The Liturgical Gangstas Tackle “That Evolution Question”
The Liturgical Gangstas is a feature on The Internet Monk where a question or scenario is posited to several pastors and priests from various Christian denominations and traditions. This time, the scenario involves a young college student wrestling with evolution and Christianity.
The entire entry is worth reading, and the follow-up comments are quite interesting, but I’ve highlighted a few parts that jumped out at me.
Joe Boysel (Anglican):
Eventually, I would urge my parishioner not to lose too much sleep over the matter. Scripture does not seek to provide an historical or biological account of human origins; rather it provides a theological framework for understanding humanity (and the universe) as the handiwork of God. On this point honest evolutionists will agree: natural selection does not disprove the existence of God. In other words, there is no need to harmonize science and Scripture on the point of human origins because they have different aims and different claims. Where I would most readily part company with the biologists, however, lies in the notion that discussions of God remain irrelevant to the study of human beings.
Alan Creech (Roman Catholic):
As Catholic Christians, we understand the Bible to be just that, God’s Word — that He, in a very real sense, is its Author through the work of His Holy Spirit. We do not, though, believe that necessitates a very literal reading of all of Scripture. Genesis can be True and not be literal. God can have said exactly what He wanted to say to us, and “7 days” not literally mean 7 24 hour days. That doesn’t mean to say that the Catholic Church teaches definitively one way or the other on the matter of theistic evolution — just that it holds the possibility open.
Eric Landry (PCA Presbyterian):
At either end of this argument are those with absolute certainty. One on side you have those who believe that science does in fact stand against and/or ultimately disprove Christianity. And on the other side are those who believe that Christianity necessitates a rejection of certain scientific ideas. It is also important to go back to the primary texts in the Bible’s account of Creation and make sure that you really understand what they say and why they say it. You may be surprised by finding that the Bible doesn’t give us as much detail as we might hope!