This page is designed for those who return to this site periodically and would like a quick way to find things that have been added since prior visits and things that are just around the corner. The "Recent Additions" section below is organized by month of inclusion.
Let us know if you find typos or broken links (dare I call them "missing links"?). Drop a note to our webmaster: editor at drvinson dot net
Some Site-related Studies for the Fall
Simon Conway Morris, editor, The Deep Structure of Biology: Is Convergence Sufficiently Ubiquitous to Give a Directional Signal (West Conshohocken, PA: Templeton Foundation Press, 2008). Amazon Publisher's Info on Book Biosketch of Professor Morris
Bruce M. Hood, SuperSense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2009). Amazon
Stephen Barton and David Wilkinson, eds, Reading Genesis After Darwin (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Just released November 2009.
This collection of essays grew out of a major public lecture series hosted by the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. The series as a whole aims to bring together biblical scholars, historians of science, and theologians engaged with the doctrine of creation and the interface between science and religion. For the contributors and topics, see Durham site. Available now for order via amazon.
A Course from the Teaching Company: Science Wars: What Scientists Know and How They Know It
Choose one: (A) Science gives us objective knowledge of an independently existing reality. (B) Scientific knowledge is always provisional and tells us nothing that is universal, necessary, or certain about the world.
Welcome to the science wars—a long-running battle over the status of scientific knowledge that began in ancient Greece, raged furiously among scientists, social scientists, and humanists during the 1990s, and has re-emerged in today's conflict between science and religion over issues such as evolution.
Coming Soon
PBS NOVA Special: Becoming Human
Becoming Human Part 1
First Steps: Six million years ago, what set our ancestors on the path from ape to human?
Tuesday, November 3 at 8 pm
Becoming Human Part 2
Birth of Humanity: New discoveries reveal how early humans hunted and formed families.
Tuesday, November 10 at 8 pm
Becoming Human Part 3
Last Human Standing: Many human species once shared the globe. Why do we alone remain?
Tuesday, November 17 at 8 pm
Our 3-hour powerpoint presentation "Creation and Evolution" is being taken on the road.
It had its debut in February to a group of grad students in their course on biblical interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary, Sacramento. We reviewed the popular conflict model and introduced a complementarian model as an alternative approach to the relationship between creation and evolution. It was fun.
Recent presentations: October 24 to the Sacramento Area Christian Medical and Dental Association. The November 1 presentation at a cafe in Alamo was captured on video. Uh oh! That and a brief outline of the presentation can be found on our page Two Models The next series will begin in January. If you would like to arrange for a presentation, just let me know.
Darwin's Brave New World: Australian Documentary coming out in November
Creation, the Movie: coming to the US in December
Randal Hume Keynes OBE is a British conservationist and author and a great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. He is the author of the intimate exploration of his famous ancestry, Annie’s Box, subtitled Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution a book about the relationship between Darwin and his daughter Annie whose early death deeply affected him and his views on religion. CREATION is the screen adaption of Annie’s Box by John Collee. Randal Keynes is a production consultant for the film. See the Creation webpage for more on the movie, including trailors Newmarket Films
Denis Alexander, ed. Ideology and Biology--From Descartes to Dawkins (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2010). Coming in March. Book info
The idea of the book is to show how biology in particular has been utilized from 1600 to the present day for all kinds of non-biological goals, which might be social, religious, political, and so forth. With the working title, Ideology and Biology—From Descartes to Dawkins, the book will cover topics such as racism, eugenics, Marxist science in the 1920s and 1930s, and ideas of evolutionary progress. “We’re trying to bring it right up to date, to show that this utilization of biology for non-biological ends is an ongoing process, it happens in every generation, and so Alister McGrath’s final chapter is about the way that Dawkins and others of the class of ‘new atheists,’ as they are called, are trying to utilize evolutionary biology by attaching the ideology of atheism to it.”
Recent Additions
November 2009
EvoS Journal (Nov 2009)
The first issue of EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium — a new open-access on-line peer-reviewed journal designed to promote the education of evolutionary theory in colleges and universities — is now available. The journal is published by the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, of which NCSE is a member institution. The consortium seeks to "facilitate the development and implementation of Evolutionary Studies Programs at colleges and universities across the United States"; the original model for such programs is David Sloan Wilson's Evolutionary Studies Program at Binghamton University.
Correspondingly, EvoS Journal seeks to "publish peer-reviewed articles related to evolutionary theory in higher education" as well as to "publish undergraduate peer-reviewed publications that have arisen from courses offered through Evolutionary Studies Programs." In their editorial introduction to the first issue, Rosemarie Sokol Chang, Glenn Geher, Jennifer Waldo, and David Sloan Wilson write (PDF), "The contents of EvoS Journal will be doubly exhilarating. First, there is the exhilaration of expanding evolutionary theory throughout and beyond the biological sciences, including all aspects of humanity. Second, there is the exhilaration of incorporating this expansion into higher education and public life. We look forward to your participation, as readers and contributors."
Summary of Darwin's Origin in the New Scientist
11 November 2009 by Steve Jones
This month marks the 150th anniversary of the most influential piece of popular science writing ever published. A few years ago, New Scientist listed reading On The Origin of Species as one of the 100 things to do before you die. To do so is to experience the extraordinary sensation of having a scientific genius enter your mind to guide you through his most important theory. Now we have asked the geneticist, evolutionary thinker and author Steve Jones to summarise and update the book for the 21st century - and, we hope, to inspire readers to experience Darwin's astounding, world-changing writing first-hand
UNIQUE among scientific theories, evolutionary biology finds its roots in a popular book by a single author. The grey-bearded genius presented a new and radical view of existence: that life has changed over time and space, in part through a simple process called natural selection.
Charles Darwin called his work "one long argument". To a 21st-century reader it seems lengthy indeed, with only a single illustration to enliven its 150,000 words. But Darwin was a clear thinker and the book is an impressive piece of advocacy, moving from the familiar - how animals on farms have changed - to the less so, embryos and instinct included.
Darwin also shows how what might seem to be problems for his argument, such as the uncanny perfection of complex structures like the eye, are in fact part of the solution, and how apparent weaknesses in his case - the incomplete nature of the fossil record included - can easily be explained. Now and again he was wrong, as when, unaware of Gregor Mendel's work on genetics, he claimed that inheritance is based on the mixing of bloods, but mostly he was right.
Darwin described the process of evolution as "descent with modification". Today that might be rephrased as "genetics plus time". Offspring resemble their parents because they inherit DNA from them, but the copying process is not precise. Every round has errors, or mutations, and although they are individually rare - with perhaps one or two mutations in working genes each generation in humans - they can soon build up vast diversity. A copy of a copy is always imperfect, and for that reason alone, evolution is inevitable.
Darwin had a second insight. He saw that if a certain variant allows its carriers to survive, to mate and to pass on their heritage more successfully than others, in later generations it will spread. Such inherited differences in the chances of reproduction allow creatures to adapt to changing circumstances and can, in time, give rise to new forms of life. Natural selection, as he termed it, is a factory for making almost impossible things.
Full-text here at the New Scientist. This entry was added to our page History and More under the section on The Origin of Species
Don't Diss Darwin--from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE)
Creationist Ray Comfort is pushing a new initiative called "The Origin into Schools Project". The aim? To distribute thousands of free copies of Darwin's On the Origin of Species to students at the "100 top U.S. universities". The catch? This edition of Origin includes a 54 page "special" introduction written by Comfort.
What makes this introduction special? Darwin biographer and science writer David Quammen puts it best:
Comfort's confused polemic, disguised as an informational Introduction but full of mistakes, half truths, untruths, muddled logic, old creationist arguments, misleadingly excerpted quotations, and ill-framed analogies — plus a good dose of fire and brimstone at the end — will do a severe disservice to anyone who takes it for an entryway to Darwin's great book.
In response to the Comfort Origin, the NCSE is launching a campaign at colleges across the U.S. to put the record straight. On this site, you'll find a number of useful resources, including a blow-by-blow analysis of the Comfort introduction (coming soon!), a one page flyer ("Why Ray Comfort is Wrong"), the NCSE Safety Bookmark (for use with Comfort's edition of Origin), details on the best web sites and books devoted to evolutionary science, and a Public Service film about the dangers of certain book introductions (coming soon!).
Link to the NSCE Don't Diss Darwin Site
Eugenie Scott and Ray Comfort Debate
Richard Dawkins has a new book out explaining evolution.
The third lecture in this series was presented November 4, 2009. "The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution" by Sean Carroll, University of Wisconsin, Madison More on the Lecture Series
October 2009
Where did all of Madagascar's species come from?
In celebration of the Year of Science's October theme, the geosciences and planet Earth, this month's story focuses on how geography and geology have shaped the evolution of life in one of Earth's most unique places. Madagascar, the fourth-largest island in the world, sits in the Indian Ocean several hundred kilometers off Africa's southeastern coast and provides a home to a remarkable variety of plant and animal species, including the aye aye, fossa, chameleon, and baobab tree. Madagascar has made the news lately because of a military-backed coup, which has threatened conservation efforts ...
Read the whole story to see the evolution connection at UCMP's Understanding Evolution
Ten Myths About Charles Darwin
Kevin Padian discusses -- and debunks -- "Ten Myths about Charles Darwin" in the October 2009 issue of BioScience. "Charles Darwin is one of the most revered (and at times reviled) figures in Western history. A great many 'facts' about him and his ideas are the stuff of textbook myths, others are inaccuracies spread by antievolutionists, and still others are conventional historical mistakes long corrected but still repeated," he writes. "I present 10 such misconceptions, and some quick and necessarily incomplete rebuttals. New scholarship is rapidly clearing away some of these myths." Addressed are:
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As a boy Darwin was good only for "shooting, dogs, and rat-catching"
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Darwin was a "mere companion" to Captain Robert FitzRoy on the HMS Beagle
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Darwin's epiphany about natural selection came while visiting the Galápagos Islands
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Darwin stole the credit for natural selection from Alfred Russel Wallace
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Population thinking
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Dual criteria for classification: Genealogy and similarity
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Gradual change is slow and steady
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Human evolution was shaped mainly by natural selection
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Sexual selection is all about how many offspring you leave
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Darwin was a confirmed atheist who had a deathbed conversion to Christianity
Padian concludes, "Myths will always arise and abound ... It is hoped that this myth-busting scholarship will soon filter down to revisions of textbooks that discuss Darwin and to public discourse about his life and work." President of NCSE's board of directors, Padian is Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley and also Curator of Paleontology at the University of California Museum of Paleontology. Thanks to BioScience for graciously making Padian's article freely available on-line. Full-text pdf.
For more on Darwin, see our page History and More
Ardipithecus ramidus. Follow the links for more news of this fascinating ancestor of humanity
The world's oldest and most complete skeleton of a potential human ancestor -- named "Ardi," short for Ardipithecus ramidus -- has been unveiled by an international team of 47 researchers.
The 4.4 million-year-old hominid opens up a new chapter on human evolution because "it is as close as we have ever come to finding the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans," project co-director Tim White told Discovery News.
"This is not an ordinary fossil," added White, a paleontologist in the University of California at Berkeley's Human Evolution Research Center. "It's not a chimp. It's not a human." Instead, he said, "It shows us what we used to be."
