I’m so sorry to hear about your story Jim, and I love that you’re sharing it.
This is definitely one of those areas I scratch my head when it comes to Christians dividing over.
I feel like the biblical authors would look at us all with a very confused look as people tried to explain why this was such an important issue and a hill worth dying on.
I can picture Moses saying, “You guys are getting way too hung up on details that were not top of mind or even a concern for us when we wrote it down.”
I remember growing up around a tradition that said you couldn’t be a Christian and not believe in a literal six day creation. I remember as a young adult asking, “Why?” and getting torn apart but never getting answer other than “the Bible says so.” It was a genuine question because I truly didn’t understand why it wasn’t possible to come to different conclusion on it or accept that science could teach us new things without threatening “truth.”
Sadly, I’ve come across so many people who believed they had to walk way from their faith simply because science has helped us better understand God’s creation, not undermined it.
I personally don’t really have a strong opinion on the matter but my heart breaks when I see people get hurt or cast out because they had one that didn’t fit the mold.
Jim, this is heartbreaking, even if the kind of story you would want to tell your grandchildren. I too was expelled from a church, Evangelical Free, when I led opposition to their effort to adopt YEC as part of their core statement of faith, required affirmation by everyone. I’m afraid much of my life is the story of getting kicked out of exceptionalist institutions. Thanks for letting me see another whom I admire walking the same path.
So sorry to hear this. I’d be fascinated to hear your Christian take on evolution. My understanding is, the main objection to the secular idea of evolution is the random chance element. My understanding from my wife who studied archaeology of the human concept of evolution is that there is very scant evidence; a scrap of skull fragment here or there being used to justify massive leaps in logic to justify entire species just so they can fit it into their ‘timeline of human evolution.’ On the other hand, human gene sequencing has lead to the current theory that all human life can be traced to one woman that scientists jokingly call ‘Eve,’ and that she and other homosapiens lived somewhere near turkey, which is also our best guess of where Eden was based on the description of rivers. On the other hand, the current theory of the timeline of the rest of Earth and life seems to follow suspiciously closely to the creation account, and the Cambrian explosion has been statistically proven to have been impossible by random chance. I think the idea that our eternal God took billions of years crafting everything just how He wanted it, just so He could make us and ask us to look after it is a beautiful story.
Thank you for sharing your story. It speaks to the tension with which so many of us must live when our convictions misalign with those in authority over us. The solution is not to divide ourselves into camps but to lovingly live with the tension.
Thank you, Jim. It clearly hasn’t been an easy road to walk. Re-read this to my wife and when done, we both had an Amen moment. As non-specialists in the areas for which you are working (science of human origins, biblical studies,…), we look to the experts like yourself and those you work with at Biólogos (the accent came up automatically, maybe you should think about it 😉). I suppose in this world of choice, we can isolate ourselves so that we don’t engage and develop with those who think differently, especially in the realm of Christian belief when it comes to human origins. Whenever I do look at others who are working in the same sphere, I all-the-more appreciate your approach. Your openness to recognize your own and Biologos’ limitations and imperfections is essential Christian theology put into practice (“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”) and so I trust that as you and your team continue to grow and learn and testify to what you have seen, you hold that tension of not being quite there yet. We affirm your commitment to your work as an expression of God’s kingdom here. We can testify to the blessing it has been, of instruction, encouragement and grace, and pray for your work to continue by the Spirit.
My path is different from yours but the process was nonetheless similar in many ways. (Mine was also a long time ago, in 1982.) Thanks for reporting on your story; it matters.
P.S. If you're still in the Mishawaka area, it'd be fun to get lunch together sometime, if you're interested; I'm less than an hour away.
You need to define the term ‘ evolution’ more precisely. This can mean many different things to different people and different scientific disciplines.
I will state, however, that it’s well proven that given the known rate of beneficial, genetic mutation and the known age of the universe, that Darwinian macro-evolution is clearly not remotely possible.
I'm afraid you've gotten some bad information. We now have discovered fossils from more than 6000 individuals who lived in the transition period between our last common ancestors with chimps and the emergence of Homo sapiens. If you're really interested in learning, there is a lot of information to be found. Maybe start at BioLogos.org
As someone who has been teaching with your science and Christianity book for several years, I have benefitted much from your work at BioLogos. I did not know your back story. But I do worry about similar pressures that seem to be coming to my own university. I pray that I can demonstrate the same grace you have displayed.
