Cutting the Cack

Posted on 17/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

This has been the big weekend of the year for our family – my daughter’s wedding. We parents had no part in the planning. Although it was held at the Anglican church in our village, daughter and fiancé organised everything, and we were just delegated organisational roles and speeches. And bills, of course. Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 7 Comments

God the eastern potentate

Posted on 12/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

One of the clichés trotted out to dispute the sovereignty of God described in Scripture is that the Hebrew writers’ view of God was conditioned by the example of the ANE king, wielding absolute power in an arbitrary way, beyond all questioning and, of course, having scant regard to the liberty of his subjects, which is the main priority nowadays for those who are not too happy to be subjects. In the science-faith game, this view of things applies particularly to God as Creator, forming the Universe by his word of command – whereas we all know (somehow) that actually freedom is God’s greatest priority. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Theology | 3 Comments

Patrick Moore RIP

Posted on 09/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

I can’t let the passing of Patrick Moore, amateur astronomer extraordinaire, go unremarked. He died today at the age of 89, the presenter until just this year of The Sky at Night, which has been running under his banner since 1957 – a world record for a TV show. He was the only person to have met Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong. He used to appear regularly on kids TV when I was small, and so was the man who got me interested in astronomy. In fact I got his book for my birthday round about 1958 (the jacket on mine is long-gone, though I still have the book):

How could that cover not have any youngster reaching for the stars! It was this book that induced me to put the dates in my diary (half a lifetime in advance) for the appearance of Halley’s Comet and the total eclipse of the sun. Thanks Patrick.

Posted in Science | 1 Comment

Gay marriage

Posted on 09/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

I don’t normally write about sociological issues like this here, but followers of British poliutics may know that the Prime Minister is pushing forward a law to allow homosexuals to marry (rather than entering the current “civil partnerships”) in religious institutions. No church, he reassures us, will be forced to participate.

The media report that  the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox and Evangelical (umbrella group) churches are firmly opposed to this, as are the Muslims and the majority of Jews. But, they say, “some churches are in favour”, such as the Unitarians and the Quakers. Or rather, just these two are in favour. The BBC evening news carried an interview with a Unitarian minister, which since that is not a common occurrence, prompted me to look up the statistics for membership of these two religious groups. Continue reading →

Posted in Politics and sociology, Theology | 1 Comment

To coin a term

Posted on 08/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

I’ve now got hold of David L Wilcox’s little book God and Evolution, and think I can add him to the disappointingly small group of TEs who actually do combine biblical faith with a realistic approach to science. The book isn’t world-shatteringly original – well within the genre of “a scientist shows that faith and science are compatible”, but I think it would be just the kind of thing for penman to give to his Reformed Creationist friends as a palatable apologetic. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 5 Comments

Biblical archaeology

Posted on 07/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

Almost as briefly, but rather more seriously, I recently rediscovered a quote from archaeologist Alan Millard which may be food for thought when critics speak of the lack of evidence for biblical characters like Abraham, Moses, or even King David. Millard says:

 “Of about 120 kings known from a dozen Iron Age states of the Levant, including Israel and Judah, at the most only 20 have left inscriptions that are known today.”

History would read pretty differently if it took the minimalist view overall.

Posted in Theology | 1 Comment

Beat me daddy, eight to dabar

Posted on 07/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

I must be taking my work too seriously. My wife’s left a note on my desk to remind me to get firewood in. I was convinced it said “Logos”.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Intelligent wisdom

Posted on 06/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

I’ve suggested before that inferring design (broadly conceived) in nature might not be scientific, but is nevertheless a basic human faculty that is already used within science, methodological naturalism notwithstanding. Steve Fuller believes that this faculty reflects our creation in the image of God, which is a reasonable hypothesis. Continue reading →

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It’s all about sovereignty

Posted on 04/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

In my last post I alluded to the hardening in the attitude of American Fundamentalists towards evolution after the Great War. And I mentioned that some of the authors of the Fundamentals had previously been sympathetic to evolution. Here’s a quote I turned up from one of them, G F Wright: Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Politics and sociology, Prometheus, Science, Theology | 21 Comments

The Roots of Creationism

Posted on 03/12/2012 by Jon Garvey

Quite a lot has been said about the issue of Social Darwinism and the Eugenenics movement in the Nazi programme and the Holocaust. I’ve even said some of it myself here and here. Less has been said about the role of Social Darwinism in the First World War, though it probably had more effect on the science and religion question, if not on the death count, though the First War’s 37 million is at least comparable to the Second’s 60 million. The estimates of deaths due to “evolutionary” communism range up to 150m, and so dwarf both wars. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Politics and sociology, Science, Theology | 1 Comment