The Fruit of Our Labor

“Fruit” and “Genesis” is a juxtaposition with a long and infamous history. It recalls a story passed on from generation to generation, connecting us to our ancestors, for good and for ill. Fruit, in the first instance, is about fruitfulness. Originally, we are told, the earth was luscious and vivacious, teeming with flora and fauna….
Creatures of the Triune God

Fred Sanders is usually writing about the Trinity. The burden of his 2010 volume The Deep Things of God was to show how the doctrine of the Trinity “inherently belongs to the gospel.” Years earlier he wrote his dissertation on “Rahner’s Rule” and the immanent Trinity. Then there is his 2016 volume in Zondervan’s New Studies…
On Human Origins: A Naturally Divine Doctrine of Creation

James Hoffmeier is stepping away from his lecture podium and beginning retirement—at least for the summer. This fall he will be joining a group of six other scholars in residence with the Creation Project for the 2018–19 academic year. The working title of the project is “Why We Believe in Creation and Evolution: A Discussion…
2018–19 Henry Fellows Announced

Seven scholars from across the United States, representing five institutions and three disciplines, have been awarded the 2018-2019 Henry Resident Fellowship. We are pleased to announce the recipients for the upcoming academic year: James Hoffmeier, Fred Sanders, Dru Johnson, Ryan Peterson, Mary VandenBerg, Ralph Stearley, and Joshua Farris. These scholars will be undertaking research on…
An Extreme Modification of Tradition? Moltmann’s Understanding of Creation

John Polkinghorne’s favorite contemporary theologian is Jürgen Moltmann. Even so, he once lamented the “spectacle of a distinguished theologian [Moltmann] writing over three hundred pages on God in creation with only an occasional and cursory reference to scientific insight.” It is as well that he later wrote of Moltmann and science in different and positive…
Science Detects Order and Directionality, Faith Sees the Purposes of an Intelligent Creator

One of my first encounters with this question took place in college physics class. My lab group was assembling an experiment on circular motion and figuring out what to measure using the messy pile of equipment on the lab bench. We got it set up, made our measurements of radius, velocity, etc., then did some…
The Ends of Science in Oliver O’Donovan’s Doctrine of Creation

“In proclaiming the resurrection of Christ, the apostles proclaimed also the resurrection of mankind in Christ; and in proclaiming the resurrection of mankind, they proclaimed the renewal of all creation with him.” Doctrines of creation are of tremendous importance to Oliver O’Donovan’s moral theology. Creation is not conceived merely as an abstract set of theological…
On Why Design Might Be Detectable

“Is purposive, intelligent design detectable by the scientific investigation of nature?” My brief answer to this would be, “I don’t know.” However, since you probably want something more substantial, I need to explain my position. My answer will be both theological and scientific (and yes, the question of Intelligent Design can be a scientific question)….
How We Say What We Say about God and Creation: Kathryn Tanner on Creation

Over a series of seminal works, Kathryn Tanner has established herself as one of America’s leading theologians working at the intersection of theology and culture. Active in the Episcopal Church, Tanner has been a member of the Theology Committee that advises the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops. She is a past president of the American Theological…
Response to the Symposium

First, my sincere thanks to everyone who took the time to read and comment on my book, and to Hans Madueme for organizing this exchange. In his well-known book The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins asked, “Were we [humans] designed on a drawing board . . . our parts assembled by a skilled engineer?” Here, beneath…
A Story We Can Understand, Told with Chemistry

As a chemist, I turn naturally to the evidence of the past that is amenable to geochemical or biochemical analysis, and integrate that with other lines of evidence. This evidence tells a story with order and even direction. Geology, Biology, and the Story of Data The rocks give a timeline showing how the environmental chemistry…
Myth, Science, and Hermeneutics: Rudolf Bultmann on Creation

Have scientific findings problematized the affirmation of the basic Christian doctrines of God as Creator—e.g., God as Creator of the cosmos, humanity and the world as in some way corrupted through the entrance of sin and evil, and ontological claims about humanity as created in God’s image? Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976), Professor of New Testament at…