EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Two, Number One September/October 1992 DIALOGUE ON THE EDGE CHURCH STUDY GROUP GRAPPLES WITH THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION For many Christians the assumptions, based on science, that underlie our workaday world are very different from the world view we experience in church. Are they two separate and mutually exclusive realities? More and more people are finding this an exciting interface to explore, and an opportunity for local churches to initiate serious dialogue with the scientific community. For those who view evolution as God's tool in the ongoing process of creation, the old evolution/creation debate is supplanted by a whole new set of challenges to Christian teaching. If Creation is constantly evolving, in what sense is Creation fallen? What is sin? "A mistake in our thinking about nature results in a mistake in our thinking about God" (Thomas Aquinas) The Faith/Science study group of Trinity Lutheran Church in Newport News has been meeting monthly for the past three years in members' homes to explore these and other questions raised by developments in science and technology. So far they have discussed books written by theologians about science, including: The New Faith-Science Debate, edited by John M. Mangum (Augsburg Fortress 1989), Trademark of God: A Christian Course in Creation, Evolution and Salvation, by George L. Murphy (Morehouse-Barlow 1986), and Cosmos as Creation: Theology and Science in Consonance, edited by Ted Peters (Abingdon Press 1989). One member of the group, a retired scientist and lifelong Lutheran, illustrated his dilemma with the following quotations, asking whether the two philosophies are compatible: "God intends to perfect or fulfill the creation...What this means for cosmic evolution seems to be this: The material order carries out its career from origin to end as God's creative process." (Hefner, Cosmos as Creation). "Evolution is adventitious and not foresighted. Only through the deaths of an immense number of slightly maladapted organisms are we, brains and all, here today." (Sagan, The Dragons of Eden). "We realize more and more what a struggle it is to bridge the feelingful concerns and convictions of our hearts and childhood with the equally strong principles and convictions of our minds and adulthood," states Rev. Daniel Jungkuntz, leader of the study group. "I am convinced that our experience in our families is the ground out of which all the rest of our concerns, ideas and conflicts emerge. The dialogue between science and religion needs to occur at this most fundamental level of concern." Next the group will study materials written by scientists about theological issues. "An excellent book bridging the fields is The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World, by physicist Paul Davies (Simon and Schuster 1992). To my mind it may be the best introduction to these questions, written with an accessible yet deeply probing respect for lay people on both sides of the quest," says Jungkuntz. For more write Rev. Daniel Jungkuntz, Coordinator of the Parish Ministry and Education Project of the ELCA Work Group on Science and Technology, Peninsula Pastoral Counseling Center, 732 Thimble Shoals Blvd., Suite 801, Newport News VA 23606 (804) 873-2273. Home     Table of Contents