{"id":11846,"date":"2008-01-21T15:59:04","date_gmt":"2008-01-21T22:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/01\/21\/the-new-theology.html"},"modified":"2008-01-21T15:59:04","modified_gmt":"2008-01-21T22:59:04","slug":"the_new_theology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/21\/the_new_theology.html","title":{"rendered":"The New Theology"},"content":{"rendered":"

DOF points<\/a> to a Chicago Trib article about some efforts to reconcile science and religion into a new theology<\/a> that resembles deism (in terms of having a world that operates by natural processes, not constant divine intervention) but with a caring God behind the clockwork, for whom a non-deterministic world (so far as can be recognized) is actually the divine plan.<\/p>\n

\n

He rejected the idea of God as a supernatural being who took care to design every galaxy and blade of grass. The God he sought couldn’t have designed everything at the outset, because the universe that science reveals is always unfolding, always changing. He began to think of God as a silent presence within nature, the source of the nameless awe he felt when studying the genesis of solar systems and the life of our endlessly fertile planet.<\/p>\n

“If your faith requires supernaturalism, or a God who wields overpowering control over nature, then yes, evolution will challenge that,” says Van Till, who took early retirement from Calvin College in 1999.”The key is to correct your portrait of God,” he says.<\/p>\n

It’s an audacious suggestion, but transforming the way people think about God has become a vital mission for a wave of scientists and theologians who want to place the natural world at the forefront of religion. They see themselves as spokespersons for an emerging religious majority that has been obscured by the excesses of stubborn creationists and the iconoclastic broadsides of scientific atheists.<\/p>\n

Evolution, they contend, is more than a soulless explanation for the development of life. It is a glimpse of a divine plan so subtle it’s almost invisible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The term use is “theistic evolution” (one proponent calls it the bit geekier “BioLogos”).   It’s not going to convince traditionalist Christians, who see such a God as “having his hands tied” (though one seems to recall that Christianity speaks of a God who literally did just that).  Nor does it particularly satisfy anti-theists who see it as needless complicating something that its proponents admit doesn’t need God around for an explanation.<\/p>\n

Does it satisfy or convince me?  It’s probably closer to my own views than a lot of other schools of thought, but I’m still pondering it  a bit.  A good read, regardless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Iwo Jima is...","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-books"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/giantrobot.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10131,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/08\/28\/a_broken_clock.html","url_meta":{"origin":11846,"position":1},"title":"A broken clock is correct twice a day","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Aug-06 7:38am","format":false,"excerpt":"DOF makes an excellent point viz the \"controversy\" over whether Hitler's Master Race \/ Holocaust plans were inspired by Darwin -- the unmentioned point of which is to discredit Darwin...","rel":"","context":"In "Religion"","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10687,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/11\/18\/galactus_is_coming.html","url_meta":{"origin":11846,"position":2},"title":"Galactus is Coming!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 18-Nov-06 9:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A collaboration between Stan Lee and Jack Chick. (Well, not really, but ...) (via DOF)...","rel":"","context":"In "Comics & Comic Books"","block_context":{"text":"Comics & Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/reed.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10364,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/05\/because_the_bible_tells_m.html","url_meta":{"origin":11846,"position":3},"title":"“… Because the Bible tells me so”","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Feb-07 9:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"Yikes. \u00a0 You know the Bible 100%! Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the...","rel":"","context":"In "Personal Q&A"","block_context":{"text":"Personal Q&A","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personal-qa"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11683,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/07\/18\/potpourri_for_the_feast_o.html","url_meta":{"origin":11846,"position":4},"title":"Potpourri for the Feast of St Philaster","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Jul-07 3:56pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Etc., etc. Who was St Philaster? DOF writes persuasively that a conservative Supreme Court (at least a 5-4 one) might not be as bad as liberals think, if it...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/potpourri.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9674,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/15\/mao_was_never_l.html","url_meta":{"origin":11846,"position":5},"title":"Mao was never like this","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 15-May-06 7:15am","format":false,"excerpt":"DOF points out the irony in a \"Friends in Christ\" pencil, complete with ICHTHYS logo -- apparently manufactured in China (where, one suspects, carrying around such a pencil could have...","rel":"","context":"In "Big Business"","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11846\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}