God’s Good Earth – Chapter 2: Scripture on the Fall

Posted on 31/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

Here is a link to chapter 2 of my book. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Theology | 25 Comments

God’s Good Earth – Chapter 1: God’s Relationship to Creation

Posted on 28/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

Here is the link to the first chapter proper of my book on the goodness of creation. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Theology | 10 Comments

Easter Holiday

Posted on 24/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

Well, if I failed to get published on theology and biology in the academic world, I had a minor success in the Cambridge alumni magazine CAM this week with a piece based on an article I sent them last year on the Cambridge University Folk Club, which at one stage, back in the age of dinosaurs, I ran.

You can find the magazine online here, and we’re on page 39.

Oh yes – and since we’ll all be busy over the weekend, remember that Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.

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My book at last – in samizdat

Posted on 22/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

I’ve been mulling over what to do with a project that has been languishing for far too long – a study on the myth that the natural world fell when mankind first sinned. A brief summary of a long story may help orientate things. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 41 Comments

The non-presentation of self in everyday life

Posted on 17/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

The title of this piece is based on a once influential social psychology book by Erving Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. In around 250 pages, the author fully covers the ground of his subject, just like it says on the cover, writing (as one reviewer said) not only about

Vogue models, clergymen and the dead, but also about Shetland crofters, Canadian Army dentists, dukes, beauticians, rajahs and a range of characters.

Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science | 2 Comments

Monotheism and automata

Posted on 13/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

In my last post I suggested that failure to deal adequately with the implications of monotheism itself leads directly to many erroneous ideas in both theology as such and in understanding the relationship of God to creation, including evolution. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Science, Theology | 65 Comments

Monotheism 101

Posted on 10/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

Once again in a thread conversation at BioLogos, some Christian with a scientific background suggests that maybe God didn’t plan the details of biological forms below a certain level, such as (for example) quadrupeds, fish etc, “allowing” evolution to fill in the details. Interestingly this would be consistent with the Creationist concept of baramins derived from the “kinds” of Genesis, which are in fact pretty much as vague (animals being divided only into domestic, prey-animals and carnivores, for example). But that’s a conversation for another time.

Eddie pointed out that such an open-ended picture of creation runs contrary to traditional ideas of sovereignty. But I want to go further to suggest that, in the end, they go against the entailments of monotheism itself. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Theology | 7 Comments

Finality creeps in everywhere

Posted on 03/03/2016 by Jon Garvey

Sy Garte has a new piece on his blog about a Chinese paper, published in a Western journal, in which some biological function is dealt with, and its suitability to the wisdom of the Creator is remarked. Continue reading →

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Our 5th birthday – Happy Birthday

Posted on 27/02/2016 by Jon Garvey

It’s actually five years ago today that I started this blog, The Hump of the Camel. That’s quite a decent lifespan for a blog, and it’s time to reflect on what, if anything, we’ve achieved. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 57 Comments

A metaphor for an abstraction

Posted on 26/02/2016 by Jon Garvey

Mike Flynn (aka The O’Floinn) links to a short piece from last year by James Chastek pointing out how even Richard Dawkins, championing materialism in the “selfish gene” concept, cannot avoid the hated idea of final causation. Food for thought, indeed.

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