"The problem, though, was not with the science, but with a version of faith that so tightly wed a particular (and peculiar, historically speaking) version of reading the Bible to anti-evolutionism, so when the anti-evolutionism was found to be untenable, the whole package was thrown out."
I'd get this printed on a t-shirt--if it was normal to get niche substack quotes printed on t-shirts.
Ironically, creation theory isn’t necessarily Biblical. Deuteronomy 4:11-15 implies that God is without form. From John 4:24, we learn that “God is spirit,” and from Luke 24:39, “spirit does not have flesh and bones.” If so, then Genesis 1:26-27 - “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” - takes on a different meaning from that which creationists give it. Man’s essence isn’t his body, but his spirit, which was made in God’s image. How the body was formed becomes of secondary theological importance.
Insisting that God must have worked according to the creationists’ interpretation of the Bible is reminiscent of an exchange between Nils Bohr and Albert Einstein. When Einstein objected to the randomness of quantum mechanics by saying, “God does not play dice with the universe,” Bohr replied, “Einstein, stop telling God what to do.”
I don’t want to see anyone lose a job, especially one so difficult to obtain. But if you’re going to teach at a Christian college, your beliefs should align with the college’s. It shouldn’t be about having a statement of faith forced upon professors. It should be what you believe and want to teach.Theistic evolution shouldn’t not be taught at a Christian college. Unfortunately, it is. Students, parents, and laypeople supporting such colleges deserve better.
As I said in the article, I agree that private institutions have the right to define their theological boundaries. The concern with my situation was that they changed those boundaries (after I was tenured, by the way).
I’m so sorry to hear about your story Jim, and I love that you’re sharing it.
This is definitely one of those areas I scratch my head when it comes to Christians dividing over.
I feel like the biblical authors would look at us all with a very confused look as people tried to explain why this was such an important issue and a hill worth dying on.
I can picture Moses saying, “You guys are getting way too hung up on details that were not top of mind or even a concern for us when we wrote it down.”
I remember growing up around a tradition that said you couldn’t be a Christian and not believe in a literal six day creation. I remember as a young adult asking, “Why?” and getting torn apart but never getting answer other than “the Bible says so.” It was a genuine question because I truly didn’t understand why it wasn’t possible to come to different conclusion on it or accept that science could teach us new things without threatening “truth.”
Sadly, I’ve come across so many people who believed they had to walk way from their faith simply because science has helped us better understand God’s creation, not undermined it.
I personally don’t really have a strong opinion on the matter but my heart breaks when I see people get hurt or cast out because they had one that didn’t fit the mold.
I was sorry to hear about your being forced out at Bethel. You were a bright spot in my time there (Logic & Critical Thinking and Symbolic Logic).
But I'm also glad that God has led you on to such rewarding and important work.
Jim, this is heartbreaking, even if the kind of story you would want to tell your grandchildren. I too was expelled from a church, Evangelical Free, when I led opposition to their effort to adopt YEC as part of their core statement of faith, required affirmation by everyone. I’m afraid much of my life is the story of getting kicked out of exceptionalist institutions. Thanks for letting me see another whom I admire walking the same path.
So sorry to hear this. I’d be fascinated to hear your Christian take on evolution. My understanding is, the main objection to the secular idea of evolution is the random chance element. My understanding from my wife who studied archaeology of the human concept of evolution is that there is very scant evidence; a scrap of skull fragment here or there being used to justify massive leaps in logic to justify entire species just so they can fit it into their ‘timeline of human evolution.’ On the other hand, human gene sequencing has lead to the current theory that all human life can be traced to one woman that scientists jokingly call ‘Eve,’ and that she and other homosapiens lived somewhere near turkey, which is also our best guess of where Eden was based on the description of rivers. On the other hand, the current theory of the timeline of the rest of Earth and life seems to follow suspiciously closely to the creation account, and the Cambrian explosion has been statistically proven to have been impossible by random chance. I think the idea that our eternal God took billions of years crafting everything just how He wanted it, just so He could make us and ask us to look after it is a beautiful story.
A beautiful story indeed! I wrote a book about it called THE SACRED CHAIN: HOW UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION LEADS TO DEEPER FAITH.
