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Perspectives on an Evolving Creation
Keith B. Miller
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Perspectives on an Evolving Creation
Keith B. Miller
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About This Book
According to the authors of this book, who explore evolutionary theory from a clear Christian perspective, the common view of conflict between evolutionary theory and Christian faith is mistaken. Written by contributors representing the natural sciences, philosophy, theology, and the history of science, this thought-provoking work is informed by both solid scientific knowledge and keen theological insight. The three sections of the book address (1) relevant biblical, historical, and scientific background, (2) the scientific evidence for an evolving creation, and (3) theological issues commonly raised in connection with evolution, including the nature of God's creative activity, the meaning of the miraculous, and the uniqueness of humankind. Woven through the volume are short meditations designed to direct readers toward worshiping the God of providence. Contributors: Laurie J. Braaten
Warren S. Brown Jr.
David Campbell
Robin Collins
Edward B. Davis
Terry M. Gray
Jeffrey K. Greenberg
Deborah B. Haarsma
Loren Haarsma
James P. Hurd
Conrad Hyers
David N. Livingstone
Keith B. Miller
John C. Munday Jr.
George L. Murphy
Mark A. Noll
Robert John Russell
Howard J. Van Till
David L. Wilcox
Jennifer Wiseman
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Theologie & ReligionSubtopic
Religion & WissenschaftIII
THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND INSIGHT
14
Is the Universe Capable of Evolving?
HOWARD J. VAN TILL
One Doctrine, Many Portraits
Let’s be candid. We Christians disagree about a lot of things. We disagree about matters of doctrine, about issues of gender and sexuality, about political agendas and social programs, and, yes, even about our styles of worship. We have split the “church universal” into thousands of denominational fragments — each tempted to see itself as the one with the clearest vision of true Christianity.
One particular disagreement provides the occasion for this book. Christians have not been able to agree on their evaluation of the scientific concept of evolution. Some see this concept as one that is clearly and forcefully forbidden by scriptural teaching. Others see it as something on which the Bible is silent, an idea that will have to be evaluated on its scientific merits alone. Some see the evolutionary paradigm as an unwelcome threat to cherished Christian doctrines, while others welcome it as a stimulus to rearticulate historic Christian theology in light of what the sciences have learned about the Creation.1
But these differences in judgment regarding a scientific concept need to be seen in the larger context of agreement on one of the fundamentals of the Christian faith. In spite of the great diversity of their perspectives on numerous other issues, Christians generally agree in seeing the universe as a Creation — that is, as something that has being only because God gives it being. Furthermore, the universe is a Creation not merely because God acted as its Creator at some first moment of time, but because the universe is equally dependent on God’s functioning as its Creator at all times. I have often suggested that the historic Judeo-Christian doctrine of creation is better summarized by saying that the universe is God’s Creation than by saying that the universe was created by God. The Creator/Creation relationship is equally important at every moment of time.
Disagreements among Christians do arise, however, when we reflect on the particular character of the Creation and the details of its formational history. We may agree on the theologically rich doctrine of creation, but we disagree on what constitutes an acceptable portrait of the universe’s formational history — a what-happened-and-when account of the particular way in which the diversity of physical structures and life forms in the Creation became actualized in the course of time. All Christians are theological creationists, but the Christian community has long entertained an interesting diversity of portraits of the Creation’s formational history. One of the purposes of this book is to offer the reader a portrait that has been informed by the scientific study of the universe — a systematic investigation that has been enriched by ideas contributed by numerous scientists, including a large number of scientists who are committed to seeing the universe as the manifestation of divine creativity and generosity.
If the Universe Is a Creation, Then …
For the remainder of this chapter I will direct my comments primarily to Christians who are, for one reason or another, uncomfortable with the word evolution or with the scientific concept that it represents. In North America a fairly large number of people fall into this category. A strident shouting match known as the creation/evolution debate has raged here for decades. Christians have been told by parents, friends, teachers, and preachers that evolution is the enemy of the Christian faith. Evolution has been blamed for nearly every evil found in human culture. Antievolution sentiment is as prevalent today as it ever was.
So, let’s drop the focus on evolution for a moment and direct our attention instead to the concept of the world as a Creation. If the universe is a Creation, as Christians hold, then what might it be like? What might be the fundamental character of a Creation, and what kind of formational history might follow from that character? My concern to pay attention to the Creation’s formational history is obviously occasioned by the creation/evolution debate and the religious and educational turmoil that it has spawned.
I suggest that step one in our quest for a faith-enriching concept of the Creation’s character should be a simple reminder that if the universe is a Creation, then every aspect of its being — every contribution to what the universe is — must be seen as something that was intentionally given to it by its Creator. Whatever qualities the universe now possesses were, we theological creationists believe, given to it by God. Furthermore, by the same reasoning, whatever qualities the universe does not possess were intentionally withheld from it. The particular character of the universe is, from this perspective, the product of conceptual design — that is, of the Creator’s intentional and purposeful choice to give it precisely the kind of character (or being) that it now has.
Can we fully apprehend the Creator’s intentions and purposes? Surely it would be the height of human arrogance to claim that we could. So, let’s focus for now on another matter that is highly relevant to current discussion regarding “design” — the need to distinguish between the designing (purposeful planning) of something and the actualizing (forming, constructing, or assembling) of what was first designed.2
In today’s language, to design something is to thoughtfully conceptualize something — a piece of furniture, an automobile, a computer, a house, a painting — for the purpose of accomplishing some objective. Design, here considered as an action, is an act of the creative and purposeful mind. The action of designing involves many stages of thinking — formulating an objective, conceptualizing various means of achieving that objective, evaluating the relative merits of possible means, and selecting one particular plan and strategy, to name just a few of those thought processes.
