Mystery and Creationism

Someone pointed out this fascinating article in the DC Examiner, in which Robert Vanasse discusses the current ruckus between fundamentalism and (rational) science and points out that it hasn't always been that way ("old time religion" is not so "old time" as fundamentalists would like to imagine), but is instead a rather recent development. Read his article to see his point.

What interested me here was this small bit:

Fundamentalists cannot accept mankind as the product of natural selection because Scripture reveals that God created mankind in his image (Genesis 1:27). When science contradicts the Bible, they reject science. Pope John Paul [II] took a different view, observing that "Truth cannot contradict truth."

[Robert Vanasse, "Reason, faith at a crossroads", The Examiner [Washington, DC], 9 August 2005.]

This strikes me as the kernel of the resolution to the problem, to the extent that there is a problem, of course.

Christian theology has long accepted "mystery" as an integral part of its metaphysics, traceable to the idea that the Christian God is, ultimately, inscrutible and there are therefore aspects of His creation that will necessarily be beyond comprehension by mere humans.

There are long-recognized mysteries in Christian theology These, according to Isaac, are the biggies:

Metaphysically, then, the late Pope has offered the perfect — and perhaps only — resolution to fundamentalists' concerns about Biblical creationism and its apparent conflict with rational, evolutionary biology: "truth cannot contradict truth". In their belief system, Biblical creationism is revealed by God as "truth"; in the rational scientific system, evolutionary biology is "truth". As JPII would have it, there can be no contradiction: believing Christians should accept the perceived contradiction as a mystery, rejoice in it and move on.

In fact, refusing to accept the "truth" of science on the part of fundamentalists second-guesses their God and His powers and will, since science is fully a part of His creation. One can't really blame heathen, athiestic science on Satan, either, since the concept of Satan is post-Biblical. (Whether it is a product of "evil" takes us back to the last mystery mentioned above.)

Going further, rejecting the truth of rational science is theologically untenable, since that stance rejects using the rational mind that is also their God's gift to mankind.

The only theologically consistent Christian viewpoint is to apply John Paul's dictum: the truth of science and the revealed truth of the Bible cannot be in contradiction. Any apparent contradiction is a mystery, an outcome of His inscrutible being. Rejoice!

Posted on August 10, 2005 at 00.15 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Common-Place Book, Eureka!

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  1. Written by No More Mr. Nice Guy!
    on Sunday, 21 August 2005 at 03.07
    Permalink

    Happy Twenty-First Carnival of the Godless!

    This week in Godlessness: COTG comes of age at NMMNG. (Read more)

  2. Written by Bearcastle Blog
    on Saturday, 17 September 2005 at 18.41
    Permalink

    Centuries Old Truths

    A month ago I wrote a posting ("Mystery and Creationism") in which I suggested that Christian fundamentalists who feel that their religion is imcompatible with science should take the advice of the late Pope and ascribe the incomprehensibility to mys…

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