The Grand Theory of Everything
My son got me listening to podcasts of Timothy Keller, which I do when I am walking the dog (but I need to use the earbuds.)
So I have been reading some of his website material. One was a series of talks he did about evolution and Genesis. It was thought-provoking but I will withhold judgment here.
He explains (asserts?) that Genesis 1 is a poetic rendering of what happens in Genesis 2, and therefore the poetic language is not to be taken literally. He also says that evolution as a biological process could have been used by God, since that is what the physical evidence seems to show, but that the process is a tool and not "the grand theory of everything."
This might be helpful to some as a distinction. The problem with evolution theory (well, one of them) is that it has become the explanatory myth of the age, the metanarrative, and it therefore is used to define all of our behavior, our existence, our meaning, our purpose. Why do I love my husband and children? Evolution. Why do I like avocados? Evolution. Why do I get mad at my dog when she jerks me to chase a rabbit? Evolution. Why do I believe in God? Evolution.
He does have to align the fall with all this, though. The sinfulness of man is one of the easiest doctrines to prove, but the fall and evolution don't really go together. The story goes: God developed the primates through evolution to the point where he could put living souls into them, gave them the image of God, etc. and then the original pair (or however many people which were symbolized in Adam and Eve) sinned and created the need for redemption This even helps explain where Cain got his wife! (she was some other primate that didn't make the cut?)
I am not sure about all this.
So I have been reading some of his website material. One was a series of talks he did about evolution and Genesis. It was thought-provoking but I will withhold judgment here.
He explains (asserts?) that Genesis 1 is a poetic rendering of what happens in Genesis 2, and therefore the poetic language is not to be taken literally. He also says that evolution as a biological process could have been used by God, since that is what the physical evidence seems to show, but that the process is a tool and not "the grand theory of everything."
This might be helpful to some as a distinction. The problem with evolution theory (well, one of them) is that it has become the explanatory myth of the age, the metanarrative, and it therefore is used to define all of our behavior, our existence, our meaning, our purpose. Why do I love my husband and children? Evolution. Why do I like avocados? Evolution. Why do I get mad at my dog when she jerks me to chase a rabbit? Evolution. Why do I believe in God? Evolution.
He does have to align the fall with all this, though. The sinfulness of man is one of the easiest doctrines to prove, but the fall and evolution don't really go together. The story goes: God developed the primates through evolution to the point where he could put living souls into them, gave them the image of God, etc. and then the original pair (or however many people which were symbolized in Adam and Eve) sinned and created the need for redemption This even helps explain where Cain got his wife! (she was some other primate that didn't make the cut?)
I am not sure about all this.
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