“Death creates an economy that makes life precious. One of the ways of naming that preciousness is friendship.”
Stanley Hauerwas

Introduction – Charles Darwin and the Church

Larissa Aldridge
2009 was a year with many occasions to celebrate, including the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin and the commemoration of 400 years since Galileo first turned a telescope to the heavens and discovered the moons of Jupiter. As significant as Galileo’s later trial before the Roman Inquisition has been for the relationship between science and religion, it is arguable that a greater rift between the two was caused by the work of Charles Darwin. 2009 marked 200 years since Darwin’s birth, and the 150th anniversary of his most significant work, The Origin of Species.

Despite the passing of a century and a half, the debates concerning the compatibility of Darwinism and Christianity show no sign of abating. On the one hand, we have atheists such as Richard Dawkins who insist that Darwinian evolution has removed any rational foundation for Christian faith. On the other hand, some Christians insist that Darwinism contracts a literal reading of Genesis, and therefore must be rejected. In the middle, there are a range of opinions from both Christians and atheists who allow for the possibility of some kind of compatibility between Christianity and Darwinism.

In this vein, a symposium was recently held at St Paul’s College at the University of Sydney, titled “Charles Darwin and the Church,” to discuss the positive impact of evolutionary ideas on religious thought. In the following short articles, I’ll review the main ideas of three of the eight papers: John Gascoigne on “Darwin and the British Natural Theology Tradition;” Tom Frame on “The Australian Religious Reaction to The Origin of Species;” and Stephen Ames on “Why Would God Use Darwinian Evolution to Bring Life into Existence?” Ames’ paper will be published by the Australasian Theological Forum inc., early in 2010.

Read article No. 1 Darwin and the British Natural Theology Tradition

Read article No. 2 The Australian Religious Reaction to The Origin of the Species

Read article No. 3 Would God use Darwinian Evolution to bring life into existence?

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22-May-2010 06:33 AM Anonymous 5 out of 5 stars
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13-Jul-2010 10:42 AM Anonymous 3 out of 5 stars
A review I read of Roy Williams' book also touches on this area. It is at: http://aufiles.creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j23_1/j23_1_35-39.pdf

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