For the record, I am an evangelical Christian, and I affirm the Apostle’s Creed. I am a fundamentalist in the sense that I believe in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith as handed down by the Apostles and attested to in the Bible. However, I often find that what the various denominations define as fundamental doctrines are not always so, but are additions to the fundamental doctrines. You will see shortly why it was necessary to say these things.
I am not a scientist, so I am not qualified to enter the conversation about evolution on that basis. What I seek to contribute here comes from the perspective of a student of religion and its history. The situation that the Church faces has happened before: there is a scientific theory that is a threat to the existing paradigm–which some see as a threat to the very foundations of Christianity itself–but it has the consensus of the overwhelming majority of scientists. I will say a brief word about Creation science momentarily. What I propose is that, from the standpoint of Church history, it is reasonable to assume that the Church will ultimately capitulate to that theory and absorb it into its theology.
As for Creation science, the vast majority of the world’s scientists have rejected its evidence on the grounds that it does not meet the rigorous standards of the methods of scientific investigation. One of the claims against scientists who accept evolution theory is that they are all part of a worldwide humanistic conspiracy. No doubt science has its politics like everything else, but I find the conspiracy theory to be highly unlikely.
In its history, the Church has reacted vehemently and even brutally against science. Because his discoveries about planetary motion supported the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, Galileo was told by the Church in 1616 to refrain from publically stating his views. Finally, in 1633, because Galileo continued to publish his findings, the Church Inquisition tried and convicted him for heresy, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In spite of the Church’s battle against the heliocentric theory, the Church ultimately had to acknowledge it.
As I look into the future of the evangelical church, I see a church that will ultimately have to acquiesce to evolution theory. When this will happen, I do not know, certainly not in my lifetime. Those who have invested so much time and energy into fighting evolution will not capitulate. It will fall to succeeding generations to absorb evolution theory of some form into evangelical Christian theology. They will have to because the time will come when the denials have exhausted their credibility. It will be comparable to a church today claiming that a flat earth is part of their essential doctrine.
In absorbing evolution theory into Christian theology, the evangelical church will have to find a new way to interpret the Genesis creation account. I will propose a new interpretation later in this article, but I must first explain the mechanism by which the evangelical church will come to this revolutionary change.
It is virtually impossible for the evangelical church to change its view on evolution any time soon. None of the existing evangelical leaders will be able to change their view. Even if they could, it would only ruin their careers in the church. The change will happen generationally, and so slowly that the process will remain undetected for a long period of time. Individually, one by one, educated young people of succeeding generations will quietly acquiesce to the theory, but those who remain evangelical Christians will work out the theology for themselves. One day it will be realized that the change is an established fact and pastors will begin to say, “If there were evolution–which there is not–but if there were, God is still the Creator of the universe.” And so on. This is, of course, scandalous today. The future is always scandalous in terms of the past.
In Part 2 I will address the theological implications of evolution and move towards that seemingly impossible task: describing how evolutionary theory will be absorbed into a living evangelical Christian theology.
God bless.
