Clark Pinnock and the "wider hope" - salvation for the unevangelised?

I remembered a reason why I revamped my homepage. It was to make it easier for me to add to it articles I've written in the past that can still be of benefit to others. Today I've added this article: Clark Pinnock and the "wider hope" - hope for the unevangelised?

Home-page revamp

None of the content has changed (apart from a few extra sermons added from other places), but I've spruced up my home-page.

I had a few improvements I wanted to make, but they were waiting on being facilitated by some back-end work. I can't remember any more what those improvements were, but they're on a list somewhere... but the site is now in shape for me to easily add resources which will, God-willing, make it a lot more useful place for visitors in future.

IVP's "Should Christians Embrace Evolution?" Reviewed

As author of one of the chapters in IVP's new book, "Should Christians Embrace Evolution?", I did receive an early draft of all the other chapters. But I did not make time to read many of them.

Now I've finally had the finished work in my hands for a few weeks. I may be biased, but I believe it is an extremely impressive and important book. I've already seen evidence that it has raised questions for people in circles where there had been little serious questionning of Darwinism before.

I want to encourage all my blog readers to read it and recommend it to others - whether you agree or disagree. I don't know of another work on the market like it. It's scholarly and thorough, with each chapter being written by an authoritative guide to their subject. This is the most substantial contemporary case put "on the table" by Darwin nay-sayers and essential to understanding the present state of debate. It is not a single author trying to cover many fields - each chapter is from an expert on their topic. To the end of persuading you to buy and read it, I'm going to briefly blog my way through the book to give a flavour of what's in there.

Today we'll just do the preliminaries. IVP have obviously shared this view of the importance of the book, and once you open the inside cover you'll find a raft of recommendations. An Anglican Bishop, a Bible college principal, professors of physics, philosophy, theology, law, humanities, mathematics and information science and a head of educational services for Scotland - it's a wide range. There's a common thread running through the responses - this book contains a serious and (for most of the recommenders) convincing Biblical and scientific challenge to "theistic evolution". The list of contributors and their bios follows. A similarly wide-ranging crew - four professors, a senior Cambridge research scientist, pastors and Bible college teachers, a denominational chariman of apologetics, a theological advisor to UCCF. Baptists, Church of Scotland, Presbyterian, Anglican, cessationists, charismatics - and an agnostic! PhDs in theology, environmental science, biology, aeronautics, medicine and chemistry. The charge made by many Darwinists is that only the ignorant doubt Darwinism. That charge itself is ignorant!

The foreword is from Professor Wayne Grudem, research professor of theology and Biblical studies in Phoenix, Arizona and author of a widely used Systematic Theology textbook. His own conclusion is: "I was previously aware that theistic evolution had serious difficulties, but I am now more firmly convinced thann ever that it is impossible to believe consistently in both the truthfulness of the Bible and Darwinian evolution. We have to choose one or the other." That's the case that the book will make.

The 3-page preface comes from co-ordinating editor Phil Hills, a pastor of 23 years. Its purpose is to set the background for the book. In recent years, the "New Atheists" have been making the charge that Christianity and science are fundamentally incompatible - and Darwinism has been their main battering ram. Many Christians have responded by trying to argue that Darwinism and the Bible can be made to agree, and have joined the "New Atheists" in the same strident demands that those who doubt Darwinism give up the fight and concede its truthfulness - even going so far as to treat those who don't as embarassments to the cause. The theology of these "theistic evolutionists", though, is novel and re-engineers key Biblical doctrines. Neither is the scientific case as strong as the rhetoric would make out. The purpose of this book is to set out the case that it is definitely not necessary, or even desirable, for a Christian to embrace Darwinian evolution, whether philosophically, Biblically or scientifically. Each chapter will make a strong case that on the issue at stake, a traditional Christian position holds more water than the new theology of the Christian Darwinists, and in particular its most recent prominent respresentative, Dr. Denis Alexander of Cambridge (via his book, "Creation or Evolution - do we have to choose?").

