The Dispute Is Not Primarily over the Text, but over Naturalism

Posted on 10/02/2014 by Edward Robinson

Over on BioLogos, in the context of discussing the Ham-Nye debate, several people have resumed a much earlier BioLogos discussion about the Resurrection, in which it was argued (apparently under the inspiration of N. T. Wright) that the Gospel reports concerning the women at the tomb of Jesus provide proof, or at least very strong evidence, for a physical resurrection. I don’t wish to take up the specific argument, but I do wish to point out the general form of the argument, and show why all arguments of this form will be of no avail until a greater problem – naturalism – is dealt with. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Edward Robinson, Theology | 27 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.” Continue reading →

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

The creation theology of the psalms and its application

Posted on 03/02/2014 by Jon Garvey

I’ve just read an excellent recent paper  by J Richard Middleton, comparing the views of creation given in Psalms 8 and 104. If you don’t have access to Academia.edu you might not be able to access it, which is a shame as it has a lot to say on the view of creation theology I’ve been developing here over the last three years or so. That view differs from some of the common church teaching on “fallen creation”, but only because it recovers historical Christian doctrine. But it differs far more from the novel and quite incompatible theologies commonly presented in modern Evangelical theistic evolution and – as the last few articles have explored – even Catholic “Modern Thomist” views. Continue reading →

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Calvinism and nature

Posted on 31/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

ravishedThis is a short review of Ravished by Beauty, by Belden C Lane (Oxford 2011), which was recommended to me by Peter Harris. In it the author tries to recover the rich theology of nature in the Reformed tradition, which although largely forgotten (to the point of being, I suspect, incredible to some knee-jerk opponents of Reformed Christianity) actually dates back to Calvin himself. Continue reading →

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Must-read on Feser by Aquinas

Posted on 30/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

I’ve spent a number of posts digging around various bits of Aristotelian-Thomist metaphysics, especially with regard to causation. Notable examples here and the most recent, commenting on a piece by Ed Feser, here.

Why does it matter? Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Philosophy, Science, Theology | 5 Comments

Building bridges from Aquinas to ID

Posted on 29/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

I mentioned in my recent post, linking to Ed Feser’s piece on “finality”, that he “only makes” one brief attack on ID, linking it to William Paley’s natural theology. Given the nature of the essay as an overview, it seems a good source from which to examine how fundamental the differences between A-T thinking and modern Intelligent Design theory really are, and whether an accommodation could be possible or helpful. I’ve attempted this in a small way before but I’ll try to develop it a bit, and repetition isn’t necessarily harmful anyway. Continue reading →

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Scientism as individual pathology

Posted on 27/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

An interesting snippet caught my ear on the BBC news today. It was about a poetry competition organised by Yale University and London’s UCL for medical and engineering students. The iniator was cardiologist and published poet Prof John Martin, and his motivation for doing so: “Medical students are at risk of becoming ‘intellectually brutalized’…conditioned to focus upon the microscopic at the expense of the holistic.”  Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Medicine, Science | 4 Comments

Must-read on teleological evolution by TOF

Posted on 24/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

For the second day running, rather than write my own article I’ll point to this excellent critique by The OFloinn. I’ll get round to another on Aquinas and ID, I promise. In passing I note that TOF uses the example of locusts and lizards “going Hulk” and majors in his piece on James Shapiro’s “View from the 21st Century.” Since he doesn’t reference my article is this not direct evidence for convergence?

Posted in Science | 2 Comments

Must-read on teleology by Feser

Posted on 23/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

Since Aquinas has been around in a couple of recent posts, may I draw your intention to an Idiot’s Guide to teleology that Ed Feser has written for Jerry Coyne (!) He makes many points well that I’ve often tried to make badly. And he only takes one side-swipe at Intelligent Design – but the recent discussion will maybe help you understand why he does so, even if you think he’s being unfair.

Posted in Philosophy, Theology | 5 Comments

More on Aquinas and contingency

Posted on 22/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

The conversation on the BioLogos thread I mentioned previously has continued, with Catholic Thomist biologist Mary B Moritz taking the part of Neil Ormerod, the original author. From her writing she takes a line that seems to be the commonest amongst Thomists interested in evolution (such as Ed Feser), pointing specifically to the allegedly simplistic shortcomings of Intelligent Design, but having no problems to speak of with the Neodarwinian scientific model. I’m commenting here, rather than on BioLogos, which would be appropriate, simply because of space. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 8 Comments