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

Caring for Creation as Mission – 2

Posted on 21/01/2014 by Peter Harris

Peter-Harris2Peter Harris was a friend of Jon’s at Cambridge many years ago. He is President and Founder of A Rocha, an international environmental organization with a Christian ethos. This article is the second of three from a paper prepared for The Lausanne Movement’s Theology Working Party in Beirut, Lebanon in February 2010, under the chairmanship of Dr Christopher J H Wright. It also appeared in the July 2010 Evangelical Review of Theology (Vol 34 No 3), but is posted on The Hump as an introduction to yet another important aspect of the Christian doctrine of Creation.

A defence of a disconnected gospel for isolated individuals is even more difficult in times that have brought about a far better understanding of our human connections. Scientific research is constantly identifying new relationships of cause and effect in the biosphere of which we have been unaware. The rapid development of information technology demonstrates the networked ways in which our global culture is now operating as a complex entity. The Trinitarian theology of Jürgen Moltmann, Colin Gunton, James Torrance and many others, has encouraged us to understand better the fundamentally relational nature of created reality. It is very clear that the old isolated individualism of enlightenment humanism had its missiological equivalent in a version of the gospel that was reduced to proclaiming a merely personal salvation without community or environmental consequences. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Peter Harris, Science, Theology | Leave a comment

God and contingency

Posted on 20/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

There’s an article on BioLogos,  about divine contingency, by Neil Ormerod, based on Thomas Aquinas’ teaching. I’ve commented there, partly supportively but also with some criticisms, particularly on the article’s targeting Intelligent Design (largely inappropriately) and glossing over what would be far more approppriate criticisms of modern theistic evolution. First remove the beam from your own eye…

To be honest, compared to the relative straightforwordness of Aquinas’ own writing, I found it a little hard to comprehend what picture of the world the article was painting, and in particular what idea of chance itself, which in the article was most often referred to as “genuine contingency.” So I’ll look at that here. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 15 Comments

Wills, brains and spirits

Posted on 17/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

A piece by Michael Egnor in Evolution News and Views reviews a paper by Benjamin Libet about his work on the neurophysiology of intentional action. Libet’s is the famous work that showed, in an experimental setting, that an unconscious “readiness potential” precedes the conscious act of willing by some 350-400ms, and that in turn precedes action potentials in motor nerves by 200ms. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 21 Comments

Observing the Sabbath … in creation

Posted on 15/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

One of the common mistakes made about Genesis 1 is that it teaches a six-day creation, the seventh day being a day off for God. But in fact it teaches a seven day creation in which the seventh day is the aim and culmination of the first six. I want to concentrate on this seventh day today, and argue that it presents a theology of the present state of the world that ought to be foundational for Christians, but often isn’t.  Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Theology | 3 Comments

Lessons from ancient Egypt

Posted on 11/01/2014 by Jon Garvey

Worldviews are, almost by definition, taken for granted – we only see those of others. But for all that they’re human choices, even when unconscious, and result from metaphysical commitments, not from evidence. Which is interesting given that they determine how we see ourselves in the universe. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, History, Science, Theology | 43 Comments

Caring for Creation as Mission – 1

Posted on 08/01/2014 by Peter Harris
Peter-Harris

Peter & Miranda Harris

Peter Harris was a friend of Jon’s at Cambridge many years ago. He is President and Founder of A Rocha, an international environmental organization with a Christian ethos. This article, and two following, are from a paper prepared for The Lausanne Movement’s Theology Working Party in Beirut, Lebanon in February 2010, under the chairmanship of Dr Christopher J H Wright. It also appeared in the July 2010 Evangelical Review of Theology (Vol 34 No 3), but is posted on The Hump as an introduction to yet another important aspect of the Christian doctrine of Creation.

 

Abstract: Evangelical theology has already made great progress in re-discovering the doctrine of creation. A similar effort is urgently needed in order to mainstream the care of creation within our missiology, but this must be rapidly followed by concerted global action. Nothing less can do justice to the biblical proclamation that Jesus is Lord, and so address the human and biodiversity crises we face. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Peter Harris, Science, Theology | 9 Comments