Towards a Synthesis

Where are we left now? We have seen how the Genesis creation account provides telling insight into God’s nature and the nature of his creation, but the details are open to multiple valid interpretations. The scientific data point us to an old earth and to the emergence of complex species through descent from a common ancestor, attested by both the fossil record and the DNA witness. Can these be brought together?

Collins argues “yes,” and calls his synthesis BioLogos—Bios (life) from Logos (the Word). God created the universe and “chose the elegant mechanism of evolution to create microbes, plants, and animals of all sorts. Most remarkably, God intentionally chose the same mechanism to give rise to special creatures who would have intelligence, a knowledge of right and wrong, free will, and a desire to seek fellowship with Him.”1

This is a rather different view than what is commonly held in evangelical circles today. Indeed, many evangelicals fear that accepting any form of evolution is the start of a “slippery slope” to liberal theology and a low view of scripture. But scientists have been bringing together evolution and Christianity since it was first proposed. Leading evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, famous for saying “Nothing biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,”2 was a devout Eastern Orthodox Christian. The botanist Asa Gray, an early Darwin supporter who actually helped provide information for The Origin of Species, was also a believer and wrote his Darwiniana arguing for the harmony of Darwinian evolution and Protestant Christianity.3

Some theologians also supported this synthesis. B.B. Warfield, who actually helped to formulate the doctrine of scriptural inerrancy, also believed in evolution, which he described as “a theory of the method of the divine providence.”4 So although it is not a common view today, the harmony of science and faith proposed in BioLogos is not a new or unorthodox concept.

Continue: Drawing the Line

Drawing the Line

So where do we draw the line? What views are acceptable for a Christian to hold, and which ones push the limits of orthodoxy?

One important distinction is between biological evolution and philosophical naturalism. Pastor Tim Keller defines philosophical naturalism as “the view that everything has a natural cause and that organic life is solely the product of random forces guided by no one”5 Often belief in philosophical naturalism is equated with subscription to biological evolution (by people on both sides of the issue), but this is not correct. Biological evolution by itself is a scientific theory which makes no direct claims about God's existence. However, when evolution is equated with philosophical naturalism, it becomes a worldview rather than a scientific theory, and a worldview that is in opposition to the view that God is both the first cause and the sustainer of the universe.6

We must also hold on to the truth that humans are the image bearers of God. Theologians through the centuries have debated exactly what this means, but it certainly means something. The big story Biblical narrative rests on mankind having a special relationship with God and a role of stewardship over creation. Humans rebelled and this relationship was broken, and rest of the narrative tells the story of God working to restore this breach. The question for us to today is this: can this story fit into an account of evolutionary history? If humans descended from other organisms, can we still say that we are God’s image bearers? How do we fit in the story of Adam and Eve?

The Biblical drama does not have to be incompatible with evolutionary history. Many have wrestled to forge a synthesis, and a number of options have been put forward. Here, I will just offer one, coming from what for many may seem an unlikely source—the respected scholar and writer C.S. Lewis, writing in his book The Problem of Pain.

For long centuries, God perfected the animal form which was to become the vehicle of humanity and the image of Himself. He gave it hands whose thumb could be applied to each of the fingers, and jaws and teeth and throat capable of articulation, and a brain sufficiently complex to execute all of the material motions whereby rational thought is incarnated. The creature may have existed in this state for ages before it became man: it may even have been clever enough to make things which a modern archaeologist would accept as proof of its humanity. But it was only an animal because all its physical and psychical processes were directed to purely material and natural ends. Then, in the fullness of time, God caused to descend upon this organism, both on its psychology and physiology, a new kind of consciousness which could say “I” and “me,” which could look upon itself as an object, which knew God, which could make judgments of truth, beauty and goodness, and which was so far above time that it could perceive time flowing past . . . We do not know how many of these creatures God made, nor how long they continued in the Paradisal state. But sooner or later they fell. Someone or something whispered that they could become as gods . . . They wanted some corner in the universe of which they could say to God, “This is our business, not yours.” But there is no such corner. They wanted to be nouns, but they were, and eternally must be, mere adjectives. We have no idea in what particular act, or series of acts, the self-contradictory, impossible wish found expression. For all I can see, it might have concerned the literal eating of a fruit, but the question is of no consequence.7

Lewis was certainly not liberal or unorthodox, yet he saw this as an acceptable extrapolation of Scripture. While we do not know exactly what happened, we can rest knowing that the answers are out there.

