I have been putting my introductory lectures for Telos on Apologetics & Worldview up on YouTube. There are several more to come, but I thought it would be useful to place the three classes dealing with Science together in a post. Throughout the classes I quote from quite a number of authorities. I hope this is more helpful than it is distracting. The first, “Science and Personal Knowledge” includes a study of Michael Polanyi’s theory of knowledge, which is important …
Category: Worldview
The Theological-Historical Motif of the Bible The God of the Bible is a God who is intimately connected with what He has made. This world is personal in a very genuine way. This personal dimension to reality is what makes the cross of Christ comprehensible. This is because the “Sin Problem” – what is wrong with this world – must be resolved by a personal God from above, on behalf of sinful persons. The cross is also interpretative of history, …
A review of Tom Bethell, Darwin’s House of Cards: A Journalist’s Odyssey Through The Creation Debates, Seattle: Discovery Press International, 2017, 293 pages, pbk. The widespread public acceptance of biological evolution in Darwin’s day was probably a product of the simultaneous faith in Progress. Darwin’s theory was accepted as readily as it was because it shared in the general belief that things were getting better. It’s not that the organisms themselves were being swept along, but that European and then …
I am going to release a series of introductory video lectures on Apologetics and Worldview. The lectures were given earlier this year to people whose ages ranged from about 15 to 70. I tried to be quite low-key and to strike a balance between a full-on presuppositional apologetics presentation and Christian worldview course. That means that I was not focused so much on just one or the other, but a blend of the two. I think it worked well sometimes …
Part Seven A Thematic Account The second chapter of Genesis is clearly somewhat different than the first. But it was not intended to be another variant account of it. It follows up on the second half of Day Six and the creation of humanity, and throws theological light on it. It is not as concerned with chronology as the previous chapter. So Genesis 2 is not, as the more liberal scholars think, another creation story. It is a thematic zeroing …
Part Six God’s Transcendence versus Continuity It is very important to notice the links between the creation accounts and ethical accounts. In one way or another all non-biblical systems of belief paint a metaphysical picture of reality that is at once unified and diverse. The unity is found in the indissoluble connection between heaven and earth, between man and the “higher powers”, or between the human animal and the Cosmos. The diversity is seen in the various ways this connection …
Part Five Image and Function in Genesis 1:26-28 Another significant fact related by these verses is our creation in the image and likeness of God. We cannot here enter into all the debates about the imago Dei, but some few things should be said. Firstly, God does not say ‘according to My likeness.’ He says ‘Our likeness’. The “Let us” statement is no plural of majesty, since it appears to be ideational, and is to be understood (I believe) as …
The Spirit and Plurality in the Godhead What is clear from the second verse of the Bible is that the Spirit of God was superintending the process of creation. The word for “was hovering” or “brooded” (merakhepet, 1:2) implies a determination to act. It strains credulity to think that the Spirit brooded over a glob of matter for billions of years before deciding to do something with it. There is no logic to starting the work of creation by bringing …
Part One The Bible’s Opening Verse As has often been observed, the opening verse of the Bible does not give an argument for the existence of God. In line with its claim to be the Word of God it assumes a position of Divine authority immediately. Scripture has the right to tell us! It does not pander to our fallen desire for proof. The proof is in the address. God will eventually reveal Himself as the “I Am” – the …
The Territories of Science and Religion by Peter Harrison, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015, 320 pages. The battle between Science and Religion has been presented to the wider public as a struggle between reason and superstition. In the present intellectual climate, where the ghosts of logical positivism have been far from exorcised from the corridors of scientific thinking, any countering of the reigning attitude is most welcome. The volume under review is an absorbing historical account of the way …