Thursday 21 August 2008

Miracles considering evolution

In episode three of "The Genius of Charles Darwin" Richard Dawkins put to Rowan Williams a question along the lines of: if you say God works through natural processes such as evolution what place is there for him to actually interact with humanity?

There are a number of ways of looking at this deep theological mystery. The way I find most useful is to think of God as being interactive rather than interventionist. Thus as God interacts with his creation in all events, perceiving him is about how we perceive God in the events themselves. For example where an atheist might see luck a Christian will view the same event as divine. A Christian will view a new child as a gift from God, an atheist as inevitable physics/biology. Initially this explanation sounds a bit thin, however personally the more I have tried to actually live it out - seeing God in the everyday - the more profound I have found it.

However there is still occasions (as Dawkins rightly pointed out to Rowan Williams) where God does intervene e.g. virgin birth, resurrection of Christ etc. I understand these occasions to be based on two things: firstly scientific truth - if science didn't say that virgin births, resurrections after three days etc. didn't happen then we wouldn't know they were miracles - thus in a way we need science to show us what is/isn't a miracle. Secondly I think there is also a deep theological reason for apparent interventions (or at least suspensions of normal life). The miracles of Jesus etc. occurred at a specific time, for a very specific reason. Through Jesus earth and heaven met in a way unlike any other time. If there is ever to be an occasion when nature behaves strangely, this was it.

2 comments:

  1. Luck?

    Is it simply random chance that some people get brain tumours?

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  2. Very few things happen by random chance. In the example of a brain tumour it is most likely a combination of genetics and environment. Such things happen because nature operates in a mostly deterministic manner.

    The point I was trying to make is that it is not the events themselves that should be the focus, but rather how we respond to such events. Being a Christian is not about evoking God to control the events, but rather about gaining a different, more positive, perspective. Reflection on the eternal and unchanging helps us see beyond the immediate concerns of the natural world.

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