In that light, I would like to offer my own account of history that blends the scientific record with the Biblical drama. Take this as a hypothesis or, as Lewis puts it, “a not unlikely tale.”8

Continue: Telling the Story

Telling the Story

God began creating long ago. Out of nothing, there was a brilliant explosion, the ultimate fireworks show, bringing into existence a sea of matter and antimatter particles that annihilated each other in bursts of energy that remain with us today as cosmic background radiation. By God’s providence, there remained a tiny excess of matter that coalesced into stars where hydrogen burned to helium, and helium was converted first to carbon and then to the other heavy elements. Massive stars caved in on themselves and exploded outward as supernovas in their final act, spewing out the heavy elements into space. In time, some of this stardust coalesced to form earth and the other planets.

For its first 500 million years, earth was inhospitable to life and remained empty. But creation was soaked in the divine command of “let there be,” and in time earth became home to life, beginning with single cells. Through evolutionary processes, life spread into ever more diverse forms, soon with many cells together. Plants emerged and worked their way from sea to land, followed soon by animals. And all through this process, God was patiently preparing a creature who would know Him and reflect Him to creation.

At last, the creature was ready. God initiated the relationship with a kiss of life, and He called the creature Man. To Man, both male and female, he gave the incredible role of filling and ruling His creation, reflecting His glory as they knew Him and grew in knowledge of Him and His world. He offered Man access to the Tree of Life, the joy of living forever in perfect communion with their Maker. Creation was reaching its peak, and God declared it “very good.”

But Man rejected the offer. They wanted to be their own masters. They wanted the forbidden learning of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And they received their wish. Evil in all its forms entered creation, and soon Man knew it all too well. The perfect relationship to God was broken; the dazzlingly pure reflection of the image was shattered. Man was cut off from the Tree of Life and forced to taste death, bitter in response to the lost chance at immortality. The drama of creation was now marred.

But the drama of redemption was just beginning. God continued to create by forming a people for Himself. God called out the nation of Israel, and through Israel’s descendants He Himself entered creation. In the man Jesus, God took on flesh, and on a bloody Roman cross He bore the full weight of all evil in the heart of Man and in the world. Having borne the judgment to His death, Jesus conquered death by His resurrection, launching the invasion of the new everlasting kingdom. This kingdom points to the day when at last all creation will truly be restored and made anew. And now creation itself groans with longing as it awaits that final consummation at the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Continue: Where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here?

How do we move forward from this point? To start, we need to move forward with humility. St. Augustine wrote long ago:

In matters that are so obscure and far beyond our vision, we find in Holy Scripture passages which can be interpreted in very different way without prejudice to the faith we have received. In such cases, we should not rush in headlong and so firmly take our stand on one side that, if further progress in the search for truth justly undermines our position, we too fall with it. We should not battle for our own interpretation but for the teaching of Holy Scripture.9

This can serve as a warning against holding too tightly to a literal interpretation of Genesis, but it also applies to our new synthesis of science and scripture. While we should always see to know the truth more fully, we should also humbly recognize that we are not there yet, and our interpretation may one day be proven wrong.

Under BioLogos, open questions remain. No one has yet put forth a conclusive synthesis that brings together an old earth and evolutionary history with a strong concept of the fall, a fall with cosmic consequences. People are wrestling with these ideas, and a range of possibilities has been put forward, but we are not there yet.

But we can also be bold. Let’s listen to Francis Collins once more: “The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. He can be worshiped in the cathedral or in the laboratory. His creation is majestic, awesome, intricate, and beautiful—and it cannot be at war with itself.”10 We serve the God of all truth, and he invites us to know him through all possible means. The study of our origins is not something to frighten us, but to give us new understanding of how God has worked through time.

Ultimately, the open questions draw us back into scientific study, and back into worship. We worship the God whose knowledge and power are complete, the God who loves us and delights for us to know him. Let us join in doxology with the scientist of old, Johannes Kepler:

Praise him, ye celestial harmonies, and thou my soul, praise the Lord thy Creator, as long as I shall live, for both those things of which we are entirely ignorant and those of which we know only a tiny part, because there is still more beyond. Amen.11