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Tuesday 3 July 2007

Evolution from an Evangelical Perspective: Recommended Internet Resources

(Last updated: November 6, 2007)

One of the great things about the Internet is you CAN find just about everything. One the worst things about the Internet is that you DO find just about everything. Sorting the wheat from the chaff (let alone the rat bait) can be a frustrating task. Google search may be your friend, but it probably should not be your starting point for researching a topic like an Evangelical view of Evolution. The following is my suggestion on how to approach the topic.

A) Theistic Evolution (TE) or Evolutionary Creation (EC) Resources

Assumption: You are an Evangelical Christian and know very little about evolution. Almost everything you’ve heard about it from other Christians is negative. You are surprised that some Evangelical Christians are very comfortable with the science of biological evolution. Where do you start?

1. The 15 minute starter essay: Denis Lamoureux’s essay “Evolutionary Creation”: It provides an excellent explanation of why the scientific theory of evolution can be acknowledged by Evangelicals without compromising the theology of creation or biblical authority.

2. Overviews of science and faith from an Evangelical perspective:
I highly recommend two series of essays written by fellow ASA members Allan Harvey and Robert Schneider.

3. Answering Young Earth Creationist arguments against Radiometric Dating & an old earth: Roger Wiens has written an excellent, readable paper geared towards the general public called Radiometric Dating: A Christian Perspective.

4. Resources for in-depth Science and Faith articles:

5. Multimedia Science and Faith Resources:

6. Overview of the Science of Evolution

B) Other Viewpoints

Many Christians do not accept the scientific evidence for evolution, and believe that it is theologically damaging. These Christians can generally be categorized into three groups.

1) Young Earth Creationism (YEC)

YEC’s interpret the creation accounts in Genesis literally (see my post on this) and believe that the earth is only about 6000 years old. The best resources for articles from a YEC point of view are Answers in Genesis (AIG) and Creation Ministries International (CMI)

2) Old Earth Creationism (OEC)

OEC’s accept the evidence for an old earth, but not the evidence for biological evolution. The best resource for articles from this viewpoint is Hugh Ross’s Reason to Believe.

3) Intelligent Design (ID):

ID is a complicated movement. ID has been described as the view that “nature shows tangible signs of having been designed by a pre-existing intelligence”. Although ID by definition is not anti-evolutionary, most adherents do oppose evolution, and much of its apologetic work is anti-evolutionary.

  • A good source of ID resources is the Access Research Network (ARN) website.
  • A good way to get to know the views of ID adherents is to follow the Uncommondescent weblog
  • 3 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Don't forget about my on-line video essays!

    www.beyondthefirmament.com

    Anonymous said...

    I used to accept the theory of evolution, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. It is very easy to accept a literal reading of Genesis and believe in an old earth. Yet evolution simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible. Whereas creationists (both young-earth, day-age, and progressive) believe the inerrency of the Bible, most all evolutionists ridicule it, give lame replies like saying it isn't a "science textbook" (in other words the authors of the Bible were wrong).

    Anonymous said...

    Faith through the ages:

    C 100 AD
    I used to accept a round earth, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. A round earth simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible.

    C 700 AD
    I used to accept the existence of antichthones, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. It is very easy to accept a literal reading of Genesis and believe in a round earth. Yet the existence of antichthones simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible.

    C 1600
    I used to accept heliocentric theory, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. It is very easy to accept a literal reading of Genesis and believe in the existence of antichthones. Yet heliocentric theory simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible.

    C 1800
    I used to accept an old earth, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. It is very easy to accept a literal reading of Genesis and believe in heliocentric theory. Yet an old earth simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible.

    C 2000
    I used to accept the theory of evolution, yet it drained me of my faith. In the end I rejected it. It is very easy to accept a literal reading of Genesis and believe in an old earth. Yet evolution simply cannot be reconciled with the Bible.