Like Theophilus of Luke’s gospel, many American, inerrantist evangelicals today are expectant “to know the certainty of the things [they] have been taught” (Luke 1:4). As I reflect upon the forum topic, three questions come to mind: 1) How did we get to the point we are now? 2) What options remain? 3) How does…

Modern assumptions about certainty are deeply embedded in the contemporary mind. Exhausted by Medieval debates over seemingly obtuse metaphysical matters, Modern philosophers broke away from this tradition by establishing “certainty” as the new measure for what counts as human understanding. Some philosophers, such as Descartes and Leibniz, thought we could prove the existence of God…

  “I shall cite evidence to show that they [extraterrestrials] have long since invaded and that their effects can be uncovered by historical research.” —Michael J. Crowe, The Extraterrestrial Life Debate Do you remember your first encounter with Star Wars? I recall lightning-fast ships traversing a distant galaxy, odd-looking aliens socializing at a rough cantina, and…

Outer space stirs the inner soul. Might the unfathomable distances, incomprehensible beauty, and magnificent elegance of the universe we view on a starry night communicate a divine call to us? Might the feelings of awe and reverence elicited within us by the Milky Way constitute God’s still small voice within our soul, beckoning us to…

Tonight, as on every night, powerful instruments of research receiving radio and light waves search out stars far away. They are looking for something new, something unusual: they are looking for planets circling those stars. The number of such “exoplanets” discovered in the past two decades or so has reached almost 4000. New planet-hunting telescopes…

“Dimidium” sounds like a rare metal, yet it is a planet far away, circling its sun “Helvetios”. Dimidium—more technically called 51 Pegasi b—has something very special to its credit. It is the first planet ever discovered to be circling a sun like ours beyond the solar system. Swiss astrophysicists from Geneva made the breakthrough, hence…

The gap theory helped many Christians in the nineteenth century bridge the chasm between traditional interpretations of Genesis 1-2 and the emerging fossil record. Few people still read the Bible that way, but it was once championed by Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847), the Scottish churchman and eloquent gospel preacher. On the other side of the Atlantic,…

When we ask what the “groaning of creation” in Romans 8:19-22 means, many today expect an answer addressing environmentalism and creation-care. The desire to relate this passage to such contemporary discussions is certainly a good one. But first we need to place this passage in its original context to be sure of its own meaning….

In Romans 8:19-22, Paul lifts the gaze of his readers from their present circumstances to look around at an entire creation that shares in their suffering and hope and to look forward to the incomparable glory that awaits. Other than John 1:14 (“the Word became flesh”), this text is perhaps the most significant in the…

When we talk about “translation,” we understand that we have in mind two languages. Translation is to render something originally in one language in the other language. Saying that the Bible teaches a wrong cosmology also implies a difference: a correct version and a wrong version. Where “accommodation” is invoked the biblical version might not…

Theories abound on the inspiration of Scripture, from God dictating precise words to the Holy Spirit inspiring biblical authors in much the same way musicians speak of being inspired when they create a masterpiece. One theory of inspiration that holds great sway among American evangelicals particularly, states that the Bible is true in all that…

During the first day of my college course on the relationship between science and religion, I have my students draw a diagram of the scene that they envision in Genesis 1:2. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the…