Philosophy of divine action

Posted on 10/07/2012 by Jon Garvey

Gregory raised the question of occasionalism in a reply to the last post, hinting at its presence in the BioLogos leadership and asking me about the alternatives to it in the pre-evolutionary era. Historical philosophy is a bit above my pay-grade, but it might be useful to discuss it in view of the ongoing question of divine agency in evolution. So here’s my overview for proper historians and philosophers to come back with corrections. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 11 Comments

Does divine action have to hide in random cracks?

Posted on 09/07/2012 by Jon Garvey

In the article  by Elliot Sober I mentioned in my previous post, he describes a hypothetical experiment to show what evolutionists mean by “random mutation”, before going on to establish that, because the Neodarwinian explanation is causally incomplete, science can neither deny, affirm, nor even express agnosticism on whether those random mutations were directed by an agent such as God. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 7 Comments

Elliott Sober on divine direction of evolution

Posted on 08/07/2012 by Jon Garvey

It’s lazy, I know, but this is a cut-and-paste of a post I wrote to Ted Davis on BioLogos. The Sober article makes points relevant to previous blogs here, so it seems relevant to record them and my comments on the Hump rather than to lose them in the Biologos archives. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 2 Comments

Human evolutionary continuity and exceptionalism

Posted on 04/07/2012 by Jon Garvey

There’s a series on BioLogos at the moment, by Joshua Moritz, on the real meaning of the imago dei. Moritz is a significant scholar in the science and faith field, so one detects the influence of Ted Davis in his recruitment as an author. The basic thesis is that the “image” is, on textual and ANE grounds, best seen in relational, rather than ontological terms. Man is appointed as God’s representative on earth, with a priestly function in bringing all things together in God’s presence. He is elect but not primarily for his own sake (Moritz argues a parallel with election to salvation by grace, which, he says, is also primarily in order to benefit others).

Continue reading →

Posted in Adam, Creation, Science, Theology | 6 Comments

A new web page

Posted on 29/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

A good many years ago I owned an interesting guitar built by a guy called John Bailey, who made guitars for Ralph Mc Tell, Gordon Giltrap, Roy Harper, Robert Plant and other folkies and rockers on the London scene in the 60s. He also mader the first flat-back bazouki for John Pearse and a mandolin for Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band.

John died in 2011, some years after he retired to Dartmouth, and I had a chance to converse with him a year or two before. Interest in his work seems now to be picking up. So I’ve done a set of webpages documenting this particular guitar’s 44 year career. You may find it interesting, perhaps, though it has zilch to do with science or faith! As Gordon Giltrap said recently, we’re only custodians of these instruments, and it’s out duty to endow them with some history. Next up, the alto sax my Dad bought in 1936 which I’m gigging with on Sunday!

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Another way of looking at it…

Posted on 27/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

For your edification, let’s attempt a synthesis of economics, free will and Intelligent Design. Maybe it will kick off a whole new academic discipline. Or maybe not.

Continue reading →

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

Fame at last

Posted on 25/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

Whadya know – I have my own Wikipedia entry. Well, not my own, exactly. It’s actually in the entry about luthier John Bailey, who admittedly isn’t that well known. And it’s in a paragraph by Gordon Giltrap in which he mentions in passing that I bought a Bailey guitar off him and later sold it back. Unfortunately Gordon spells my name wrong.

But you can link to it **->->->->HERE<-<-<-<-**, and use the search engine’s “find” function, and  there, about half way down … my very own encyclopedia article. What’s the betting some sad atheist comes along and deletes it?

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Money evolves too

Posted on 25/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

I caught a trailer for this year’s BBC Reith lectures on the way to a rehearsal yesterday. Apparently they are being given by Niall Ferguson on “the evolutionary approach to economics.” As far as I can see from Google, they’ll be based on his book The Ascent of Money, which clearly alludes to Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man, which in turns refers to Charles’ Darwin’s The Descent of Man. None of them, it seems, depends on my first boss’s political slogan, “Sideways with the People.”

Continue reading →

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Scripture doesn’t tell us?

Posted on 22/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

In Darrel Falk’s latest intervention on Dennis Venema’s behalf at BioLogos  (#70551), he refers Bilbo back to previous statements of his (and BioLogos‘) position, especially in his replies to William Dembski, on the extent to which God directs evolution. Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 9 Comments

Natural and supernatural

Posted on 22/06/2012 by Jon Garvey

Maybe I ought to explain why I consider the combination of a naturalistic, unguided interpretation of creation and evolution, with the admission of the category of “miracle” with regard to the events of the Bible and phenomena like answered prayer, to be illogical. Broadly this is the position that seems to be held by those leading BioLogos, as far as one can ascertain and steer round their provisos and ambiguities.

Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Science, Theology | 1 Comment