Genes, Determinism, and God: A Rejoinder

I would like to thank Ken Keathley, Clay Carlson, Michael Ruse and Michael Wittmer for their helpful comments and insights, some of which might need a whole new book to address adequately, but I will do my best here in the space available. On the topic of books, I should first mention that I have…
Determinism and Freedom: The Perspective of Genetics

The use of inheritance, and then later the use of genetics, to argue for determinism, has waxed and waned over the history of biology. Reviewing some of this background is important for understanding where we are today. Some Historical Background Overall it was the philosophers of earlier centuries who established powerful arguments in support of…
What Do We Understand by Special Providence?

In response to my first essay, Hans asked whether there is a special category of God’s way of interacting with the world known as ‘special providence?’ It is hard to know exactly what this means. The biblical literature clearly knows of ‘miracles,’ without which there would be no Christian faith. Three words in particular are used…
Preserving the Particularity of Divine Intervention

On the day of Pentecost, in one of the most dramatic sermons ever preached, Peter proclaimed that “You killed the author of life” [Acts 3:15]. Authorship is a powerful metaphor for referring to the Christological creation, that wonderful created order in which we find our existence. The New Testament insists that it is through Christ…