Their unprecedented, 17-year investigation of Ardi is detailed in a special issue of the journal Science. Carl Zimmer, The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution (Greenwood Village, CO: Roberts and Company Publishers, 2009). Amazon This book has been added to our page The Science of Evolution: Books and DVDs
Product Description
The Tangled Bank is the first textbook about evolution intended for the general reader. Zimmer, an award-winning science writer, takes readers on a fascinating journey into the latest discoveries about evolution. In the Canadian Arctic, paleontologists unearth fossils documenting the move of our ancestors from sea to land. In the outback of Australia, a zoologist tracks some of the world's deadliest snakes to decipher the 100-million-year evolution of venom molecules. In Africa, geneticists are gathering DNA to probe the origin of our species. In clear, non-technical language, Zimmer explains the central concepts essential for understanding new advances in evolution, including natural selection, genetic drift, and sexual selection. He demonstrates how vital evolution is to all branches of modern biology--from the fight against deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the analysis of the human genome. Richly illustrated with over 300 illustrations and photographs, The Tangled Bank is essential reading for anyone who wants understand the history of life on Earth.
About the Author
Carl Zimmer is one of the country's leading science writers. A regular contributor to the New York Times and magazines like Scientific American and Discover, he is the author of six books, including Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea and Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life. He has won numerous awards from institutions including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Biosketch Journal of Effective Teaching: Teaching Evolution in College
A special issue of the Journal of Effective Teaching, a peer-reviewed electronic journal devoted to the discussion of teaching excellence in colleges and universities, is devoted to the topic of teaching evolution in the college classroom. Featured are Randy Moore, Sehoya Cotner, and Alex Bates's "The Influence of Religion and High School Biology Courses on Students' Knowledge of Evolution When They Enter College"; Katherine E. Bruce, Jennifer E. Horan, Patricia H. Kelley, and Mark Galizio's "Teaching Evolution in the Galapagos"; Patricia H. Kelley's "A College Honors Seminar on Evolution and Intelligent Design: Successes and Challenges"; Alexander J. Werth's "Clearing the Highest Hurdle: Human-based Case Studies Broaden Students' Knowledge of Core Evolutionary Concepts"; Aditi Pai's "Evolution in Action, a Case Study Based Advanced Biology Class at Spelman College"; and Caitlin M. Schrein, John M. Lynch, Sarah K. Brem, Gary E. Marchant, Karen K. Schedler, Mark A. Spencer, Charles J. Kazilek, and Margaret G. Coulombe's "Preparing Teachers to Prepare Students for Post-Secondary Science: Thoughts From of a Workshop About Evolution in the Classroom."
Table of Contents. All articles are freely available in HTML and PDF format.
“Inside Higher Ed” Details the Mission of BioLogos
October 14, 2009. Inside Higher Ed—a popular online source for news and opinions on higher education—has posted a lengthy story on the work of The BioLogos Foundation. Titled “Believing in God and Evolution,” the article looks at the push by some Christian professors to include evolution in Christian college curriculum. According to the article, “much of the push for change is coming through The BioLogos Foundation.”
The article includes quotes from BioLogos president Karl Giberson and board member R. Judson Carlberg, as well as details on two upcoming projects from BioLogos: the curriculum development and book from InterVarsity Press. Ultimately, says Giberson, the goal is not to force anyone’s minds to change but to foster open discussion on this pressing issue without fear that professors’ jobs are on the line. “The church is never going to get over its fear of Darwin until we can discuss it openly at colleges without people losing their jobs.”
More on Creation via Evolution from the Roman Catholic Church
The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has published proceedings from their Plenary Session "Scientific Insights into the Evolution of the Universe and of Life" in their journal PONTIFICIA ACADEMIA SCIENTIARVM.
Nobel laureate Christian de Duve summarized the plenary session: "The participants unanimously accepted as indisputable the affirmation that the Universe, as well as life within it, are the products of long evolutionary histories," noting that there was also wide agreement among the participants on the common ancestry of life on earth. "Evolution," he added, "has acquired the status of established fact." NCSE has a news brief. The proceedings have been posted online.
This has been added to our page What Churches Have to Say
NOVA: Darwin's Darkest Hour
NOVA and National Geographic Television present the extraordinary human drama that led to the birth of the most influential scientific theory of all time. Acclaimed screenwriter John Goldsmith (David Copperfield, Victoria and Albert) brings to life Charles Darwin's greatest personal crisis: the anguishing decision over whether to "go public" with his theory of evolution. Darwin, portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick (Lost), spent years refining his ideas and penning his book the Origin of Species. Yet, daunted by looming conflict with the orthodox religious values of his day, he resisted publishing -- until a letter from naturalist Alfred Wallace forced his hand. In 1858, Darwin learned that Wallace was ready to publish ideas very similar to his own. In a sickened panic, Darwin grasped his dilemma: To delay publishing any longer would be to condemn all of his work to obscurity—his voyage on the Beagle, his adventures in the Andes, the gauchos and bizarre fossils of Patagonia, the finches and giant tortoises of the Galapagos. But to come forward with his ideas risked the fury of the Church and perhaps a rift with his own devoted wife, Emma, portrayed by Frances O'Connor (Mansfield Park, The Importance of Being Earnest, Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence), who was a strong believer in the view of creation and honestly feared for her husband's soul. Darwin's Darkest Hour is a moving drama about the birth of a great idea seen through the inspiration and personal sufferings of its brilliant originator.
Further information about the film, including a preview and interviews with John Goldsmith and Henry Ian Cusick, is available at NOVA's website. Information on finding local public broadcasting stations is available via PBS's website.
Alister McGrath, The Open Secret: A New Vision for Natural Theology (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008). Amazon More on McGrath
The Education Debacle in Louisiana
Karl Giberson on the "Adventist Origins of Young Earth Creationism"
Many evangelicals believe that young-earth creationism is the only authentic and Biblical way for Christians to understand origins, and that until the advent of Darwin's theory of evolution, young-earth creationism was the only view held by Christians. However, in this excerpt from his book, Saving Darwin, Karl Giberson explains that young-earth creationism is a relatively new phenomenon that stemmed from the 20th century fundamentalist movement.
September 2009
We added a series of video lectures on evolution from Case Western to our growing collection. We now have nearly 50 lectures available for viewing. To see the titles and the speakers, check out our page on Darwin's Bicentenary
The newest issue is available of the online journal Evolution: Education and Outreach
The latest issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach -- the new journal aspiring to promote accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience -- is now available on-line. The issue, edited by Kristin Jenkins, Education and Outreach Program Specialist at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, focuses on teaching evolution. As Greg Eldredge and Niles Eldredge explain in their editorial, "Teaching can be a difficult proposition under the best of circumstances, and teaching evolution can present its own challenges but can also bring its own very special rewards. The following pages contain articles that explore many aspects of evolution education, including how state education standards impact science in the classroom, how evolution is taught around the world, how people’s education and backgrounds affect their understanding of and ability to teach and learn about evolution, and how methods of teaching evolution impact student success and understanding of evolutionary theory from elementary school to college." There is also a handful of reviews, including a review of Juergen Haffer's Ornithology, Evolution, and Philosophy: The Life and Science of Ernst Mayr 1904-2005 (Springer-Verlag 2007) and a review of Keith Thomson's The Young Charles Darwin (Yale University Press, 2009).
This journal is among the many (free!) resources linked from our page The Science of Evolution: Online Resources
The Faraday Institute in partnership with Contrapositive New Media are developing materials on science and faith that are relevant and accessible for churches, with contributions from leading scientists and theologians.
The relationship between science and faith is often represented as a battleground. The claim is that science has pushed God into the margins. But is the truth more complex? Talking to leading scientist-believers, we probe the issues at the heart of this debate. Has science really murdered God? Or is the God question being redefined in new ways by science? Does the possibility of a Creator remain an ineradicable challenge?
For more about the project, including a trailer of the film, see the Test of Faith webpage
The film was previewed at the Cambridge Science Festival earlier this month. In response, Richard Gray published "Science and Faith: The Conflict” in Britian's Telegraph, 16 Mar 2009.
To accompany the course is a book entitled Test of Faith: Spiritual Journeys with Scientists. In it respected physicists, biologists and brain scientists share their life stories and their reflections about science and faith. Contributors include Dr Francis Collins, Professor Alister McGrath, Dr Ard Louis, Dr Jennifer Wiseman, Professor Bill Newsome, Rev Dr John Polkinghorne, Rev Dr Alasdair Coles, Dr Deborah Haarsma, Professor Rosalind Picard, Professor John Bryant.
The DVD and book were recently released.
R. J. Berry and T. A. Noble (editors), Darwin, Creation and the Fall: Theological Challenges (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009). IV Press Excerpt Amazon
2009 is the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin. This volume focuses on aspects of the relationship between the modern scientific, evolutionary understanding of human origins and the biblical story of human origins, the Fall and sin.
The contributors are David Wilkinson, R. J. Berry, Darrel Falk, Richard Hess, T. A. Noble, A. N. S. Lane, Henri Blocher, and Richard Mortimer.
About the Editors
R. J. (Sam) Berry was Professor of Genetics at University College London, 1984 - 2000. He is a former President of the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society, and Christians in Science. His books include God and Evolution, God and the Biologist and God's Book of Works. Wikipedia
T. A. Noble is Senior Research Fellow in Theology at the Nazarene Theological College, Manchester and Professor of Theology at the Nazarene Theological Seminary, Kansas City. He is currently serving as one of the revising editors for the IVP New Dictionary of Theology. Biosketch
Below are some additional books that pertain to varied topics related to this site.
Genesis
R. W. L. Moberly, The Theology of the Book of Genesis (Old Testament Theology) (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 2009). Amazon Biosketch
John H. Walton, The Lost World of Genesis One: Ancient Cosmology and the Origins Debate (Downers Grove: IVP Academic: 2009). Amazon Biosketch
Neuroscience
Carl Zimmer, Soul Made Flesh: The Discovery of the Brain--and How it Changed the World (New York: Free Press, 2005). Amazon Biosketch
John Medina, Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Seattle: Pear Press, 2008). Amazon See also the book’s webpage
Challenges to Genocentrism
August 2009
Frank Sulloway (PhD, Harvard, History of Science) published an article this summer on Darwin's journey from Intelligent Design to evolutionary theory. "Why Darwin rejected intelligent design." J. Biosci. 34(2), June 2009, 173–183. Full-text pdf Below is the abstract.
As a Cambridge University undergraduate Charles Darwin was fascinated and convinced by the argument for intelligent design, as set forth in William Paley’s 1802 classic, Natural Theology. Subsequently, during his five-year voyage on HMS Beagle (1831–1836), Darwin interpreted his biological findings through a creationist lens, including the thought-provoking evidence he encountered during his historic visit to the Galápagos Islands in September and October 1835. After his return to England in 1836 and his subsequent conversion to the idea of organic evolution in March 1837, Darwin searched for a theory that would explain both the fact of evolution and the widespread appearance of intelligent design. His insight into the process of natural selection, which occurred in September 1838, provided this alternative explanation. Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) exemplifies his skillful deployment of the hypothetico-deductive method in testing and refuting the arguments for intelligent design that he had once so ardently admired.
