HOME  INTERVIEWS  RESOURCES  NEWS  ABOUT

View by:  Subject  Theme  Question  Term  Person  Event

C. Creation and Evolution

We begin with a brief scientific overview of evolutionary biology.

Science minisummary: evolutionary biology. Evolutionary biologyFor a helpful introduction, see James Trefil and Robert M. Hazen, The Sciences: An Integrated Approach, Second Edition / Updated Edition (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), Chs. 19-25; Roger...rests on two principles: variation and selection. Natural selection was proposed by Charles Darwin in his 1859 publication, The Origin of Species.Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (New York: Avenel Books, 1979).It is a process that promotes or maintains adaptation by filtering out among the variations in progeny those most fit to survive, and thus gives creatures the appearance of purpose or design. What was missing for Darwin was a theory of inheritance that would explain the basis and preservation of variations on which natural selection could act. Simultaneous with Darwin’s work, but unknown to him, the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel developed just what was needed in his study of peas. In 1900, Mendel’s genetic theory of heredity was rediscovered by evolutionary biologists. After several decades of research by geneticists such as R. A. Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright, and culminating in the work of Theodosius Dobzhansky in 1937, Mendelian genetics was fully integrated into Darwin’s theory of natural selection in what is now called the modern or synthetic theory of evolution. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the molecular structure of DNA, the hereditary material contained in the chromosomes of the nucleus of each cell. DNA in turn consists of two long chains of nucleotides coiled into a double helix. A gene is a sequence of nucleotides required for the production of a specific protein; the information needed is encoded in the specific sequence of these nucleotides. The DNA molecule is copied during routine cell division (mitosis) as well as during sexual reproduction (meiosis), thus preserving and transmitting hereditary information. Miscopying and other forms of genetic mutation constitute a major source of biological variation.

In recent decades, the modern synthesis has been extended to include paleontology, comparative anatomy, biogeography, embryology and molecular genetics. Research areas include the processes of speciation, gradual versus punctuated evolution, protein evolution, the neutrality theory of molecular evolution, the molecular evolutionary clock, multiple forms of selection at the level of gene, organism, kin, group, and species, and the possibility of additional sources of biological novelty besides mutation and selection. There are also a variety of scientific theories pushing the frontiers of evolutionary and molecular biology from the perspective of physics, including chaos, complexity, and self-organization, particularly through the work of Stuart Kauffman. Moreover, research on human evolution is focusing on what distinguishes our species from other early hominids, including such possibilities as bipedalism, brain size, language and tools, as well as on the biological basis of morality.

Contributed by: Dr. Robert Russell

Theology and Science: Current Issues and Future Directions

Introduction
Part I: Method in Theology and Science
    A. Typologies (‘Ways of Relating Science and Religion’)
    B. Critical Realism: The Original ‘Bridge’ Between Science and Religion.
    C. Further Developments in Methodology: Pannenberg, Murphy, Clayton
    D. Anti-Reductionism
       1. Three Types Of Reductionism
       2. A Non-Reducible Hierarchy of The Sciences
       3. Non-Foundational (Holist) Epistemology
    E. Ontological Implications
    F. Metaphysical System vs. Specific Philosophical Issues
    G. Summary of Critical Realism and Open Issues
  Part 2: Developments and Current Issues in Christian Theology and Natural Science
    A. God and Nature
       1. Time and Eternity
       2. Divine Action
          a) Agential Models of God’s Interaction With the World
          b) Agential Models of Embodiment and Non-Embodiment
          c) Metaphysical Systems and Divine Action
    B. Creation and Cosmology
       1. Big Bang Cosmology
          a) t=0
          b) The Anthropic Principle (AP)
       2. Inflationary Big Bang and Quantum Cosmologies
          a) t=0 revisited
          b) The Anthropic Principle Revisited
          c) Final Remark
    C. Creation and Evolution
       1. Two Philosophical Issues Raised By Evolution: Holism and Teleology
          a) Holist Versus Reductionist Accounts
          b) Teleology in Biology
       2. Evolution and Continuous Creation
    D. Theological Anthropology and Evolutionary Biology and The Cognitive Sciences
       1. Reformulation of ‘Body and Soul’
       2. The Person as a Psychosomatic Unity
       3. The Person in Process Thought
       4. The Person in Feminist Theology
       5. A Physicalist Approach to the Person
       6. The Person in Light of Human Genetics
       7. Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Theological Anthropology
    E: Redemption, Evolution and Cosmology
       1. Christology
          a) Christology and Quantum Complementarity
          b) Christology in an Evolutionary Perspective
          c) The Resurrection in Relation to Science
       2. Theodicy
       3. Eschatology
          a) Eschatology and the Earth
          b) Eschatology and ‘Philosophical Cosmology’
          c) Eschatology and Scientific Cosmology
  Part 3: Challenges and Future Directions
    A. Feminist Critiques of Science and Of Theology and Science
       1. Feminist Critiques of Science
       2. Feminist Critiques of ‘Science and Religion’
    B. Post-Modern Challenges to Science and to Theology and Science
    C. Inter-Religious Dialogue, World Spiritualities, and Science
       1. Dialogue Between a Specific Religion and Science
       2. Interreligious Dialogue with Science
    D. History of Science and Religion
       1. Exposing the ‘Conflict’ Myth
       2. The ‘Religious Origins’ Thesis
    E. Theological and Philosophical Implications for Science: An Interaction Model of Theology and Science
       1. From Physics to Theology
       2. From Theology to Physics
       3. Results
  Appendix: Teaching Resources and Programs in Science and Religion
    i ) Textbooks and Overview Articles
    ii) Teaching Resources
    iii) Programs
    iv) Journals
    v) Websites

Source:


Dr. Robert J. Russell

See also:

Genetics
Evolution
Physics and Cosmology
History
Ethics
The Cognitive and Neurosciences
Computing
Ecology
Philosophy
Theology
The Relation of Science & Religion
Purpose and Design
The Faith of Scientists
Literal and Symbolic Truths
What Science Can Learn From Religion
What Religion Can Learn From Science
Books on Science and Religion - General
Books on Physics and Theology
Books on Biology, Genetics and Theology
Books on Neuroscience and Theology
Books on Information Technology