Welcome to Conscious Curiosity, where we break down concepts & insights from experts for normal people, particularly insights into relationships, faith & psychology. Basically cliff notes for grown-ups!
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Here's this month's "zoom in" edition:
On reconciling faith with science
Conscious Curiosity: Edition No. 19
{faith + science}
Can we believe both the Bible and science? What about the Genesis creation account vs. Evolution?
{First off, I acknowledge (and apologize!) that this is coming 2.5 months later than promised. My writing sabbatical somehow stretched into mid-April thanks to a very full start to the year with work & life overflowing (all good things), but I'm back! I haven't quite figured out what the cadence will be going forward, but I'm going to aim for one CC each month...and trust there will be abundant grace if I miss one here or there π}
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βBack to Evolutionary Creationism!
The data doesn't lieβmore than half of Americans say that science and religion are "mostly in conflict," according to Pew Research. Among non-Christians, the number is even higher (73%).
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Barna Group consistently finds that "science" is one of the top reasons young people doubt or are actively leaving their faith. Gen Z in particular feels that "the church seems to reject much of what science tells us about the world."
But does it have to be this way? Are faith and science binary opposites?
A growing number of voices β from scientists to theologians to Bible scholars β say no, it doesn't have to be this way.
An important point to make before we dive into the deep end: many Christians who "deconstruct" their faith at some point in their journey say that they felt like the church taught that if you didn't believe in a literal 7-day creation as told in Genesis 1, you weren't a Christian. Therefore, once they got to college or studied science or biology and their belief in the literal 7-day creation account grew shaky, their whole faith crumbled. BUT:
Believing that God is the creator of the world is a primary theological issue, meaning it's part of being a Christian.
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But having questions or holding space for science to help us understand exactly how God created the world is a tertiary issue, meaning it neither confirms nor denies a person's faith.
So deep breaths as we begin. There are whole conversations among theologians right now about "theological triage" and the harmful division in the church caused by disagreement over secondary and tertiary issues. God can handle our questions β in fact, He welcomes them! And God is not afraid of science. If you believe, like I do, that He created all things, then He created science.
- Young Earth Creationism - literal interpretation of Genesis 1; believes God made everything in six, 24hr days; relies on genealogies to date earth's age; least compatible with science.
- Old Earth Creationism - literal interpretation of Genesis 1; relies on the theory that a gap of time exists between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2; syncs with scientific estimates of earth's age.
- Progressive Creationism - under the umbrella of Old Earth Creationism but differs by holding more of an allegorical interpretation of Genesis 1:1, including believing that the Hebrew word for "days" better translates to "periods" or "ages."
- Evolutionary Creationism (or Theistic Evolution)- holds to an allegorical interpretation of Genesis 1 (and 2), specifically reading it through the lens of Hebrew poetry called a "chiasm." Believes that God created & creates through evolution; most compatible with science.
βJohn Walton, prominent Old Testament scholar and author of the "Lost World" series (very worth your time if this subject is of interest!) argues that:
If God is the author of both the Bible and the natural world, they cannot ultimately be in conflict when properly understood.
This may seem like a fairly radical sentiment on its face, but it is worthy of reflection.
Still other scientists and theologians posit that evolution is not inherently anti-biblical...it is merely a scientific concept. And the Bible is not a scientific textbook.
We can't ask them to do the job of the other.
With that view in mind, John Walton specifically says that Genesis 1 is not a scientific explanation of how the world was created, but a theological description of God establishing order, purpose and function. He further explains that when we come to the text asking it to give us scientific explanations, we are imposing modern-day questions on it that it was never intended to answer.
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As an Old Testament and ancient Near East scholar, his insight into the perspective of biblical authors is profound and radically shifts the questions that we as the readers can expect the text to answer.
Through that lens, Genesis 1 is about God ordering his cosmos, not a scientific explanation of the material origins of the cosmos.
Evolution simply means "change over time." Accepting the scientific evidence presented by evolutionary theory does not deny the existence of God β far from it. Evolutionary theory is a scientific concept that can help us understand the material origins of the cosmos...while still believing that God is creator and order-er of the cosmos.
The most important thing is to know that science is not anti-Christian and faith is not anti-science. The two can coexist and can even enliven and enrich the other.
Curious to learn more? Recommended resources below!
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***Note from Ansley:*** β
I don't know about y'all, but I've missed this!! I've been working on the research for this edition for 6+ weeks, but what put me over the edge to finally sit down and write was all the MOON JOY from Artemis II over the past 10 days.
Hearing the astronauts talk about their faith while floating in zero gravity and doing *peak science* to go to deep space and come back earthside just did me in. For all their incredible intellectualism and love of science, they didn't seem to hold any tension with quoting Psalms while orbiting the moon and giving glory to creator God. It was so moving, not just to me, but seemingly to so many of us.
As I've mentioned here before, I'm a medical mom. Since literal day 2 of my mothering, science and scientific research and people with PhD's have held an incredibly important place in our family's story and the life of our oldest child. I've watched with deep grief (and transparently, not an insignificant amount of anger) at the assault on scientific expertise the past several years, especially since Covid.
There are so many dynamics behind it β political, financial, socioeconomic, experiential, exposure of real corruption, etc β but there's been a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater and discount the whole of scientific expertise...and we just don't have to do that.
Not only do we not have to, but we lose an incredible gift if we do.
From my perspective as a Christian, it often seems like there is a particular tendency to discredit science from fellow believers. There's this sense that they are binary opposites or somehow threats to each other...but in my experience and the more I study / learn, that just couldn't be further from the truth.
So this one is close to my heart. It has been fascinating for me to lean into this topic and research to learn more about something I've always had curiosity and tension around. Discovering that there are not one, but four, distinct schools of thought within Creationism was very helpful to me, as well as learning how each align or don't align with scientific evidence.
There's so much more to this topic, but I hope this has been helpful and interesting! Please send me an email or instagram DM to let me know your thoughts!
"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalms 19:1
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