Another essay of his on this topic is "The Evolution of Charles Darwin," published in the Smithsonian, December, 2005, pp. 58-69. Online essay Introductory essay
Science and the Sacred is a blog run by the leaders of the BioLogos Foundation, who share insights on the latest ideas on science, faith, and their integration. Link here through beliefnet. I have added this site to our page Creation via Evolution: Online Resources
Princeton Seminary Awarded “Science for Ministry” Grant from the John Templeton Foundation
Princeton, NJ, July 6, 2009--Princeton Theological Seminary has been awarded a $346,988 grant over three years as part of the John Templeton Foundation’s inaugural “Science for Ministry” Initiative. The purpose of this broader program is to “support effective science education programs and resources for people active in ministry.”
Dr. J. Wentzel van Huyssteen, the James I. McCord Professor of Theology and Science at Princeton Theological Seminary, will serve as codirector of the initiative with Kenneth Reynhout, a Ph.D. candidate in theology and science at the Seminary. The initiative is part of the Seminary’s continuing education program.
“This initiative,” says van Huyssteen, “is intended to address a common experience of ministers and scientists of faith who struggle to develop a constructive dialogue around issues of theology and science in their ministry contexts. We are seeking to equip leaders in ministry with the knowledge and tools to confidently respond to these fundamental challenges, and to do so in ways that encourage a transformational impact on their church communities.”
The rest of the article See also: The Science for Ministry Institute
Eugenie Scott, Director of the National Center for Science Education, recommends Mark Pallen's The Rough Guide to Evolution (London: Rough Guides, 2008) as the place to start for those wanting an introduction to the subject.
She writes that Pallen "provides a concise summary of what you need to know: a brief history of the idea that all living things share common ancestry, a complete survey of the mechanisms of evolution and a solid summary of how life originated and then adapted through time to a changing planet. He livens up the story with literary, musical and cultural references so that you never feel you are being told to eat your vegetables." She added, "Alas, it is not only non-specialists who don't have a firm grasp of the strength of theory and data supporting the modern understanding of evolution — many scientists outside the field of evolutionary biology struggle too. This entertaining handbook will bring anyone up to date." Nature 2009;460:574-577.
For more on this book, see our page The Science of Evolution
Evolving Standards: A State-by-State Report Card
How is evolution faring in state science education standards? NCSE's Louise S. Mead and Anton Mates pored over the latest standards in all fifty states. In a new study forthcoming in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach, they report, "The treatment of biological evolution in state science standards has improved dramatically over the last ten years." Forty states received satisfactory grades for the treatment of evolution in their state science standards in Mead and Mates's study, as opposed to only thirty-one in Lawrence S. Lerner's 2000 study Good Science, Bad Science, conducted for the Fordham Foundation (for this link, see our Education Debates page).
But the news is not all rosy. Five states — Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia — received the grade of F, and a further six states — Alaska, Connecticut, Kentucky, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — receive the grade of D. Moreover, the "treatment of human evolution is abysmal," Mead and Mates lament, with only seven states (and the District of Columbia) providing a comprehensive treatment. Many states "do not reference the Big Bang as the current scientific theory for the origin of the universe," they add, and only 17 states provide a comprehensive treatment of the connections among biological, geological, and cosmological systems.
For the full-text, see the August 10th, 2009, entry of the National Center for Science Education News
For the academic report, see Louise S. Mead and Anton Mates, "Why Science Standards are Important to a Strong Science Curriculum and How States Measure Up." Evolution: Education and Outreach 2009. Full-text
I'm here Aug 13-14 in San Francisco at the California Academy of Science attending a 2-day AAAS symposium on the grand scientific contributions of the Galapagos Islands. Much credit goes to the brilliant naturalist, Charles Darwin, whose keen observations and creative insights in geology, botany, and zoology catapulted science into a seismic paradigm shift.
July 2009
Chris Mooney, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future (New York: Basic Books, 2009), was released this month. Amazon Chris spoke at the recent American Institute of Biological Sciences meeting. His lecture can be viewed here.
Product Description
Climate change, the energy crisis, nuclear proliferation—many of the most urgent problems of twenty-first century require scientific solutions. And yet Americans are paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to science; 46 percent of Americans believe that God, not evolution, created life on earth; the number of newspapers with science sections has shrunk from ninety-five to thirty-three since 1989. The disconnect between the scientific community and American culture grows wider every day.
In Unscientific America, journalist and best-selling author Chris Mooney and scientist Sheril Kirshenbaum explain how corporate interests, a weak education system, science-phobic politicians, and hyperspecialized scientists have created this dangerous state of affairs. They also propose a broad array of initiatives that could reverse the current trend and lead to the greater integration of science into our national discourse—before it is too late.
About the Authors
Chris Mooney is a contributing editor to Science Progress and author of the New York Times bestseller, The Republican War on Science, and Storm World: Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle Over Global Warming. He contributes to many publications including Wired, Slate, and The American Prospect. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Sheril Kirshenbaum is a marine scientist and Research Associate at Duke University. Previously, she has served as a congressional science fellow and pop radio disc jockey. She lives in Durham, North Carolina.
Together, they blog at The Intersection: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection
Matt Young and Paul K. Strode, Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) (Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2009) is now among our recommended books that engage scientifically with various forms of creationism. See our page Is ID Good Science? Amazon
Review
Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) delivers on the promise of its title. Deploying a host of fascinating examples, Young and Strode provide a lucid and lively introduction to the successes of evolution and the failures of creationism. --Glenn Branch, National Center for Science
Product Description
Focusing on what other books omit, how science works and how pseudoscience works, Matt Young and Paul K. Strode demonstrate the futility of "scientific" creationism. They debunk the notion of intelligent design and other arguments that show evolution could not have produced life in its present form. Concluding with a frank discussion of science and religion, Why Evolution Works (and Creationism Fails) argues that science by no means excludes religion, though it ought to cast doubt on certain religious claims that are contrary to known scientific fact.
About the Authors
Matt Young is a senior lecturer in the department of physics at the Colorado School of Mines. A prolific writer, he is the coauthor of Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism (Rutgers University Press).
Paul K. Strode is a biology teacher in Boulder, Colorado, and an instructor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, with a doctoral degree in ecology and environmental science. Nick Spencer, the author of Darwin and God (London: SPCK, 2009), joined the gang at St. Paul's Theological Centre, London, 18 June, for a "God Pod" discussion on his book. In this conversation, Nick explores Darwin's own faith and the impact of Darwin's theories on Christian theology. For more on the book, see Amazon UK Amazon US Excerpts
Evolution, the Bible, and the Book of Nature: A Conversation with Francis Collins
Interview by Karl Giberson, Christianity Today, July 10, 2009
The former director of the Human Genome Project, one of the most ambitious ventures in the history of science, Francis Collins recently launched the BioLogos Foundation, which "promotes the search for truth in both the natural and spiritual realms seeking harmony between these different perspectives." Collins gave a personal account of the harmony between faith and science in his book The Language of God: A Scientists Presents Evidence for Belief, published in 2006. Karl Giberson spoke with Collins during a conference at Azusa Pacific University.
New Poll of American Public and Scientists
"Nearly all scientists (97%) say humans and other living things have evolved over time," while only 61% of the public agrees, according to a survey reported online by the Pew Research Center, in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The Pew Research Center is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. Links can be found on our Polls page. New Darwin Exhibition in Cambridge
Science meets art in this ground-breaking exhibition revealing an unusual and previously unexplored aspect of Charles Darwin’s legacy - the impact of his theories upon artists of the late nineteenth century.
To complement the exhibition the Fitzwilliam Museum is releasing a series of audiovisual podcasts exploring Charles Darwin's life, work, and legacy. These can be found on our Bicentenary page.
Denis Lamoureux has authored two excellent books addressing an evangelical's approach to evolutionary science: I Love Jesus & I Accept Evolution (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009) is the shorter and more accessible of the two. The second Evolutionary Creation: An Evangelical Approach to Evolution (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008) expands on the first, adding more detail and argument. Both are listed on our page of books about Creation via Evolution. Recently, Dr. D. A. Hayworth spoke with Denis in an interview, which he has posted on his webpage Becoming Creation.
A recent international survey conducted by the British Council investigated awareness of Darwin, acceptance of evolution, and attitudes toward evolution and faith.
In a June 30, 2009, press release, Fern Elsdon-Baker, the head of the British Council's Darwin Now program, commented, "The international Darwin survey has thrown up some very interesting results, especially as it includes data from countries not previously covered before. The most encouraging aspect of the survey shows that whilst there are diverse views on Darwin’s theory of evolution, there appears to a broad acceptance that science and faith do not have to be in conflict. Whilst the results show that there is some way to go in communicating the evidence of evolutionary theory to wider audiences, it is evident that there is clear space for dialogue on this sometimes complex area of debate." The survey was conducted in April and May 2009 in ten countries: Argentina, China, Egypt, Great Britain, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Spain, and the United States... More--posted on our Polls page
BioLogos, one our online resources that advocates what we call "creation via evolution" continues to expand its library of information. They have a page of common questions to which they provide brief answers. Here are a few:
The Questions are central to the mission of BioLogos. By providing brief but detailed responses, the Questions address many of the most interesting topics in science and faith. The list below was compiled out of the many inquiries that BioLogos has received over the last few years. Each response has been reviewed by one or more scholars in that subject area.
1. How is BioLogos different from Theistic Evolution, Intelligent Design and Creationism?
2. What is evolution?
3. How is BioLogos different from Darwinism or Social Darwinism?
4. What is the proper relationship between science and religion?
5. How was the Genesis creation story interpreted before Darwin?
6. What was the Christian response to Darwin?
7. What factors should be considered in determining how to approach a passage of scripture?
8. If God created the universe, what created God?
And more...
New Science Standards were adopted by the Texas Board of Education in March. What do scientists think of the Board's rulings? See the bottom of our page The Battle Rages
Creationism and the Law from the National Center for Science Education (NCSE).
Looking for the legal skinny on the court cases that shaped the landscape of the creationism/evolution controversy? NCSE's new Creationism and the Law resource provides the details on seventeen key cases, from Scopes to Selman, that made a difference. Simply click on the name of a case to get a thorough summary; a list of source documents (typically PDFs, arranged in chronological order); and to relevant NCSE news stories, timelines, and presentations; and a selection of links to third-party sources. This new NCSE resource is free and aimed at journalists, lawyers, school administrators, school boards, and anyone interested in the legal history of evolution, creationism, and public school science education.
To our growing collection of video lectures on our Bicentenary page, we have added one by Eugenie Scott, "The Public Understanding of Evolution."
A lecture given June 2009, sponsored by the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho as part of “Evolution 2009," the joint annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE), the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB), and the American Society of Naturalists (ASN). The presentation is available here in RealPlayer format.
Eugenie Scott is executive director of the National Center for Science Education.
At the conference, Scott was presented with the first Stephen Jay Gould Prize, awarded annually by the Society for the Study of Evolution "to recognize individuals whose sustained and exemplary efforts have advanced public understanding of evolutionary science and its importance in biology, education, and everyday life in the spirit of Stephen Jay Gould." According to the citation, "As the executive director of the National Center for Science Education she has been in the forefront of battles to ensure that public education clearly distinguishes science from non-science and that the principles of evolution are taught in all biology courses."
June 2009
The sixth issue (Vol 2, No 2; June 2009) of Evolution: Education and Outreach features Transitional Fossils and is available full-text for free. The table of contents is posted here. Below is the introductory editorial.
