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What is evolution? In order to best understand the conflict between evolution and the Christian faith, we need to be clear about what science says about evolution. Evolution can be defined as the idea that all the life forms are related to each other and that all life forms change as their populations interact with their environment. Charles Darwin wasn’t the first scientist to talk about evolution; he was the first to put forward the theory of natural selection, the process through which populations slowly change over eons, to favor those characteristics which are most likely to propagate the group. One important implication of Darwin’s perspective is that all life forms are related to each other, something which has been borne out by modern genetics.
To see how natural selection works, suppose there was a population divided between short-legged and long-legged individuals. Long-legged individuals produce long-legged children and short-legged individuals produce short-legged children. Let us further suppose that these individuals had a natural predator and their ability to escape the predator depended on how fast they could run, and that how fast they could run depends on the length of their legs. Over time the short-legged individuals would be eaten and the population would become entirely long-legged. Thus, natural selection would naturally produce a population of long-legged individuals.
We breed dogs and chickens and soy beans to favor their most useful characteristics. Darwin goes further and asserts over a long, long, long period of time and with geographic isolation of populations, this process results in the creation of new species. While the theory of evolution has many unsolved problems, it remains the best scientific theory for understanding the multiplicity of life forms and the evolution of these life forms from earlier ancestors.
Human Evolution. According to current classification humans belong to the hominoid (great ape family). Some six million years ago the Hominin branch broke off from that of the Gorillini (see figure 1 below). Several genera evolved among Hominini, one of which was the genus homo, only one species of which, our species, homo sapiens, is still around (all the other species are extinct). Homo Sapiens first appeared in the fossil record in Southern Africa 300,000 years ago. Figure 2 presents artist renditions of some of our closest relatives. Those beginning with H. are members of the Homo genus; those beginning with A. are members of the Australopithecus genus, while those beginning with P. are members of the Paranthropus genus.
What are Christians to make of this theory of evolution? First, is it widely agreed upon by scientists?According to Biologos, the web-site of “evolutionary creationists” (more on that later), “Opponents of the science of evolution sometimes claim that evolution is a ‘theory in crisis.’ This claim has had traction among regular church goers, 39% of whom believe that scientists do not generally agree that humans have evolved over time. When respondents are restricted to white Evangelicals, that number goes up to 49%. Such beliefs do not reflect what scientists actually think. When scientists themselves were asked the same question, 99% agreed that humans have evolved over time. There is very little debate among scientists about the central idea of evolutionary theory: common ancestry (including human beings). It is the settled backdrop against which biological research takes place. There is heated debate over how it works: the importance of mutations, the relation of evolutionary theory to genetics, etc., but not the core idea itself.”
Does evolution contradict faith? What does Scripture say? Readers are referred to our Last post which discusses how a worldview approach to Scripture provides a mechanism for eliminating the seeming contradictions between science and Scripture. Aside from the issues of what a “day” means in Genesis 1, there is also the question of what does the Bib;e mean by “according to its kind?”
For example, Don Stewart writes, “The Bible teaches “the fixity of the species” in that each biblical kind can only reproduce within certain fixed boundaries. Change within a kind, however, is consistent with the biblical teaching.” This greatly troubled Darwin. According to Ministry International, “When Darwin, after long study and observation, became convinced that variations do occur in animals and plants, producing new “species,” since he believed that the Bible teaches absolute fixity of species by the act of creation by God, and since he did not go to the Genesis record and study it for himself in the original language or even in English translation, the result was that he felt forced to abandon the Genesis Creation account and to accept the facts of nature with which he was faced.”
‘Thus in Genesis 1 we read, “11 Then God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.’ And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds.” Note this passage, and others like it (Genesis 1:20 and 1:25) do not say that God created all the living things that are and ever were in these “days” of creation. To quote Ministry International again, “This does not contradict the fact that they were to continue reproducing others similar to themselves. But nothing in the Hebrew original of the Creation record excludes the possibility that from the created species there could develop new forms—that is, what are called new species or genera—as the reproduction process continues.
“If Darwin had taken the trouble to find out what the Genesis account really says, when he saw evidences that new species had originated in nature, he would not have been forced by the facts he saw to conclude that the Bible is untrustworthy. We must not force our own ideas onto the inspired record, but let it speak to us.”
Christians have attempted in various ways to square their faith with the science of evolution. There are, for example, “Young Earth Creationists,” and “Old Earth Creationists.” Both of these approaches argue about the science. As I said before, I think attempting to argue with a view agreed to by the vast majority of scientists, and bulwarked by both fossil evidence and genetic evidence, is foolhardy. This refusal to accept a widely held scientific view makes Christians seem ignorant and makes them objects of scorn. The most famous debate between the science of evolution and conservative biblical faith took place in 1925 at the famous Scopes trial. This did not result in a long-term victory for Christians.
Another approach, “Intelligent Design (ID),” is non-Christian, reverting back to Aristotelian philosophy and the idea of the “unmoved mover,” but with a modern twist. It argues that the complexity and connectedness of design makes it absurd to think that what we see is the result of a random process, of chance, as Darwin held. But ID is based on deism rather than Christianity.
The approach that I think offers the best chance of bringing science and faith together is Evolutionary Creationism, as espoused on the Biologos community. To quote from their website ”Evolutionary Creation (EC) is a Christian position on origins. It takes the Bible seriously as the inspired and authoritative word of God, and it takes science seriously as a way of understanding the world God has made. EC includes two basic ideas. First, that God created all things, including human beings in his own image. Second, that evolution is the best scientific explanation we currently have for the diversity and similarities of all life on Earth.”
EC is doctrinally conservative. “We believe that God acts purposefully in creation, just as he does in our lives, and that he continues to actively uphold and sustain creation. We believe in the Trinity, the full divinity and full humanity of Jesus Christ, and the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We believe that all humans are made in the image of God and all humans have a sinful nature. We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.”
Biologos was founded by widely respected geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, who has been the Director of the National Institutes of Health and Director of the Human Genome Project. Its web-site contains answers to a number of questions about Evolutionary Creationism. However, the Biologos community does not reflect complete unity on a number of important questions such as what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Were Adam and Eve real people (see a coming post for one answer)? How is Scripture to be interpreted and what do we mean by “inerrancy” and is “inerrancy” a helpful term?
Conclusions. I believe that the science underlying the theory of evolution by natural selection to be based on overwhelming evidence and thus, that it is foolhardy to argue that the science is wrong. The fundamental (no pun intended) question for Christians is whether evolution makes the core beliefs of Christianity untenable. I don’t believe it does. I think “Evolutionary Creationism” offers a synthesis between the historic Christian faith and the findings of contemporary science. A future post will delve deeper and discuss the possible historicity of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve.