1. LATE MODERN SCIENCE AND ATTACKS ON RELIGION
Darwin’s “Dangerous” Idea
LATE MODERN SCIENCE AND ATTACKS ON RELIGION

2. EVOLUTION IS DISCOVERED
Darwin’s discovery and fossil record contradict ancient idea of God’s direct creation of species
Natural selection and variation reveal an endless process of nature making and re-making itself

3. FOUR SOURCES OF CONFLICT
BIBLICAL
Genesis is read literally as natural history; Christian thinkers continue efforts of “natural theology” (William Paley)
Darwinism undermines biblical authority

4. FOUR SOURCES OF CONFLICT
PHILOSOPHICAL
MATERIALISM triumphs. Only matter can be detected by science; the spiritual is equated with superstition
DUALISM splits matter and spirit, mind and body, reason and emotion; matter,mind, and reason dominate

5. FOUR SOURCES OF CONFLICT
ANTHROPOLOGICAL
DETERMINISM triumphs. Behavior reduced to operation of forces beyond free control. Human body viewed as machine.
FREUD AND BIRTH OF PSYCHOLOGY – religious feeling is produced by subconsciousness as humans evolved

6. FOUR SOURCES OF CONFLICT
THEOLOGICAL
DEISM triumphs. God is vaguely benevolent, but distant, clock-maker who observes the machinery
God’s role seen only as intervention – such as miracles

7. THE END OF THE MODERN ERA
Post-Modern discoveries and the break-down of modern ideas
THE END OF THE MODERN ERA

8. FOUR POST-MODERN CHALLENGES
QUANTUM PHYSICS
HISTORICAL-CRITICAL BIBLE STUDIES
NEW PARADIGMS IN THEOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTALISM

9. QUANTUM PHYSICS: paradigm shift
New discoveries in physics of astronomy and sub-atomic theory
Planck, Einstein, Heisenberg, Hubble
The emergence of the Big Bang Theory

10. paradigm
a conceptual model used by scientists to express theories, determine what needs to be known, and to design experiments.

11. An example +
= ?

12. Light: Both a wave and a particle?
Cosmological conclusions of quantum physics:
Uncertainty and what science cannot know
Freedom and indeterminacy in nature
(new studies in evolution: Stephen Jay Gould and the unpredictability of natural selection)

13. BIBLICAL STUDIES: Beyond literal readings
Awareness of human forms of writing in ancient world
Discovery of cultural influences in Genesis

14. NEW THEOLOGY – Catholic approaches
Teilhard de Chardin and evolution: “Logos” transcends time and is built into natural evolution
John Paul II – acceptance of evolution; advocates dialogue between science and religion

16. ENVIRONMENTALISM
Modern views of nature blamed for ravaging natural resources and ecosystems.
Renewed appreciation for spiritual dimension of nature

17. POST-MODERN COSMOLOGY

18. GOD’S ROLE IN NATURAL EVENTS
God’s role is both knowable and unknowable
God’s guidance is subtle, intelligent cooperation with nature and human agency

19. NATURE IN POST-MODERN COSMOLOGY
Nature is a system of relatively independent processes
Nature is relatively undetermined, but guided by hidden spiritual dynamics