We at Evolution: Education and Outreach continue to celebrate the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of his epochal On the Origin of Species, with the publication of this issue on transitional fossils, edited by paleontologist Don Prothero. Darwin had had an ambivalent relationship with paleontology—first using fossils to come to his earliest ideas on evolution (“transmutation”—see the “Editor’s Corner” of the present issue). But, by the time he published the Origin, Darwin had come to see the fossil record as an embarrassment—so incomplete, so lacking in evidence of transitional forms (with rare exceptions) that it was a hindrance—not at all helpful for establishing his evolutionary views. Darwin devoted an entire chapter in the Origin to the “..Imperfections of the Geological Record.”
Yet, when we ask ourselves, as many have been doing in this anniversary year, what do we know now that Darwin did not know?, the answer includes a vastly more detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the fossil record of the history of life. We now have a stunning array of fossil sequences documenting the stage-by-stage transition from one group to another; this issue is the “handy-dandy” guide to many of the most powerful examples of evolutionary sequences thus far discovered in the fossil record. As with our recent issue on the evolution of complexity, “focused” on the evolution of eyes, this current compilation of “transitional fossils” is destined to become an “instant classic”—the source that teachers and evolutionary biologists will turn to time and again.
We are proud to announce that Evolution: Education and Outreach has recently received Honorable Mention in the category Journal/Social Sciences and Humanities from the Association of American Publishers PROSE Awards. This is high praise and welcome recognition of our early success in achieving our goal: to bring the professional evolutionary scientific research community into closer and more productive touch with K-16 teaching. This award strengthens our resolve as we move forward towards new heights!
Steve Jones: Is Human Evolution Over? A lecture given at the University of Sydney, Australia, February 5, 2009 for the 2009 CHAST Lecture Series. Steve Jones is a professor of genetics and head of the biology department at University College London. This has been added to our Bicentenary Page of Videos
The Faith Project Director for the National Center for Science Education, Peter M. J. Hess, contributed a guest column, entitled "West of Eden," to the Washington Post's on-line "On Faith" feature (June 16, 2009).
"Too often, debates over the public perception of evolution are dominated by the fringes, by fundamentalist Christians and others who reject basic science due to their literal reading of the Bible and by ardent atheists who reject religion because they've embraced metaphysical naturalism — that nature is all that exists," Hess writes. "Evolution can certainly be compatible with religious faith. Because the evidence for evolution is so overwhelming, we must consider it to be a truth about the natural world — the world which we as people of faith believe was created by God, and the world made understandable by the reason and natural senses given to us by God. Denying science is a profoundly unsound theological position." Full-text here
In the Light of Evolution III: Two Centuries of Darwin is the title of a Colloquium, the articles of which appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for the week of June 16, 2009. The full-text is available free online. Recordings of and slides from a few of the talks are also freely available here. (Note: Those lectures whose titles are hyperlinked in blue on this link can be viewed online, for example, Ayala's lecture Darwin and the Scientific Method.)
Below are the opening paragraphs of the Perspective (equivalent to an introduction) by John C. Avise and Francisco J. Ayala.
Charles Darwin's enthusiasm and expertise in natural history contributed hugely to his elucidation of evolution by natural selection, which stands as one of the grandest intellectual achievements in the history of science. Darwin was a lifelong observer of nature, stating in correspondence that some of his happiest times in youth were spent fishing on rainy days and “entomologizing” when England's weather was nice. At the age of 22, he boarded the HSM Beagle for a 5-year stint as Captain Fitzroy's traveling companion and the ship's naturalist, an appointment that introduced him to bio diversity on a global geographic scale. Darwin's breadth and depth of natural-history experience would later be on full display in his most defining scientific works (3–5) in his detailed treatises on orchids, insectivorous plants, coral reefs, barnacles, and earthworms (6–10).
The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his most influential publication (3). Darwin transformed the biological sciences in much the same way that Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton, centuries earlier, transformed the physical sciences—by demonstrating that the universe operates according to natural laws that fall within the purview of rational scientific inquiry. In 1543, Copernicus published De revolutionibus orbium celestium (“On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”) that challenged conventional wisdom that the Earth was the center of Creation, and instead promoted the idea that natural laws govern the motion of physical objects in the universe. In 1859, in On the Origin of Species, Darwin developed the equally revolutionary concept that a natural but nonrandom process—natural selection—yields biological adaptations that otherwise can give the superficial impression of direct intelligent craftsmanship.
Darwin's impacts have been felt far beyond science. Before Darwin, most scientists and theologians accepted what seemed obvious: that divine intervention must have underlain nature's design. The traditional “argument from design” traces back at least to the classical Greek philosopher Socrates in the 5th century B.C. (see ref. 11), and it was expressed again in a thoughtful and elegant treatise (Natural Theology) published in 1802 by the Reverend William Paley (12). Darwin later recalls in his autobiography (13) that Paley's logic “gave me as much delight as did Euclid” and that it was the “part of the Academical Course [at the University of Cambridge] which … was the most use to me in the education of my mind.” Darwin was still a natural theologian when he boarded the Beagle in 1831 on what would become a fateful voyage, for Darwin and for humanity, into uncharted philosophical (as well as scientific) waters.
In the articles of this Colloquium, leading evolutionary biologists and science historians reflect on and commemorate the Darwinian Revolution. The authors of these Proceedings canvass modern research approaches and current scientific thought on each of the 3 main categories of selection (natural, artificial, and sexual) that Darwin addressed during his career. Continued
Added to our Polls page is this new (free) full-text booklet from the Theos Think Tank: Faith and Darwin: Harmony, Conflict, or Confusion? by Caroline Lawes (London: Theos, 2009). Below is the foreword by Nick Spencer, Director of Studies, Theos.
The debate around Darwinism is dogged by uncertainty and confusion. How many people are evolutionists? How many creationists? How many advocates of Intelligent Design? What are the characteristics of each group? Is Intelligent Design a religious phenomenon? Are the majority of creationists Christians? Are they Muslims? Have they any religious affiliations? Do any of these groups have distinctive demographic, political or educational characteristics that might help us understand better the present intellectual landscape?
Research into these questions, at least in the UK, has been very limited. In January 2006, Ipsos/MORI asked the general public whether they believed in the “evolution theory”, the “creationism theory” or the “intelligent design theory”. Six months later OpinionPanel asked university students the same question. Useful as such questions can be, they force respondents into distinct, pre-existing categories, assuming that everyone who ticks evolution or creationism or ID does so with the same degree of conviction and consistency.
The survey that forms the basis of this report is different. Commissioned by Theos and conducted by ComRes it asked over 2,000 UK respondents more than 25 questions: about Darwin, Darwinism, creationism, Intelligent Design, science, science education, purpose, design, God, prayer, humanity – and a range of other topics. The idea was to probe respondents from a number of different angles, exploring not only what they believed but how consistently they believed it and whether or not it correlated to other beliefs. In particular, the survey focused on the perceived relationship between theistic belief and evolution. Were the two linked in people’s minds and, if so, in what way? Were they deemed compatible or incompatible, in tension or in harmony?
The results, which are précised in the Executive Summary and detailed in the body of the report, are interesting and, as one might expect, complex. The manner in which people engage with, adopt or reject evolution is varied, and people are not as consistent in their opinions as earlier single-question-based surveys had suggested.
Sizeable minorities were committed and coherent in their adherence to evolution, creationism or ID, but many more were uncertain and inclined to hedge their bets. The fact that people are more willing to state that a particular position is untrue rather than true, and more willing to designate a position as probable than definite, is telling.
Theos is grateful to the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion for its help in drafting and redrafting (and redrafting) the original questionnaire, and to ComRes for its participation in this process, for carrying out the research with typical professionalism and for conducting such a thorough analysis of the data.
It is worth noting that all the analysis within this report was conducted by Caroline Lawes and her colleagues at ComRes as it was deemed inappropriate for Theos, whose own advocacy of theistic evolution is well-known, to scrutinise the figures or draw conclusions from them.
We hope that the data and the analysis in this report will be of interest and use to those engaged in the debate, and that it will, in some small way, help to clear up the uncertainty and confusion that dogs discussion of evolution and creationism in the UK today. Full-text (pdf) (116 pages)
British Belief in Ghosts
Research published by Theos on 13 April 2009 has revealed a strong belief in ghosts and the supernatural across the UK. The poll of over 2,000 people, conducted by ComRes on behalf of Theos Think Tank, shows that 70% of people believe in the human soul, 55% believe in heaven and 53% believe in life after death.
Almost four in 10 (39%) of people believe in ghosts, 22% believe in astrology or horoscopes, 27% believe in reincarnation and 15% believe in fortune telling or Tarot, the research reveals.
The comparison with the 1950s is especially striking. In 1950, only 10% of the public told Gallup that they believed in ghosts, and just 2% thought they had seen one. In 1951, only 7% of the public said they believed in predicting the future by cards and 6% by stars...Full-text
This article has been added to our page on the Polls
Denis O. Lamoureux has added his support to our growing page of Endorsements. Denis is an assistant professor of science and religion at St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He holds three (!) earned doctoral degrees: dentistry, theology, and biology. His academic specialty focuses on the modern origins controversy, about which he has published three books: I Love Jesus & I Accept Evolution (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009), Evolutionary Creation: An Evangelical Approach to Evolution (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008), and Darwinism Defeated? The Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological Origins (Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 1999). His website About our site he writes:
I have followed the work of Dr. David Vinson for a couple years now, and have found that he presents one of the most balanced approaches that I have seen to the relationship between science and religion. Two words characterize his handling of this material: faithful and fearless. He is faithful to Scripture, the Book of God's Words, and he is fearless in drawing the best conclusions from today’s natural sciences, the Book of God's Works. I highly recommend Dr. Vinson’s website as a rich and reliable resource for the Christian's exploration of creation through evolutionary means.
The Faraday Institute, St. Edmunds College, Cambridge, posts a helpful collection of essays written by reputable scholars on varied topics of interest to the nexus of science and faith. Recently, two new essays were added to the Faraday Papers.
Faraday Paper No 14: "Human genomics and the Image of God" by Dr Graeme Finlay
The DNA we have inherited is the current edition of a text that has been transmitted to us through innumerable generations of ancestors. Unique markers in our DNA show that our ancestors were shared not only with other people, but (progressively further back in time) with other apes, primates and mammals. Our DNAtells a story that describes our biological origins during mammalian evolution, but that is not sufficient to account for our origins as persons.We are formed as persons only as we hear and assimilate stories transmitted in our families and communities. Christians believe that the story that is essential to the development of a fulfilled humanity is that which relates God’s redeeming action in Jesus Christ.
Faraday Paper No 15: "The Galileo Affair" by Prof. Ernan McMullin
The Galileo Affair long ago became the stuff of legend, defining for many a necessarily tense relationship between science and religion. It has been (and still is) the subject of charge and counter-charge. It may help, then, to outline (insofar as it is still possible) what happened in those tumultuous years. How and why did the Church become involved? And what of the famous trial?
