Science and Religion

Introduction Christian theologians and philosophers have discussed human nature for some two millennia. In light of the daunting smallness of human beings against the backdrop of God’s greatness and the vastness of the universe already the psalmist raised the question: “ What are human beings th...

James L. Hayward, Dinosaurs, Volcanoes, and Holy Writ: A Boy-Turned-Scientist Journeys from Fundamentalism to Faith (Eugene, OR: Resource), 236 pp., USD 26.00 In this book (hereafter The Journey), James L. Hayward, retired biology professor, presents his argument against the “fundamentalist” fait...

Matthias Dorn and Rolf Pöhler present a collection of essays dealing with today’s relevance of the belief in creation. The purpose of the book is to present the beauty of the biblical theology of creation and to unfold its intellectual and spiritual values (p. 16). The individual essays do not pr...

There has been a recent resurgence in the belief that the earth is flat. Television documentaries, internet posts, and entire websites are devoted to the idea. This article examines the purported biblical evidence brought forward to support this view. We will provide a brief history of the ide...

In his book Baptizing the Devil, Clifford Goldstein embarks on a sustained critique of contemporary culture’s fascination with science and Christianity’s capitulation to it as having the upper hand in the search for truth. In eleven engaging chapters, Goldstein’s focus is particularly on evolut...

Theistic evolution lacks a clear, concise, and definitive definition. However, two features are common to characterizations of theistic evolution: 1) an account of origins at odds with the biblical record of history and 2) death before sin. These characteristics appear irreconcilable with biblical Christianity, so how could theistic evolution become acceptable within any Christian tradition? Possible answers include: 1) abandoning the authority of Scripture and 2) defining death before sin differently than death after sin. Both accommodations are achievable through Catholic doctrines, which are examined based on official Catholic statements regarding theistic evolution and creation during the time theistic evolution became accepted as an orthodox Catholic position. These are compared with the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s Statement of Fundamental Beliefs.

There are some people who are dual citizens and have passports from two different countries. Australia, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States are among the countries that allow this. Having two passports does not mean they are traitors to one country or less loyal to the other. Similarly, so...

Introduction In some quarters of contemporary culture, evolution has been taken as fact , and this has the effect of making the interdisciplinary conversation between Christian theology and science an increasingly important theological topic. It may come as a surprise that this resurgence is hap...

Biblical depictions of eschatological events presuppose a manner of divine intervention potentially in conflict with the principles of uniformitarianism adopted in the practice of science. 2 Peter 3 contrasts a uniformitarianist argument with an interventionist view of God’s action in history, referring to three specific events: the creation, the flood, and the day of judgment. This view of history affirms God’s commitment to love and rescue His creation, while at the same time attesting the superiority of the Creator over His creation. Eschatology does not need to represent a threat to science, provided that our understanding of the relation of the present to the past and future acknowledges: 1) the reality of God the Creator as preexisting and distinct from His creation; 2) there have been divinely caused processes in the past, when God intervened in nature; and 3) these past divine interventions warrant the possibility of a future one.

Theistic evolution, a widespread theory held by Catholic and non-Catholic believers, seeks to explain the origin of the universe. Among Roman Catholics it became official after Pope John Paul II’s affirmation before the Pontifical Academy of Sciences that there is no real conflict between Scripture (and theology) and the findings of science. Theistic evolution is a reigning paradigm among Protestant— even Evangelical—scholars, and Adventists are no longer the exception. The paper questions evolution in its theistic version by pointing out implications for Adventist eschatology, beginning with implications for key principles of eschatological interpretation and following with implications for ten key Adventist eschatological beliefs.