Thank you! I’m sure if you put a link to the selling page on your profile, you would get more traffic there
Thank you for sharing your story. It speaks to the tension with which so many of us must live when our convictions misalign with those in authority over us. The solution is not to divide ourselves into camps but to lovingly live with the tension.
I have had a similar experience, and I am thankful that you shared this with strength and grace. Much appreciated
Thank you, Jim. It clearly hasn’t been an easy road to walk. Re-read this to my wife and when done, we both had an Amen moment. As non-specialists in the areas for which you are working (science of human origins, biblical studies,…), we look to the experts like yourself and those you work with at Biólogos (the accent came up automatically, maybe you should think about it 😉). I suppose in this world of choice, we can isolate ourselves so that we don’t engage and develop with those who think differently, especially in the realm of Christian belief when it comes to human origins. Whenever I do look at others who are working in the same sphere, I all-the-more appreciate your approach. Your openness to recognize your own and Biologos’ limitations and imperfections is essential Christian theology put into practice (“Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”) and so I trust that as you and your team continue to grow and learn and testify to what you have seen, you hold that tension of not being quite there yet. We affirm your commitment to your work as an expression of God’s kingdom here. We can testify to the blessing it has been, of instruction, encouragement and grace, and pray for your work to continue by the Spirit.
My path is different from yours but the process was nonetheless similar in many ways. (Mine was also a long time ago, in 1982.) Thanks for reporting on your story; it matters.
P.S. If you're still in the Mishawaka area, it'd be fun to get lunch together sometime, if you're interested; I'm less than an hour away.
A beautiful testimony, Jim. Thank you - you encourage us all.
You need to define the term ‘ evolution’ more precisely. This can mean many different things to different people and different scientific disciplines.
I will state, however, that it’s well proven that given the known rate of beneficial, genetic mutation and the known age of the universe, that Darwinian macro-evolution is clearly not remotely possible.
I'm afraid you've gotten some bad information. We now have discovered fossils from more than 6000 individuals who lived in the transition period between our last common ancestors with chimps and the emergence of Homo sapiens. If you're really interested in learning, there is a lot of information to be found. Maybe start at BioLogos.org
Blessings
As someone who has been teaching with your science and Christianity book for several years, I have benefitted much from your work at BioLogos. I did not know your back story. But I do worry about similar pressures that seem to be coming to my own university. I pray that I can demonstrate the same grace you have displayed.
"The problem, though, was not with the science, but with a version of faith that so tightly wed a particular (and peculiar, historically speaking) version of reading the Bible to anti-evolutionism, so when the anti-evolutionism was found to be untenable, the whole package was thrown out."
I'd get this printed on a t-shirt--if it was normal to get niche substack quotes printed on t-shirts.
Blessings from Indiana.
Ironically, creation theory isn’t necessarily Biblical. Deuteronomy 4:11-15 implies that God is without form. From John 4:24, we learn that “God is spirit,” and from Luke 24:39, “spirit does not have flesh and bones.” If so, then Genesis 1:26-27 - “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” - takes on a different meaning from that which creationists give it. Man’s essence isn’t his body, but his spirit, which was made in God’s image. How the body was formed becomes of secondary theological importance.
Insisting that God must have worked according to the creationists’ interpretation of the Bible is reminiscent of an exchange between Nils Bohr and Albert Einstein. When Einstein objected to the randomness of quantum mechanics by saying, “God does not play dice with the universe,” Bohr replied, “Einstein, stop telling God what to do.”
Such is the way of small, fearful minds.
Any disruption in their worldview and the reality of death pours back inside, angrier and louder than before.
I find Christian people who acknowledge science to be fascinating for sure, but not small or fearful minded.
I'm glad you've moved on in life, but even ten years later the wound never quite healed it seems. That's alright, many don't, not fully.
I don’t want to see anyone lose a job, especially one so difficult to obtain. But if you’re going to teach at a Christian college, your beliefs should align with the college’s. It shouldn’t be about having a statement of faith forced upon professors. It should be what you believe and want to teach.Theistic evolution shouldn’t not be taught at a Christian college. Unfortunately, it is. Students, parents, and laypeople supporting such colleges deserve better.
As I said in the article, I agree that private institutions have the right to define their theological boundaries. The concern with my situation was that they changed those boundaries (after I was tenured, by the way).