The American Scientific Affiliation publishes the journal Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, some articles from which are available online for free. Here's one of note:
Here are some recommended books:
Malcolm Jeeves and Warren S. Brown, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Religion: Illusions, Delusions, and Realities about Human Nature (Templeton Science and Religion Series) (West Conshohocken: PA: Templeton Press, 2009). Amazon
Neil Messer, Selfish Genes and Christian Ethics: Theological and Ethical Reflections on Evolutionary Biology (London: SCM Press, 2007). Amazon Biosketch
May 2009
Ken Miller's lecture "Life--Creation or Evolution?" was delivered on April 30 for the James Gregory Public Lectures on Science and Religion, a series of 12 public lectures by eminent national and international speakers at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, over a 4-year period on a wide range of contemporary issues in Science and Religion. Professor Miller's slides and a video of his presentation are now posted on their site. These also are added to our page Creation through Evolutionary Means: Online Resources
On 29th April 2009, Ken Miller was interviewed by John Humphries on the Today Programme. He discusses the topic of his recent Faraday lecture on the enduring problem of the Intelligent Design movement in the US and his position on faith and science. To listen to the 3-min interview please click here.
Would the worlds of science and religion have changed in William Jennings Bryan had met Francis Collins before the infamous Scopes Trial? Maybe jokes a new piece by columnist Kathleen Parker, "An Evolution for Evangelicals," which ran May 10th in The Washington Post. Parker discusses Collins’ work with BioLogos to help spread the message that “belief in God doesn’t preclude acceptance of evolution.” Ultimately, she concludes that this desire to help Evangelicals come to terms with evolution is a cause that everyone can support, regardless of faith. The column is available from The Washington Post’s website.
Gordon Glover, author of Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation (Chesapeake, VA: Watermark Press, 2007), is an educator committed to training Christians in science. How should the natural sciences be taught by Christian educators? He has just released a new series of lectures on this topic called "Science and Christian Education." These 16 video lessons, each less than 10 minutes, approach the subject from a position that respects both the authority of scripture and the integrity of the scientific method. These lessons have been added to our Creation via Evolution: Online Resources Below are the session titles.
1. Through a Glass Darkly
2. Science, Naturalism and Materialism
3. Proximate and Ultimate Causality
4. What is Folk Science?
5. Geography and Cosmology
6. Does the Earth Move?
7. Astronomy and Physics
8. Geology and Earth History
9. The Appearance of Age
10. Special Creation and Evolution
11. Biological Systematics, Part I
12. Biological Systematics, Part II
13. Intelligent Design, Part I
14. Intelligent Design, Part II
15. Concordism and Accommodation
16. Through Ancient Eyes
Here are links to the video series through YouTube and through Gordon's webpage, Beyond the Firmament
Thomas Jay Oord, Divine Grace and Emerging Creation: Wesleyan Forays in Science and Theology of Creation (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2009). Wipf and Stock Amazon This book will be linked under the Methodist section of our page What Churches Have to Say
Wesleyans and Wesleyan theology have long been interested in the sciences. John Wesley kept abreast of scientific developments in his own day, and he engaged science in his theological construction. Divine Grace and Emerging Creation offers explorations by contemporary scholars into the themes and issues pertinent to contemporary science and Wesleyan Theology.
In addition to groundbreaking research by leading Wesleyan theologians, Jürgen Moltmann contributes an essay. Moltmann's work derives from his keynote address at the joint Wesleyan Theological Society and Society for Pentecostal Studies meeting on science and theology at Duke University.
Other contributions address key contemporary themes in theology and science, including evolution, ecology, neurology, emergence theory, intelligent design, scientific and theological method, and biblical cosmology. John Wesley's own approach to science, explored by many contributors, offers insights for how two of humanity's central concerns—science and theology—can now be understood in fruitful and complementary ways.
Table of Contents
Introduction -- Introducing Wesleyan Theology and Science, Thomas Jay Oord
Chapter 1 -- John Wesley’s Precedent for Theological Engagement with the Natural Sciences, Randy L. Maddox
Chapter 2 – John Wesley’s Vision of Science in the Service of Christ, John W. Haas, Jr.
Chapter 3 – Degrees of Certainty in John Wesley’s Natural Philosophy, Laura Bartels Felleman
Chapter 4 -- Mystery and Humility in John Wesley’s Narrative Ecology, Marc Otto and Michael Lodahl
Chapter 5 -- Sighs, Signs, and Significance: Natural Science and a Hermeneutics of Nature, Jürgen Moltmann
Chapter 6 -- The Consonance of Wesleyan Theology and Modern Science, Timothy Crutcher
Chapter 7 -- How the Discoveries of Science and Archaeology Shift Interpretations of Genesis, Robert D. Branson
Chapter 8 -- Rooting Evolution in Grace, Rebecca J. Flietstra
Chapter 9 -- On Giving Intelligent Design Theorists What They Say They Want W. Christopher Stewart
Chapter 10 -- Attachment, Spiritual Formation, and Wesleyan Communities Warren Brown and Sarah DeBoard Marion Alister McGrath, “Augustine's Origin of Species: How the great theologian might weigh in on the Darwin debate.” Christianity Today, posted online May 08, 2009. This has been added to our page Varied Interpretations of Genesis 1-3 throughout Church History Pdf here: McGrath. Augustine on Gen 1-2.pdf
Alister McGrath is Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College, London, and holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University in molecular biophysics. This article has been adapted from his 2009 Gifford Lectures, newly published as A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2009). Amazon Homepage
The University of Aberdeen has made available the text of six 2009 Gifford Lectures online for free download. Those wishing a much more extended analysis of the themes, including sourcing of primary and secondary sources, will need to get access to the published version of the lectures.
Francis Collins, former director of the Human Genome Project, has launched a webpage to demonstrate the compatibility of faith and science. Their frontpage reads: "There is great need for a public voice representing the harmony of science and faith. In response, the BioLogos Foundation addresses the core themes of science and religion, emphasizing the compatibility of Christian faith with what science has discovered about the origins of the universe and life." The URL is http://www.biologos.org This site has been added to our page Creation through Evolutionary Means: Online Resources Adrian Desmond is a famed Darwin historian and co-author of the new book Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). In February he published an article in Prospect magazine: "Darwin the Abolitionist," which we have listed along with this book title on our History page. The essay closes with this paragraph:
To celebrate historical figures we have first to understand them. In 2009, 200 years after his birth, it is time to switch the spotlight onto the younger Darwin—the man whose belief in human brotherhood transmuted into an evolutionary theory of common descent. Rather than being morally subversive, as his Christian critics claim, Darwin's achievement was morally grounded. Rather than being a dispassionate practice, his science had a humanitarian drive. It made brothers and sisters not only of all human races, but of all life.
In this thought-provoking book, born-again Christian Denis O. Lamoureux argues that the God of the Bible created the universe and life through evolution—an ordained, sustained, and design-reflecting natural process. In other words, evolution is not the result of blind chance and our creation is not a mistake. Lamoureux challenges the popular assumption that God disclosed scientific facts in the opening chapters of Scripture thousands of years before their discovery by modern science. He contends that in the same way the Lord meets us wherever we happen to be in our lives, the Holy Spirit came down to the level of the inspired biblical writers and used their ancient understanding of origins in order to reveal inerrant, life-changing Messages of Faith. Lamoureux also shares his personal story and struggle in coming to terms with evolution and Christianity.
Reviews
Having travelled a path from atheist to young earth creationist to evolutionary creationist, Denis Lamoureux has thought deeply about the intersection of the truths in the Book of Nature and the Book of the Bible. In this remarkable and courageous analysis, he describes how he has found compelling harmony between these worldviews. Though certain literal interpretations of Genesis are rendered untenable, open-minded believers will emerge with their faith refined in the fire of rigorous but loving intellectual argument."
—Francis Collins, former Director of the Human Genome Project, author of The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
"Although there are many fine books that treat the compatibility of 'faith and science' in general, Lamoureux is alone in treating with candor, sophistication, and pastoral sensitivity the interpretive issues that face any Christian reader of Scripture. Lamoureux understands that the heart of the issue is not faith and science, but (1) how one can interpret Genesis as both 'ancient science' and as God's Word, and (2) how Paul reflects this ancient science in his use of Genesis. This book yields much needed clarity and progress in a topic that continues to vex and intrigue evangelical readers, even after generations of dis-ease and awkward silences. It is a book whose time has come."
—Peter Enns, author of Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament
"In this new book, Denis Lamoureux helps us understand how Christians can take the Word of God in Scripture and the Word of God in creation seriously at the same time. Perhaps we are at last coming to a time when even very conservative evangelicals will be able to marvel at the long and beautiful process that God used to create our world."
—Kenton Sparks, author of God's Word in Human Words: An Evangelical Appropriation of Critical Biblical Scholarship
Keith Miller generously sent me a copy of a new book in which geologists unite to counter the claims of "Intelligent Design". Jill S. Schneiderman and Warren D. Allmon, eds, For the Rock Record: Geologists on Intelligent Design (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2009). Amazon
Product Description: According to the idea of intelligent design, nature's complexity is the result of deliberate planning by a supernatural creative force. To date, most scientific arguments against this form of creationism have been made by evolutionary biologists. In this volume, a team of earth scientists reveals that the flaws of intelligent design are not limited to the biological sciences. Indeed, the geological sciences offer some of the best refutation of intelligent design arguements. For the Rock Record is dedicated to the proposition that the idea of intelligent design should be of serious concern to everyone. Editors Jill S. Schneiderman and Warren D. Allmon have gathered leading figures from the geological community with a wide range of viewpoints that go to the heart of the debate over what is and is not science. The purveyors of intelligent design theories and its kindred philosophies threaten the scientific literacy that our society needs by confusing faith and the practice of science. This collection offers a much-needed response.
Miller (PhD, University of Rochester) is Professor of Geology at Kansas State University. Here is Miller's academic biosketch His contribution to this collection of essays is a brilliant piece on the nature of scientific inquiry: "The Misguided Attack on Methodological Naturalism," which dovetails with his essay "Countering Public Misconceptions about the Nature of Evolutionary Science" in Georgia Journal of Science. 2005;63:175-189. Full-text available online within the pdf of that issue of the journal. See also our page Understanding Science His main points are enumerated below.
Misconceptions and obstacles to scientific literacy
· Science is a thinly disguised effort to promote a godless worldview
· The methodological naturalism of science restricts the search for truth
· Supernatural action is a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry
· True science deals with proven facts
· There is no way to objectively select among “theories”
· The historical sciences are inherently untestable
· All “theories” have a right to a hearing in the public science classroom
Steve Martin, one of our bloggers who advocates what is called "Theistic Evolution," has compiled his site's essays into several e-books, which I have added to our page Creation via Evolution: Online Resources. Their titles:
Ebook#1: Evangelicals, Evolution, and Academics
Ebook#2: Evolution and Original Sin
Ebook#3: The Social Psychology of the Origins Debate
Ebook#4: Polkinghorne Quotes
Ebook#5: An Evangelical Dialogue on Evolution: A collection of articles promoting a positive relationship between Evangelical Christianity and evolutionary science
The California Academy of Sciences is participating in Evolve 2009, a San Francisco-wide commemoration of Darwin's bicentenary. Several of the Academy's lectures are being posted as videos on their site here. Our Bicentenary page is collecting links to such lectures from all over the world.
