(Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this conversation. I feel a bit like an amateur player who inexplicably finds himself at the big table for the World Series of Poker. But the subject is irresistible, and I welcome the opportunity to explain what I meant when I said to my friend Dan Treier…

When I first read Dan Trier’s (excellent) introductory essay, which raises the question of this Areopagite, I thought about it really hard for at least an hour! While reflecting on the biblical, scientific, and philosophical material that I think I understand, a distinction between ‘chance’ and ‘randomness’ eventually emerged. You the reader will have to…

The Hebraic intellectual world on display in the Bible, unlike the rest of the ancient Near East, creates the epistemological condition for a logic of signs and wonders against chance. Conversely, in a Near Eastern conceptual world that understands every doorway, cat’s path, moonrise, etc., ad infinitum to be discrete nonverbal signals from the gods,…

When we flip a coin before a sporting event, are we forcing God to choose an outcome for our own meaningless enjoyment? Or is it a mistake to view God as acting like a magic 8-ball toy who gives answers any time we ask? Many Christians in the West speak theologically in ways that imply…

I appreciate the question. It is an important one, given the ways in which issues about chance come up both in scientific reflections and in everyday life. The question is difficult to answer in a few words (I have a whole book on the subject). To begin with, it is useful to ask what each…

One recent morning I gave my friend John Wilson, the longtime editor of Books & Culture, a copy of my new book, Introducing Evangelical Theology. By early evening he was tweeting his dissent about p. 122. There I summarize parameters from Donald Bloesch: “God’s providence is personal: we do not believe in fate. God’s providence…

Well Hans, you’re opening the door for others to listen in on the types of challenging discussions my colleagues and I often have at society meetings, retreats, and with students in our classes. I for one am glad for it, and welcome others to enjoy the repartee. I’m also glad that you enjoyed the finite…

Echoing Paul’s words before King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense of young earth creation despite the “overwhelming evidence” embraced by old-earthers. Thank you for your amicable yet pointed questions. The Stones Cry Out You noted that most geologists would sharply disagree that Noah’s flood has…

I am delighted, Hans, that your questions about the biblical evidence focus on the atonement. If this was routinely seen as the central issue in the origins debate (rather than say, the genre of Genesis 1), then it would change the nature of the engagement, and I suspect, the outcome. At the very least, it…

I appreciate Hans’s redirect and thoughtful questions to my contribution. With regard to my qualification of Mayr’s third principle, he asks, “Do you mean that we can only understand origins using divine revelation, not science?” If this is really what I mean, he states “This conclusion seems counterintuitive, if not controversial.” I will own the…

Thanks, Hans, for your challenging questions. With respect to Dr. Damadian and astronaut Colonel Jeffrey Williams, and their contribution to origins research from a creationist view, I believe that they have contributed to origins research. Before I get into that, however, my main task in the essay was to address the question, is it tenable…

At the outset, I should confess that I am a young earth creationist. For biblical and theological reasons primarily, I accept a young earth as the creation position on the side of the angels. Many of my good friends are either evolutionary or old earth creationists and I respect insightful defenses of those positions; however,…