So much for the preliminaries. Next time on to the meat. Here's the chapter list:

1. Evolution and the Church - Alistair Donald
2. The language of Genesis - Alistair McKitterick
3. Adam and Eve - Michael Reeves
4. The fall and death - Greg Haslam
5. Creation, redemption and eschatology - David Anderson
6. The nature and character of God - Andrew Sibley
7. Faith and creation - R. T. Kendall
8. Towards a science worthy of creatures in imago Dei - Steve Fuller
9. Interpretation of scientific evidence:
A. Homology - Norman Nevin
B. The nature of the fossil record - Norman Nevin
C. Chromosomal fusion and common ancestry - Geoff Barnard
D. Information and thermodynamics - Andy McIntosh
10. Does the genome provide evidence for common ancestry? - Geoff Barnard
11. The origin of life: scientists play dice - John Walton
Conclusion: Should Christians embrace evolution? - Phil Hills and Norman Nevin

Should Christians Embrace Evolution?

The new book has a very nice and comprehensive website. The publisher is obviously taking it very seriously, which I think is absolutely right. I had no idea there was a website until someone on a mailing list told me today. No need for me to say any more - it's all here:

http://www.shouldchristiansembraceevolution.com

New Book: Should Christians Embrace Evolution?

In this "Darwin year", we've been exposed to a glut of pro-evolution propaganda from a wide variety of sources. It's not unexpected that the "New Atheist" crowd should rely heavily on Darwin for their goals. What is grievously sad is to see the energetic efforts from groups within evangelical Christianity to promote a pro-Darwin agenda. The motivation and message seems to be that standing up for the Christian church's historic belief in a divine creation ex nihilo (out of nothing) that was accomplished by a supernatural divine word in the comparatively recent past is no longer credible. We don't want to look silly when Professor Dawkins pokes fun at us! These Christian apologists tell us that Darwinism has no theological implications, and can be reconciled with the book of Genesis easily.

On that particular matter, though, the "New Atheists" are right. The attempt to shoe-horn macro-evolution into the Bible, and the idea that where we came from has no meaning, is intellectual suicide. The methods of Bible interpretation used turn the Bible into a nose of wax that can be shaped to say anything you please. That really does make us look silly.

Neither is the effort to make peace with Darwin scientifically necessary. We live in times when Darwin's knowledge of biology has been vastly superceded. The fossil record and modern genetics falsify Darwin's theory again and again. Darwinism retains its place in the academy only because of the unthinkable nature of the alternative to the modern secular mind. To jump on this horse now, when the simplest analysis can show you that it's got three broken legs and has already been shot, is not a good move. And certainly not a necessary one!

And now for the good news. Here's the intellectual ammunition, Biblical, theological and scientific, to show you why you can answer the question "Should Christians Embrace Evolution" with a decisive "No!". Here's the book for the layman which explains the issues in a way that is careful easy to follow, and that covers all the bases.

Published by Intervarsity Press and edited by Professor Norman C. Nevin - an international expert in genetics - the editors include theologians and scientists; including on the scientific side leading experts and PhDs in genetics, immunology, thermodynamics, chemistry and geology (including four professors and a senior research fellow). The theological side is no less weighty, with chapters from writers who hold positions in UCCF, denominational apologetics committees, Bible colleges and very well known pastors. And (drum roll) your friend in the Rift Valley. Oh yes!

The preface says,

In the face of the new atheists’ claim that evolution has rendered faith utterly redundant there is a flood tide arising that demands that Christians must embrace evolution or acknowledge that they are opposed to science. This book believes that this is a false premise. It is written to set out a clear theological framework on the relevant issues and to confront the questions that this gives rise to. It is written with a compelling conviction that science and faith are not in opposition. It is written by theologians who are committed to the authority of Scripture and to the exercise of careful exegesis. It is written by scientists who are fully persuaded of the importance of rigorous scientific investigation but who are dissatisfied with the arbitrary exclusion of possible conclusions and the failure to follow the evidence wherever it leads. This is not written for a select readership that already has expert knowledge of the subjects. It is written for ordinary men and women, who have the capacity to weigh the information, seek further clarification and draw their own conclusions.

It's on pre-order at Amazon now, with a pre-order discount... go get it!