Just released: Jeffrey Schloss and Michael Murray, eds. The Believing Primate: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Reflections on the Origin of Religion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Amazon
Product Description
Over the last two decades, scientific accounts of religion have received a great deal of scholarly and popular attention both because of their intrinsic interest and because they are widely as constituting a threat to the religion they analyse. The Believing Primate aims to describe and discuss these scientific accounts as well as to assess their implications. The volume begins with essays by leading scientists in the field, describing these accounts and discussing evidence in their favour. Philosophical and theological reflections on these accounts follow, offered by leading philosophers, theologians, and scientists. This diverse group of scholars address some fascinating underlying questions: Do scientific accounts of religion undermine the justification of religious belief? Do such accounts show religion to be an accidental by-product of our evolutionary development? And, whilst we seem naturally disposed toward religion, would we fare better or worse without it? Bringing together dissenting perspectives, this provocative collection will serve to freshly illuminate ongoing debate on these perennial questions.
Jack Horner and James Gorman, How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever (New York: Dutton Adult, 2009). Horner's Wikipedia Entry
Joel B Green, Body, Soul, and Human Life: The Nature of Humanity in the Bible (Studies in Theological Interpretation) (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008). Amazon Biosketch
Product Description
Are humans composed of a material body and an immaterial soul? This view is commonly held by Christians, yet it has been undermined by recent developments in neuroscience. Exploring what Scripture and theology teach about issues such as being in the divine image, the importance of community, sin, free will, salvation, and the afterlife, Joel Green argues that a dualistic view of the human person is inconsistent with both science and Scripture. This wide-ranging discussion is sure to provoke much thought and debate. Bestselling books have explored the relationship between body, mind, and soul. Now Joel Green provides us with a biblical perspective on these issues.
From the Back Cover
"Few biblical interpreters have delved as deeply into the science of the human brain as Joel Green. Here he draws upon that learning in conversation with Scripture to put forth a fresh picture of human existence, one that makes sense from both perspectives. He does not shy away from hard questions, especially those about life and death, body and soul."--Patrick D. Miller, Princeton Theological Seminary
"If you think nothing new ever happens in theology or biblical studies, you need to read this book, an essay in 'neuro-hermeneutics.' Green shows not only that a physicalist (as opposed to a dualist) anthropology is consistent with biblical teaching but also that contemporary neuroscience sheds light on significant hermeneutical and theological questions."--Nancey Murphy, Fuller Theological Seminary
"Joel Green serves as the vanguard of interdisciplinary research on this topic. No one combines the requisite background in theology, biblical studies, and the natural sciences as adeptly as Green, and with the critical thinking needed to move along the interstices of these disciplines. Indeed, he succeeds at closing the gaps between these disciplines. This 'progress report' is another timely and welcome contribution from Professor Green."--Bill T. Arnold, Asbury Theological Seminary
"In this outstanding work, the author provides a scholarly and thoroughly biblical analysis of human personhood in dialogue with the neurosciences. This book is likely to provide the definitive overview of this topic for many years to come."--Denis R. Alexander, director, The Faraday Institute, St. Edmund's College
"Some are students of the Bible. Others are students of neuroscience. Joel Green is both and more. In Body, Soul, and Human Life, he helps us listen more attentively both to the Bible and to the unfolding music of the neurosciences. What you hear may surprise you. Far from telling different and irreconcilable stories about human nature, Joel Green helps us to see that these two sources--the Bible and the neurosciences--actually tell mutually enriching and complementary stories about what it means to be fully human and fully alive. I heartily recommend it!"--Kevin Corcoran, Calvin College
April 2009
Robert L. Dorit, associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Smith College, offers a review of Coyne’s Why Evolution is True in The American Scientist entitled "Truth and Consequences"
Coyne, like Dawkins, is a brilliant evolutionist and a great popularizer of biology who, alas, thinks religion is all bunk. Discover magazine takes issue: See the recent article "Atheists for Common Cause With the Religious On Evolution"
To the audio section of our Bicentenary page was added a rich resource from BBC's Radio 4 called Darwin: The Genius of Evolution, along with a link to audio from a Darwin symposium held at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. To the video section was added Evolution Matters and the Diversity of Development, a series of presentations from faculty at the University of California San Diego
Four more video lectures from SMU's conference "Darwin's Evolving Legacy" were added to our Bicentenary page. These include:
7. Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion: Francisco Ayala, University of California, Irvine
8. Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species: Sean B. Carroll, University of Wisconsin
9. Methodist Perspectives on Darwin and Creation: Theodore Walker Jr., SMU's Perkins School of Theology
10. What Darwin Found Convincing: A New Look at His Human and Non-Human Data: William Durham, Stanford University
Eight audio lectures on varied facets of Darwin's life and influence from Darwin College, Cambridge, 2009, have been added to our Bicentenary page.
Revd. Dr. David Wilkinson has graciously added his kind words to our page of Endorsements. He is a scientist, minister, and theologian, with doctorates in theoretical astrophysics and systematic theology. He currently serves as Principal of St. John's College and Lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University. Among his popular publications is The Message of Creation: Encountering the Lord of the Universe, The Bible Speaks Today Series (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002). His current work involves the relationship of the Christian theology to contemporary culture, from science to pop culture. Academic biosketch He writes:
David Vinson's site assembles some excellent and trustworthy resources. In the virtual world, other web-sites do not represent well the depth of theological and scientific scholarship, and so misrepresent the fruitfulness of the dialogue between science and religion. This site shows just how rich and constructive the dialogue is.
Donald R. Prothero, Evolution: What the fossils say and why it matters (New York: Columbia University Press, 2008) has been added to our Evolution Books page. Amazon
Prothero (PhD, Columbia) is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. He is currently the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of 25 books and over 200 scientific papers, including five leading geology textbooks. Academic Biosketch
Some of our more conservative brothers and sisters in the Christian faith insist that there is only way to interpret the creation accounts of Genesis. The early church, as but one example, was comfortable interpreting these passages in a variety of ways. It seems the Christian church never took just one approach to this topic. Books that discuss ancient and contemporary views are listed on our new page Varied Interpretations of Genesis 1-3 throughout Church History
Janet Browne's Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography (Books That Changed the World) (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006) has been added to our History page. Browne (PhD, Imperial College London) is a zoologist and historian of science. She had taught at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London, before moving to Harvard University, where she serves as Aramont Professor of the History of Science. She is a renowned biographer of Darwin. Biosketch Amazon
Nick Spencer, Darwin and God (London: SPCK, 2009), has been added to the "Darwin and Religion" section of our History and More page. Amazon UK Amazon US
Product Description
'A very helpful discussion of a neglected and important subject' Mary Midgley. Nick Spencer draws on Darwin's autobiography, manuscripts, notebooks and letters - as well as his world-famous publications - in exploring Darwin's view of design, purpose, morality, the universe and the human mind. The author argues that, although Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection did undermine his Christian faith, it was the age-old problem of suffering - first in theory, then through the dreadful loss of his favourite child - that caused it to break down. Darwin and God is the first full-length account of Darwin's religious beliefs to be published in the UK. Meticulously-researched, it presents a moving, compelling and tumultuous story of one of the world's greatest scientists.
About the Author
Nick Spencer is Director of Studies at Theos, the public theology think tank. He has written a number of books, most recently (with Bob White) Christianity, Climate Change and Sustainable Living, and is the author (with Jonathan Chaplin) of God and Government (SPCK, forthcoming).
We have added another online video lecture series to our page Creation through Evolutionary Means. This informative presentation is by Dennis Venema (PhD, University of British Columbia), Assistant Professor and Chair, Department of Biology, Trinity Western University, British Columbia, Canada. These two video power point lectures are excerpted from his course "Introduction to Biology II (for non-majors)" and explain models of relating Christian faith to evolution that are popular among the Christian community. Link
The PBS webpage "Evolution" has 7 short videos introducing evolution to high school students. On their site these videos are available in both QuickTime and RealPlayer formats. Links to these lectures on YouTube have been posted on our page Evolution for Children and Teens.
Our information page on Darwin's Bicentenary celebration includes links to events across the globe, as well as to lecture series from some of these events that are available as online videos.
Carl Zimmer's lecture "Darwin and Beyond" was given on the occasion of Darwin's 200th birthday, February 12, 2009, at North Carolina State Museum of Natural Sciences. BlipTV
The History Channel has produced a fascinating 11-hour DVD series called EVOLVE. The series is available from the History Channel and from Amazon.
It’s a tough, violent, and lethal world out there, and it’s been that way since the dawn of time. Roughly 99 percent of all species have become extinct. What enabled that other one percent to survive the cutthroat competition? Their ability to.... EVOLVE.
Through a stunning combination of dramatizations, computer animations, live action nature footage and lab work, discover the biological and behavioral innovations that have kept us all on this Earth!
4-DVD Set includes (among others):
EYES: Seeing is believing … not to mention evading, eating and surviving! Learn how the eyeball evolved from ancestors of jellyfish who developed light-sensitive cells to the unique adaptations that allowed primates to better exploit their new habitat, while the ability to see colors helped them find food.
FLIGHT: In this high-flying episode, unearth the secrets, and the continuing mysteries, of the very first vertebrate flyer, the pterosaur, which escaped its earthly bounds 220 million years ago. This creature eventually evolved into flying Goliaths the size of small planes!
COMMUNICATION: Communication isn’t just the key to a good relationship; it also goes a long way toward ensuring the success of a species. While humans, comfortable at the top of the food chain, have made the most out of this particular evolutionary achievement, organisms everywhere - from dolphins to amoebae - can be found speaking to one another.
Evolution: The First Four Billion Years, eds. Michael Ruse, Joseph Travis (Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2009). HUP
Ronald L. Numbers, ed. Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion (Harvard University Press, 2009). Amazon
March 2009
Jerry Coyne, Professor of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, delivered a lecture at the University's Graham School of General Studies, May 22, 2007 entitled "Sociobiology, Evolution, and Religion" (in reality, the lecture would have been better entitled, "Why the Case for Intelligent Design Fails"). Podcast Webpage mp3 link This is linked under his book Why Evolution is True on our page The Science of Evolution as well as on our ID page.
On March 23 Sean B. Carroll, famed geneticist and author, spoke at UC Davis on his recent book Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). Amazon Here's the flier: Carroll at UC Davis. March 2009.pdf
A section of YouTube Lectures from the 2008-2009 Darwin Bicentenary celebration will be posted on our Bicentenary page. We open with a 10-lecture course from Stanford University called " Darwin's Legacy."
The National Center for Science Education has launched a NCSE YouTube site. Here you'll find reports from the evolution/creationism wars—footage of contentious testimony, landmark and illuminating speeches, conference coverage, excerpts from television appearances, and presentations. In the future, look for classroom videos, tutorials for teachers, videos contributed by NCSE members, and much more. NCSE Homepage Charlie's Playhouse has compiled an annotated bibliography of Children’s Books about Evolution and Charles Darwin. We have added this resource to our page on Evolution for Children Here's their Pdf
Eugenie Scott's first chaper of her book Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, Second Edition (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008) has been made available. Entitled "Truth without Certainty," this chapter explains how we know things, what constitutes "proof," what it takes for something in science to reach the level of "theory," and how evolutionary theory is testable. A pdf attachment of that helpful chapter can be found under her book on our page Intelligent Design: Is it Good Science? as well as on Understanding Science
The Pew Research Center is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. In honor of Darwin's bicentenary they have posted a collection of evolution resources called "The Debate over Evolution." Included are essays on Darwin's theory, the conflict between religion and evolution, the social and legal dimensions of the debate, as well as opinions of various religious groups in the US. Interestingly, only 24% of evangelical Protestants agree that evolution is the best explanation for the origins of human life on earth. You can find links to their resources of our page The Polls
The American Association for the Advancement of Science supports the complementarity model that this webpage advances. Their video "Evolution, Education, and the Integrity of Science" addresses the question, "Are science and religion in opposition?" The 5-minute video can be found here on YouTube.
