.

Posted in Philosophy, Science, Theology | 5 Comments

A potted guide to potato peeling

Posted on 08/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

Hanan’s query on the last thread was trying to sort out what I meant by “guided evolution”. He, Eddie and I all made the same distinction between a universe created with “frontloading”, so that “natural laws” elegantly do all that God might wish in a hands-off way, and a “guided” process where God continues to be active in “nudging” evolution the way he wishes it to go.

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Let’s go back

Posted on 07/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

The summer I went up to University I had a job decorating somebody’s house. Hearing I was a Christian and that I was going to Cambridge to study medicine, the owner tut-tutted and said it would be hard to keep my faith. I’m not sure if that was because religion has no answer to suffering, or because it has no answers period. One reason I didn’t lose my faith, though, apart from the stubborn desire to prove her wrong, was that I expected to run into all kinds of different belief-systems, promoted by people far cleverer than me, but I told myself that all other things being equal my beliefs … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 14 Comments

The plausibility and credibility of materialism

Posted on 04/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

One of the perennial issues underlying the poll to which Edward Robinson draws attention in his post is the question of loss of faith. The most obvious reading of the trend towards support for evolution not guided by God, and away from guided evolution, is that believers see the evidence for evolution (in its original undirected, unpurposeful guise) and are persuaded that God could not have been involved. For all its theological faults, this is one of the central concerns of BioLogos – kids brought up in Creationist churches get to college and, realising the truth, lose their faith. The fact that the poll suggests this is rare (Creationist numbers … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Science, Theology | 2 Comments

Five-finger exercise

Posted on 02/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

It’s music time again. Another old song finally brought to completion (though not as old as the last one I posted!)

Posted in Music, Science | 5 Comments

If all the world were paper…

Posted on 01/07/2014 by Jon Garvey

… and all the sea were ink… Here’s a thought building on both the biblical worldview covered in the last couple of posts, and the analogy (if that is all it is) between the written word as both material and as message , and the creation, explored in the last post (thanks to Merv and C S Lewis).

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