Posts of the Month Awards – October 2007

I know that the last time I did something like this was almost 2 months ago, that mid-month is a silly time to be passing out monthly awards, and that some of the posts in contention were actually published late last month. But when PEDEBA (The Panel of “an Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution” Blog Authors) reaches consensus, it acts immediately. So on with the show.

A) Post of the Month Award

*** “Sympathy for the Devil’s Chaplin” by Stephen Matheson (Part-one here and Part-two here):

After much heated debate, PEDEBA unanimously chose Matheson’s two-part series on Richard Dawkins. Matheson gives credit where credit is due. He also apologizes (sort of) for referring to Dawkins as “The Idiot”, highly recommends (some of) his writings, and points out areas where Christian critics have been unfair to the Professor with the Overlong Title. Looks like I’ll have to put Dawkins book “The Extended Phenotype” on my “To Read” list. So many good books, so little time …

B) Honourable Mention

In Chronological Order ...

1) “Theisms, Creationisms, and Evolutionisms: An Exercise in Definition” by Henry Neufeld

Henry Neufeld is a prolific blogger (Ok, just about anyone is prolific compared to my once-a-week-or-so postings) and Evolution-ID-creation is a frequent topic for Henry. I always appreciate his perspective, even when I don’t agree with it. This post provides a good overview of some of the pertinent definitions in the evolution debate. It also references (in the comments) a good discussion on ID’s relationship to YEC at Sun and Shield, the blog of Martin Labar who occasionally comments here on "An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution".

2) “Biblical Literalism: Fast Track to Atheism” and the “The Evolutionist Conspiracy” by James McGrath

Two good posts in one day (where does he find the time??), the first on the fact that biblical literalism can lead to a loss of faith (as I’ve commented before here) and the second on the myth of the evolution conspiracy.

3) “Randomness in Nature” by Gordon Glover

Gordon Glover, author of Beyond the Firmament, addresses a reader's question on randomness in evolution and how this can be consistent with God’s providence.

4) “The Gift is not like the Trespass” by Stephen Matheson.

Matheson comments on Paul’s argument in Romans 5 comparing Adam's sin and Christ's redemptive work. A very interesting take for those struggling with the issue of the (seemingly) required historicity of Adam.

5) “The Clergy Letter Project: Pastors for Evolution” by Vance McAllister

McAllister points out that many Christian clergy have signed an open letter stating that there is no conflict between the Christian faith and evolution.

C) The Not so Fine Print

PEDEBA deliberated for many hours making these very difficult choices. The Panel’s decision is final. Those who voice their disagreement or disapproval will not be considered for future awards until they submit an essay entitled “How I convinced Richard Dawkins and Ken Ham to agree on just about everything”.

Cliff Martin’s very interesting series on "Entropy and Theodicy" at Outside the Box was originally nominated for consideration. However, it was discovered that Cliff is the 5th cousin of one of the PEDEBA panel members and was thus ruled ineligible for the award. The PEDEBA committee on nepotism, despotism, and endofNOMAtism is currently considering a challenge to this ruling but was unable to reach a decision prior to the randomly selected award deadline.

Award winners receive a significant cash prize of 10% of the revenue generated from "An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution" during the month in which their post appeared. More significantly, the cash prize is in Canadian Dollars. For my American winners: No, that is not monopoly money, and yes it is worth much more than that boring green stuff you try to sluff off on us. (I have been waiting YEARS to say that!)