The fifth issue of the fascinating Evolution: Education and Outreach, March 2009, was recently posted. Find more info on the journal and the link to its (free!) content on our page Evolution: Online Resources
The February issue of Science News: Magazine of the Society for Science and the Public commemorated the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin with a collection of user-friendly articles on evolution. Titles and links can be found on our page Evolution: Online Resourcers
The February 10, 2009, issue of The New York Times contained a suite of articles on Darwin and evolutionary biology:
Nicholas Wade's "Darwin, Ahead of His Time, Is Still Influential" arguing that "[i]t is a testament to Darwin's extraordinary insight that it took almost a century for biologists to understand the essential correctness of his views"
Carl Safina's "Darwinism Must Die So That Evolution May Live"
Carl Zimmer's "Crunching the Data for the Tree of Life"
Cornelia Dean's "Seeing the Risks of Humanity's Hand in Species Evolution."
John Tierney’s “Darwin the Comedian. Now That’s Entertainment!”
To our History page have been added two resources to help our understanding of Darwin's famed Origin of Species.
A University of Chicago course on Darwin and his evolutionary theory by Robert J. Richards (PhD, University of Chicago). given in the Fall of 2008. Its title is "Darwin’s Origin and Descent of Man" The course is free and comes in both audio and video formats.
Richards, in collaboration with Michael Ruse, edited the The Cambridge Companion to the 'Origin of Species' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), which has recently been published. Amazon
Sex, speciation, and fishy physics is the title of the March 2009 Evo in the News item from Understanding Evolution. If you've been following their monthly updates, you already know that 2009 is the Year of Science. To celebrate this month's theme, physics and technology, Evo in the News reports on a recent story that highlights how an understanding of basic physics can illuminate evolution going on today — in particular how the physics of light influences sexual selection, speciation, and the collapse of biodiversity with human-caused pollution. See Evo in the News
February 2009
Karl W. Giberson (PhD, Rice University) is a physicist and an internationally known scholar of science-and-religion and one of America’s leading participants in the creation/evolution controversy. He is professor at Eastern Nazarene College, the Director of the Forum on Faith & Science at Gordon College in Massachusetts, and currently the co-director for the Venice Summer School on Science and Religion. He has published over a hundred articles, reviews, and essays, both technical and popular, and written several books, including Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (New York: HarperOne, 2008). He is our first scientist to add his voice of support to our page of Endorsements.
At a time when evangelicals are rejecting established science in favor of home-grown and obsolete mythologies it is encouraging to find voices like David Vinson's. This site is well-worth perusing and makes a valuable contribution.
Learn about Darwin's Finches at the University of California's educational portal Understanding Evolution
National Public Radio is currently doing a series in honor of Darwin's bicentenary. Below are links to the series:
Jan 18. Celebrating Darwin's Evolution Revolution LinkFeb 1. The Forces That Shaped A Young Charles Darwin LinkFeb 8. Darwin, Britian's Hero, is Still Controversial in U.S. Link
Feb 11. Darwin's Theory: Too Big To Publish Link
Feb 20. Doubting Darwin: Debate Over The Mind's Evolution Link
Feb 24. Darwin's Very Bad Day: 'Oops, We Just Ate It!' Link
Check out the Tree of Life, a 10-minute video produced by Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Keith Thomson (PhD, Harvard), emeritus professor of natural history at the University of Oxford, just published The Young Charles Darwin (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009), now posted on our page History and More.
What sort of person was the young naturalist who developed an evolutionary idea so logical, so dangerous, that it has dominated biological science for a century and a half? How did the quiet and shy Charles Darwin produce his theory of natural selection when many before him had started down the same path but failed? This book is the first to inquire into the range of influences and ideas, the mentors and rivals, and the formal and informal education that shaped Charles Darwin and prepared him for his remarkable career of scientific achievement.
Keith Thomson concentrates on Darwin’s early life as a schoolboy, a medical student at Edinburgh, a theology student at Cambridge, and a naturalist aboard the Beagle on its famous five-year voyage. Closely analyzing Darwin’s Autobiography and scientific notebooks, the author draws a fully human portrait of Darwin for the first time: a vastly erudite and powerfully ambitious individual, self-absorbed but lacking self-confidence, hampered as much as helped by family, and sustained by a passion for philosophy and logic. Thomson’s account of the birth and maturing of Darwin’s brilliant theory is fascinating for the way it reveals both his genius as a scientist and the human foibles and weaknesses with which he mightily struggled.
New to our Online Resource page of Creation via Evolution is information about the (free!) 72-page book Rescuing Darwin: God and Evolution in Britain Today (Theos, 2009). The authors are Nick Spencer, Director of Studies at Theos, the public theology think tank, and Denis Alexander, Director of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, and author of Creation and Evolution: Do We Have to Choose? (Monarch, April 2008).
Rescuing Darwin argues that Darwin and his theory have become caught in the crossfire of a philosophical and theological battle in which he himself had little personal interest.
On the one side stands a handful of modern Darwinians who insist that evolution has killed God and ideas of design, purpose, morality and humanity. On the other side are their mainly, but not exclusively, religious opponents who, unwilling to adopt such a bleak vision, cite Genesis and Intelligent Design as evidence of evolution’s deficiency.
Rescuing Darwin contends that both positions are untenable and that, in any case, the whole battle is unnecessary. Evolution does not demand atheism or amorality. It is wholly compatible with a religious understanding of the universe.
The authors argue that we need to rescue Darwin from the crossfire of this battle, respect him as an exceptional natural scientist (rather than some kind of anti-theologian) and restore him to the position that he himself articulated in the final years of his life: “It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist & an evolutionist.”
Included in this book is a discussion of a 2008 survey of 2,000 UK adults about their opinions on evolution and faith. See our Polls page under "Research in the UK"
Rev. Dr. Bruce Hansen, Training Coordinator, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Pacific Region, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Northern California, posted his commendations on our Endorsements page. He writes:
In my quarter century in campus ministry, I have witnessed a troubling and growing schizophrenia among Christian students. They have one brain for succeeding in the university and another for their Christian life. Seldom do their Christian mind and student mind appear to converse with one another. This bifurcation is tragic both for the church and for the academy. Moreover, it constitutes a spiritual malady inasmuch as these students maintain at least one false persona and, therefore, lack integrity. This illness occurs to some extent in all disciplines, but nowhere is this more apparent than in the biological sciences. Dr. Vinson has provided an invaluable dispensary to help foster the spiritual health of Christian university students. His web-site ought to be a standard course for any Christian university student, especially those in the biological sciences.
We have added to our History and More page two resources on the faith of Charles Darwin:
David Quammen, a Yale graduate and a Rhodes scholar, is an award-winning science, nature and travel writer whose work has appeared in publications such as National Geographic, Outside, Harper's, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times Book Review. As part of Case Western Reserve University's Year of Darwin, Quammen was asked to give the 2008 Fall Convocation lecture, entitled "The Reluctant Mr. Darwin." This 30-minute video can be found under the "Works About Darwin" section of our page HIstory and More
Also on this History page we've added a link to a September 2007 audio interview with James Moore on Public Radio's "Speaking of Faith." Professor Moore is an historian of science at the Open University and the University of Cambridge and visiting scholar at Harvard University. He is among today's foremost biographers of Charles Darwin.
Edward J. Larson (JD, Harvard University; PhD, University of Wisconsin) is a noted historian and legal scholar and Pulitzer Prize winner who has written on the controversies relating to the teaching of evolution in the United States. Larson presented a video lecture at Case Western Reserve University on October 16, 2008, entitled “From Dayton to Dover: A History of the Evolution Teaching Legal Controversy in America.” Find the link in the section "The Response to Darwinism" listed under "More from Larson" on our History and More page
Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009). Amazon
This book, by Darwin's most celebrated modern biographers, gives a completely new explanation of why he came to his shattering theories about human origins. Until now, Desmond and Moore argue, the source of the moral fire which gives such intensity and urgency to Darwin's ideas has gone unnoticed. By examining minutely Darwin's manuscripts and correspondence (published and unpublished) and covert notebooks, where many of the clues lie, they show that the key to unlocking the mystery of how such an ostensibly conservative man could hold views which his contemporaries considered both radical and bestial, lay in his utter detestation of slavery. Darwin's Sacred Cause will be one of the major contributions to the worldwide Darwin anniversary celebrations in 2009.
Links to an interview with the authors about their book can be found in the section "Works about Darwin" on our page History and More
Richard Dawkins is one of today's vocal popularizers of science who cheriches his scientism and militantly attacks religion. I still find his older work as a scientific educator most helpful, which is why I recommend his books on evolution. He has a new video series, The Genius of Charles Darwin, which won the 2009 award for 'Best Documentary Series' at the British Broadcast Awards. Dawkins embraces and celebrates a conflict model of the interaction of faith and science, in which these two ways of understanding life are seen as antagonistic and incompatible. That such a model is not the only way to approach the relationship between creation and evolution is something this website hopes to demonstrate. Links to this documentary are found on our page Scientism. Listen to how he (mis)uses science in an attempt to annul the validily of religion.
National Geographic Series: Morphed
Before They Were Bears. The bear family is battling against severe climate change and the dominance of man. Some have evolved unique and amazing weapons to survive but other bears including a huge monster species were wiped out. This is the story of how a small dog-like animal descended from the trees almost 30 million years ago to become a diverse and dispersed family on earth today.
February. Link
From Dinosaur to Turkey. Using cutting edge CGI, leading scientists and the latest dinosaur discoveries, Evolutions will take the viewer on an epic journey of evolutionary drama - Starting 230 million years ago one of the first dinosaurs, through the explosion of all the different shapes and sizes by the Jurassic, including the giant Diplodocus, and the group of dinosaurs that turned into the great American icon, the Turkey. We will see how catastrophic climate change, deadly predators and evolutionary dead-ends couldn’t stop the dinosaur from evolving into the main course on the Thanksgiving table.
February. Link
When Whales Had Legs. 50 million years ago, a hungry land animal waded in shallow sea water. Four million years later, it lived permanently in the oceans and seas of planet earth. Using cutting edge CGI, this film follows the extraordinary evolution of a land animal into the modern whale.
February. Link
National Geographic Special on Darwin
Darwin’s Secret Notebooks. Using Darwins own diary and field notes as a travel guide, retrace Darwin’s expedition beyond the Galapagos to uncover the forgotten evidence that inspired his revolutionary work.
Tuesday Link
January 2009
A very nice pictorial lecture by Neil Shubin entitled “Your Inner Fish” describes his historic fossil find "Tiktaalik," which demonstrates the fascinating transition from fish to amphibian. This was delivered for the Year of Darwin at Case Western University, November 14, 2008. The link can be found in Professor Shubin's section on our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Books.
William P. Brown (PhD, Emory University), Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary, now graces our Endorsements page with his support.
David's webpage is a generous and useful resource for persons of faith who seek to find constructive, rather than confrontational, ways to converse with science. David balances scholarship and personal perspective in a disarming and invitational way. Would that all participants adopt such a posture!
