Tomorrow Night, Regent College, Adam and the Genome

Last updated on: July 25, 2017 at 12:01 am by Scot McKnight

Tomorrow Night, Regent College, Adam and the Genome 2017-07-23T11:03:33-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Since 1982 the Gallup Poll [a repost of RJS’s post because tomorrow night Dennis and I will be giving a public lecture at Regent College (Vancouver) on our project] has been asking Americans about their views on evolution and human origins. This week they released the results of their most recent survey conducted in early May of this year (here). The question posed (with the order of options randomized):

Which of the following statements comes closest to your views on the origin and development of human beings:

Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process,

Human beings have developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process,

God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?

Gallup 2017 ar The answers have changed modestly over the last 35 years, with the most significant change an increase in the percentage of those who are comfortable with no guidance at all. This has increased from 9 to 19% over the years, with a concomitant decrease in those who see God involved in the process in one way or another. The plot to the right summarizes the data reported by Gallup. I’ve added error bars at the +/- 4% level reported for the current poll as this helps to clarify the reliability of the results.

The latest poll is noteworthy in that it marks the first time that ‘creation in their present form within the last 10000 years’ was not the clear favorite and the first time this response dropped below 40%. Whether this is a blip (similar to the dip in 2010) or represents a trend remains to be seen. It is encouraging, however, that the drop in the young creation view is countered by an increase in those comfortable with God guiding development over millions of years rather than an increase in the ‘no guidance’ position.

Gallup 2017 Education The Gallup report analyzes these results according to religious views, church attendance, and education level. There are no real surprises here – those who attend church regularly are far more likely to agree choose the young creation view (65% of weekly attenders). The results also correlate strongly with education. The difference between the respondents with and without a college degree is striking. Postgraduate education has a smaller influence.

Is a change afoot? An enormous number of book have been published over the last decade wrestling with the questions of evolution and Christian faith. I’ve reviewed or commented on several dozen books on this blog, with more on the way (I am not sure of the exact number I’ve read and reviewed – I stopped counting and returned to writing this post when I passed 36 on the shelves in my study). I am currently working through Adam and the Genome, Evolution and the Fall, Science and Christianity, and The Emergence of Personhood, three of which focus on the questions raised by human evolution.

Most of the books that have been, and are being, published work through the theological and biblical questions raised by evolution. This is significant. As a church we are digging into the important questions. These book are being published (often by relatively conservative Christian publishers) and are being read. At the recent BioLogos conference, one author noted that publishers who shied away from his work a decade ago as “too controversial” are approaching him about the possibility of publishing his next book.

Although resistance remains, I have found far more willingness to listen and understand than was common a decade ago. Dennis Venema recently made a similar observation on a post at BioLogos: A Decade of Evolutionary Creation: Milestones and Signposts.

Evolutionary creation is a viable option for understanding and making sense of God’s world.

Do you think there is an increased openness to evolutionary creation?

If so, what is driving this change?

If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail [at] att.net.

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 24, 2017

Liberate Your Praying Heart

Next Post

July 25, 2017 A Sign of Love, a Sign of Hope (RJS)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was promised descendants as numerous as the stars?

Select your answer to see how you score.

David Abraham Jacob Moses