Some of that design action will necessarily be concerned with the manner in which the designed entity will eventually become actualized (that is, transformed from a mental concept into an actual object). For instance, the design team for a new truck will be keen to consider just what parts must be crafted and how those component parts will then be assembled into a complete vehicle. Nonetheless, the process of designing the truck — an action of minds — is wholly distinct from the process of assembling it — an action of “hands.” And the fact that the assembly line employs both human hands and the mechanical “hands” of computer-controlled robots does not alter or diminish the distinction of mind action (designing) from hand action (forming and assembling parts into a completed vehicle).
From here on, therefore, if we refer in this chapter to the universe as having been designed, we will be referring specifically to its having been thoughtfully conceptualized by the Creator for the accomplishment of the Creator’s objectives. And when we talk about the manner in which the various physical structures and life forms became actualized in the course of time, we will be addressing a distinctly different concern. Questions about the details of the Creation’s formational history are questions about the actualization of forms within a designed universe. To be as explicit as we are able, when we as Christians entertain the possibility that the formational history of the universe is evolutionary in character, we are not questioning the fact that the Creation was conceptually designed. Rather, we are simply evaluating one way in which the various physical structures and life forms may have been actualized in time. Any discussion of design and actualization that fails to make this distinction between planning and assembling is sure to generate time-wasting confusion. More seriously, it could lead to unnecessary division within the Christian family and to a weakening of its witness to the scientific community.
To summarize the discussion so far: If the universe is a Creation, then every aspect of its being — every contribution to what the universe is — must be seen as something intentionally given to it by its Creator. If we are interested in reflecting on the Creation’s formational history we will be eager to grow in our knowledge of the formational processes that may have contributed to the actualization of the Creator’s intention for the appearance of new forms in the course of time. With what “formational gifts” did the Creator equip the Creation? Specifically, is the Creation gifted with the requisite formational resources to make evolutionary development possible? Is this Creation, by divine intention, capable of evolving?
Taking Inventory of the Creation’s Formational Resources
To get to the heart of questions regarding the possibility of an evolving Creation I find it helpful to introduce and employ some new terminology. One such term is the formational economy of the universe. Before defining it, however, let me suggest that the reader prepare by setting aside all associations of the word “economy” with thrift or frugality. Think instead of such concepts as the global economy or the European economy — vast systems of resources and capabilities that contribute to the activities of production, commerce, and exchange.
Definition: The formational economy of the universe is the set of all of the resources, potentialities, and capabilities of the universe that have contributed to its formational history.
Let me provide a bit of clarification for three particular terms used in this definition. (1) By resources I mean such entities as the interactive fundamental particles of matter that occupy the universe and the dynamic space-time context in which they function. (2) By potentialities I mean the possibilities for functional physical structures (such as atoms, molecules, stars, or planets) and for viable living organisms. (3) By capabilities I mean to call attention especially to the universe’s abilities for organizing or transforming its resources in such a way as to actualize some of its structural and formal potentialities.
This may still seem like a rather abstract concept. So, to give the reader a better idea of what this new term — the universe’s formational economy — means and to see how it might be useful, let me offer a few examples of the resources, potentialities, and capabilities that I have in mind. In each case I will also provide illustrations of the manner in which they are thought to have contributed to the formational history of the physical universe. Physicists tend to see the world of matter as a hierarchy of structures that are made up of more elementary units or subassemblies. An iceberg, for instance, is a massive structure made mostly of water molecules. Water molecules, in turn, are tiny structures made of atoms — two of hydrogen and one of oxygen. But atoms are themselves structures composed of atomic nuclei surrounded by electrons in patterned motion around them. Atomic nuclei are also structures, made up of “nucleons” of two kinds — protons and neutrons. Even protons and neutrons are now known to be structures built of elementary particles called quarks. The scientific investigation of the universe’s formational history is concerned to find out how these various structural systems came to be assembled.
As envisioned within the scientific portrait of the universe’s early formational history, there was a very brief period of time during which no particles of any form of matter were able to exist. The temperature was simply too high and only photons — elementary units of lightlike energy — could survive. But photons have the remarkable capability to transform their energy into pairs of material particles. As the expanding early universe cooled, this process of pair production led to the formation of several species of particles, including quarks and the three-quark structures that we call protons and neutrons. Expressing this in our new formational economy vocabulary, here is what took place: photons of lightlike energy (playing the role of resources within the universe’s formational economy) exercised their capacity for pair production (an example of a formational capability) to materialize particles like quarks and nucleons (thereby actualizing for the first time what had earlier been only potential structures). As participants in the formational economy of the universe, resources employed their formational capabilities to actualize potentialities.
Following this brief era (a small fraction of a second) during which protons and neutrons were formed by pair production, there was a longer period (about a minute, according to calculation) during which smaller particles like electrons were actualized in a similar manner. (Many more varieties of particles were also produced, but we need focus only on protons, neutrons, and electrons for now.) During the next several minutes protons and neutrons engaged in another remarkably constructive process. These nucleons — themselves the products of pair production — have capabilities for interacting and comb...