There have been a handful of good books published on the controversial trial pertaining to the teaching of intelligent design in Dover, Pennsylvania. Several of these have been posted on our page Kitzmiller vs Dover. These include Edward Humes, Monkey Girl: Evolution, Education, Religion, and the Battle for America's Soul (New York: Harper Perennial, 2008); Lauri Lebo, The Devil in Dover: An Insider's Story of Dogma v. Darwin in Small-town America (New York: New Press, 2008).
Does the scientific endeavor instill values?
Science is not a monument of received Truth but something that people do to look for truth.
That endeavor, which has transformed the world in the last few centuries, does indeed teach values. Those values, among others, are honesty, doubt, respect for evidence, openness, accountability and tolerance and indeed hunger for opposing points of view. These are the unabashedly pragmatic working principles that guide the buzzing, testing, poking, probing, argumentative, gossiping, gadgety, joking, dreaming and tendentious cloud of activity — the writer and biologist Lewis Thomas once likened it to an anthill — that is slowly and thoroughly penetrating every nook and cranny of the world.
Nobody appeared in a cloud of smoke and taught scientists these virtues. This behavior simply evolved because it worked.
Dennis Overbye, “Elevating Science, Elevating Democracy” New York Times, January 26, 2009. Link
John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Professor of Theology and Culture, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, added his kind words to our Endorsements page. Thanks John!
The Christian church and the world at large continue to need people who will do the hard work necessary to link disciplines, such as science and theology, and then to 'translate' what they discover at such a nexus for those of us lacking the time or skill to do it ourselves. Dr. David Vinson's site offers numerous and prudently chosen resources for people who want to understand better how science and theology relate. And who doesn't want to understand that?
Three new excellent books that explain evolutionary history and theory to a lay audience have been added to our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Books.
1. Mark Pallen's The Rough Guide to Evolution (London: Rough Guides, 2008). Fun and informative.
2. Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution Is True (New York: Viking Adult, 2009). More substantive of the three. This is the best non-technical, lay-friendly, broad-scoped, up-to-date book I've encountered. And it's well-organized, easy to follow, and well written. Coyne is a delight to read and makes the science as accessible as it is fascinating. This would be my top-choice recommendation for anyone who wanted to familiarize themselves with what evolutionary theory is all about.
3. Jonathan Silvertown, editor, 99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up (London: Natural History Museum, 2008). Most accessible.
Rev. Dr. Peter Rodgers, Pastor, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Antelope, California, and Adjunct Professor of New Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary, Northern California, added his commendation to our Endorsements page.
I am delighted to be asked to commend David Vinson's website on faith and science. I encourage both theological students and lay people to give special attention to this important resource for thinking about the relationship of Christian faith to scientific exploration. For the beginner, this website should be the first port of call. Those who have studied and thought about these matters for years could do no better than to make this website home port. As both mature scientist and lay theologian David is in a unique position to be a sure-footed guide through the turbulent waters of faith and science.
Darwin shouldn't be hijacked by New Atheists - he is an ethical inspiration, says Madeleine Bunting in The Guardian, Monday 29 December 2008. She states that this year's anniversaries of this great British scientist must explore beyond the usual squabbling over faith. Her essay opens our page listing Bicentennial events
Kevin Padian and Nicholas Matzke. Darwin, Dover, ‘Intelligent Design’ and textbooks. Biochem J. 2009;417:29–42.
ID (‘intelligent design’) is not science, but a form of creationism; both are very different from the simple theological proposition that a divine Creator is responsible for the natural patterns and processes of the Universe. Its current version maintains that a ‘Designer’ must intervene miraculously to accomplish certain natural scientific events. The verdict in the 2005 case Kitzmiller, et al. v. Dover School District, et al. (in Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.) was a landmark of American jurisprudence that prohibited the teaching of ID as science, identified it as religiously based, and forbade long-refuted ‘criticisms of evolution’ from introduction into public school classes. Much of the science of the trial was based on biochemistry; biochemists and other scientists have several important opportunities to improve scientific literacy and science education in American public schools (‘state schools’) by working with teachers, curriculum developers and textbook writers.
For the link to the full-text, see the Kevin Padian section on our page Kitzmiller v Dover
A revised edition has just been published of Eugenie Scott's informative Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, Second Edition (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008). Amazon. The link can be found on our page The Education Debate: Intelligent Design
The Teaching Company brings engaging professors into your home or car through courses on DVD, audio CD, and other formats. Since 1990, great teachers from the Ivy League, Stanford, Georgetown, and other leading colleges and universities have crafted over 250 courses for lifelong learners like you. It's the adventure of learning without the homework or exams. Two excellent courses on evolutionary theory have been posted on our page History and More
More on public opinion from the Harris Poll came to press in December 2008. The opener is below and the link can be found on our page What do the Polls Tell Us
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – December 10, 2008 – That very large majorities of the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul after death, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth will come as no great surprise. What may be more surprising is that substantial minorities believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology, and the belief that they themselves were once other people. Overall, more people believe in the devil, hell and angels than believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution.
These are some of the results of The Harris Poll®, a new nationwide survey of 2,126 U.S. adults surveyed online between November 10 and 17, 2008 by Harris Interactive®.
Center for Inquiry and The Clergy Letter Project are secular and religious communities who have come together to protect our children's future in science. They have designed a webpage toward this end called Teach Them Science. The link can be found on our page Understanding Science
New to our page History and More is David Wollert 's DVD, Paradise Lost: The Religious Life of Charles Darwin (Blank Slate Studios, 2007). In this intellectually provocative documentary film, director David Wollert personalizes one of the great controversies of the modern era. The viewer is asked to take Charles Darwin's faith journey. Incorporating voice-overs from his journals and autobiography, the film traces Darwin's personal and professional life as it documents his transition from theism, to deism, to agnosticism. Supportive of both evolution and religion, Paradise Lost tells the story of one man's struggle to comprehend a world explained both by religion and by the science that bears his name.
If Charles Darwin had had a laptop, he probably would have been a blogger--so eager was his desire to disseminate and discuss his ideas with the world. In this spirit, Science this month launched a new blog, Origins. Via weekly posts, their writers and editors, as well as guest researchers and blog readers, will share their thoughts, not just about the origin of species but also about key nodes throughout the evolution of life, just as Darwin did. Their bloggers will be introducing the people and processes behind the research, as well as other "Origins" themes. Find the link on our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Online Resources
Want to participate in a virtual book club, reading collectively Darwin's classic On the Origin of Species? Now's your chance. John Whitfield has a PhD in evolutionary biology and is a London-based free-lance science writer whose works have appeared in Nature, Science, Scientific American, Seed, New Scientist and others. Find the opening post on our page History and More: Works by Darwin
Carl Zimmer, notable science writer and blogger, invited Professor Ken Miller to share his blog for a series of guest postings in response to the Discovery Institute's criticism of the Kitzmiller verdict. For these, as well as other lectures and essays by Dr. Miller, see our page Kitzmiller vs. Dover
Four Stakes in the Heart of Intelligent Design, by CHARLES MCGRATH. New York Times, December 24, 2008.
"Next month is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, who by an odd quirk of history was born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln, and to commemorate the occasion there are almost as many Darwin books jamming the conveyor belt as there are new books about Abe. These recent additions to the already vast Darwin literature include biographies, encyclopedias, defenses of evolution and reconsiderations of “The Origin of Species,” which came out 150 years ago, another milestone worth remarking." Full-text
Gordon Hugenberger, who studied physics at Harvard and theology at Oxford, is Senior Minister at Park Street Church, Boston, MA. Recently he delivered a six-part sermon series on Psalm 19, in which he explains the compatibility of science and faith. Links to these audio files can be found on our page What Churches (and Pastors) Have to Say
London's Natural History Museum has quite a collection of resources on Evolution via their Nature Online section. Here's how their page opens: "It is generally accepted that the astonishing diversity of life on our planet is the result of a process called evolution, which drives organisms to change gradually over time. While the basic concept of organisms evolving is not a difficult one, understanding how evolution works, and how evolutionary theory was developed, is more complex." For links to their educational websites, see our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Online Resources
"15 Evolutionary Gems" is a new resource summarizing fifteen lines of evidence for evolution by natural selection, provided by the journal Nature, the world's most highly cited interdisciplinary science journal. This treasure chest can be found on our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Online Resources
James Gregory Public Lectures on Science and Religion is a series of 12 public lectures by eminent national and international speakers that will be held at the University of St Andrews, Scotland, over a 4-year period on a wide range of contemporary issues in Science and Religion. All the lectures are open for all without tickets or registering. Transcripts of the lectures, as well as audio and video recordings, are available without cost. For more information, see our page Creation through Evolutionary Means: Online Resources
Sean B. Carroll, author of the superb book The Making of the Fittest, just published a new book entitled Into the Jungle: Great Adventures in the Search for Evolution (Benjamin Cummings, 2008). The book brings the science of evolution to biology students at any level, regardless of their college major or career path. Each of the nine stories in this brief reader chronicles the dramatic adventures of an influential zoologist, geologist, paleontologist, or geneticist on their path to some of the most important discoveries that have shaped our understanding of how life has evolved. More on the book at our page The Science Undergirding Evolution
Scientific American for January 2009 is entitled "The Evolution of Evolution: How Darwin's Theory Survives, Thrives and Reshapes the World." This Special Edition is dedicated to Evolution, "the Most Powerful Idea in Science." The opening editorial and a linked list of articles can be found on our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Online Resources
Judge Jones, who presided over the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial of "Intelligent Design," was recently interviewed for PLoS Genetics, a peer-reviewed open access journal published by the Public Library of Science. After recounting his legal career and sketching the legal history of the creationism/evolution controversy, Jones talked about the trial itself. The article is posted on our page Is ID Good Science? Gitschier J, "Taken to School: An Interview with the Honorable Judge John E. Jones, III." PLoS Genet 2008; 4(12): e1000297.
The fourth issue of Evolution: Education and Outreach -- the new journal aspiring to promote accurate understanding and comprehensive teaching of evolutionary theory for a wide audience -- is now available on-line. The theme of the issue is the evolution of the eye. In their article "Misconceptions About the Evolution of Complexity," Andrew J. Petto and Louise S. Mead take the vertebrate eye as their example, since "the complexity of vertebrate eyes is a common antievolution argument." Link to this free, full-text journal via our page The Science Undergirding Evolution: Online Resources
Darwin's Bicentennial Celebration: From MIT to San Francisco and multiple locales in between, commemorations are observing the Feb. 12th bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publishing of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (Nov. 24). For a few of these events, see our new page Bicentennial
Mike Beidler, who runs the blog "The Creation of an Evolutionist," has a good review of Denis Lamoureux’s Evolutionary Creation: An Evangelical Approach to Evolution. I've linked to this under our posting on Denis's book on our page Creation through Evolutionary Means: Books Also listed there is a recent interview with Denis by Canadian Christianity.com on creation and evolution.
The UC Museum of Paleontology of the University of California at Berkeley, in collaboration with a diverse group of scientists and teachers, has started a new educational webpage called "Understanding Science." It's featured on a new page we've added of the same name Understanding Science where we have relocated the essays from Keith Miller on the nature of science.
More reviews of "Expelled" keep rolling in. See the growing list at the Expelled: Exposed website
Link here for the month-by-month entries to "What's New?" for the year 2008
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