Category Archives: Creation theology

Genesis Recast: The War with Science is Over

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The end of the semester has been particularly busy, so it’s been a while since my last blog post. I’m planning on doing a number of posts in June, but until then I can announce some upcoming events.

Conference in Western New York on Evolution and the Bible

The event I want to focus on here is a major conference being planned for western New York state addressing how the biblical accounts of creation might be compatible with contemporary evolutionary accounts of the cosmos and humanity.

The conference, entitled “Genesis Recast: The War with Science is Over,” is scheduled for September 18-19, 2015 (Friday evening and Saturday) at The Chapel at Crosspoint in Getzville, NY.

Jim Walton of The Third Choice

The conference is organized by Jim Walton (brother of Old Testament scholar John Walton); he will host the conference and introduce the speakers. After having been involved in pastoral ministry in Buffalo, NY for over twenty years, Jim became Founder/ President of The 3rd Choice, an apologetics/ evangelistic/ discipleship website designed to engage people in conversation about matters of faith.

The rationale for the conference is that Genesis 1-2 is a huge obstacle to faith in our country right now. Millions of students are turning away from faith because of “science,” and they think that the early chapters of Genesis have been proven to be fictional. Millions of Christian students are struggling to reconcile Genesis 1-2 with contemporary science, and it’s an unnecessary tension. This conference intends to help change the conversation.

Keynote Speaker John Walton

The keynote speaker is Dr. John Walton, professor of Old Testament at Wheaton College. He will give two talks, Friday night and Saturday morning, which will focus on the material from his books The Lost World of Genesis One (IVP Academic, 2009) and The Lost World of Adam and Eve (IVP Academic, 2015).

John Walton’s interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2 is informed by contemporary biblical studies and how creation accounts functioned in the ancient Near East. His approach has been immensely significant in helping evangelical Christians understand Genesis 1 and 2 better, which does not predispose us either for or against evolutionary science; that needs to be studied on its own merits. Walton has just completed a world lecture tour, to a very positive response on the part of the attendees.

Other Speakers on the New Testament, Science, and the Church

Walton’s presentation on Saturday morning will be followed by Dr. Craig Evans (a well-respected New Testament scholar from Acadia Divinity College, in Nova Scotia), Dr. Steve Schaffner (a scientist working in the area of genetics at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT), and Skye Jethani (a pastor, consultant, and executive editor of Leadership Journal).

You can find short Bios of the speakers here and longer bios here.

This is the tentative schedule for the conference.

Conference Sponsors and Registration

The event is being co-sponsored by The Chapel at Crosspoint, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Ambassadors at the University of Buffalo, and the Biologos Foundation.

Because the organizers/ sponsors are very excited about the conference and its potential for raising awareness of the compatibility of biblical faith and contemporary science in the entire Western NY area and possibly beyond (Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio), they are keeping the cost of attendance ridiculously low for an event of this caliber, in the hope that many students, professors, pastors, and others can attend.

The cost for registration is $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and only $10 for students.

I will post information on how to register as it becomes available.

Tell your friends about this event, and let’s pack the auditorium.

See a follow-up post on the conference here.

On My Way Home from Jubilee 2015

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On Saturday I uploaded a post in the Atlanta airport on my way to speak at Jubilee 2015 in Pittsburgh. Here I am a day later writing this post in the airport on my way home (though I am only posting now, after arriving back in Rochester).

I did have to clear a foot of snow off my driveway just to get into my garage (but enough about winter in Rochester already).

Restoration—The Destiny of God’s Good Creation

I gave my talk on “Restoration—The Destiny of God’s Good Creation” to a group of some 3,000 college students in the final plenary session of the conference Sunday morning. I was honored to have been invited to speak at Jubilee. I had attended the Jubilee conference once in the past when I was an IVCF campus minister, and I have always been impressed with the CCO, the campus ministry group based in Pittsburgh that has sponsored this conference for almost 40 years, helping college students learn how to worship God with their whole lives.

Speaking to a large group like this is always a strange experience, especially when I don’t actually know my audience (and the lights on the stage were so bright that I couldn’t see anyone beyond the front row). I much prefer the back-and-forth of dialogue that you get in a classroom with an interactive group. I love to help students actively process what they are learning; and I love the “aha” moment you sometime see in their eyes.

Nevertheless, I think I communicated what I set out to—the biblical emphasis on God’s love for creation, a love clearly displayed in God’s unswerving intent to redeem heaven and earth. My point was that we should love what God loves. So an understanding of biblical eschatology can lead us to care deeply about this world—both the natural world and the world of human culture and society—since God hasn’t given up on this world, but is in the business of restoring creation to its full glory.

Two Contrasting Views of the World

I opened my talk by contrasting two classic quotes, one by Dwight L. Moody (the prominent evangelist of the Third Great Awakening), the other by Abraham Kuyper (founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, past prime minister of the Netherlands), who introduced American Christians to the idea of a Christian worldview in his famous “Stone Lectures” at Princeton. Both were born the same year (1837).

In an 1877 sermon, Moody explained:

“I look on this world as a wrecked vessel. God has given me a life-boat, and said to me, ‘Moody, save all you can.’”

This contrasts with what Kuyper said in an 1880 speech:

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign Lord of all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’”

The Comprehensive Scope of Salvation—Five Key Restoration Texts

This vivid contrast between viewing the world as a wrecked vessel, from which we must escape, or as Christ’s world, even after sin, set the stage for looking at five key New Testament texts that clearly articulate God’s intent to restore creation (click here for a chart).

  • Acts 3:17-21 – the restoration of all things, as foretold by the prophets (v. 21)
  • Ephesians 1:7-10 – the bringing together of all things in heaven and on earth (v. 10)
  • Colossians 1:16-20 – the reconciliation of all things, whether on earth or in heaven, through the blood of the cross (v. 20)
  • Romans 8:19-23 –the liberation of creation from its bondage to decay (v. 21); the redemption of the body (v. 23)
  • 2 Peter 3:10-13 – the “finding” of the earth after judgment (v. 10); the renewal of heaven and earth (v. 13)

The Biblical Plot—A Coherent Story of Restoration

After we looked at these five New Testament texts, I invited the audience to accompany me on a whirlwind tour of the biblical drama from creation to eschaton, tracing the basic plot structure of the Bible’s narrative (click here for a diagram). I sketched three levels of the biblical plot, beginning with the initial narrative sequence of creation.

  • Level I Creation—The Original Human Calling in God’s Creation
  • Level II Israel—The Mission of God’s OT People among the Nations
  • Level III Jesus—The Climax of a Series of God’s Redemptive Agents
  • Level II The Church—The Community of Jew and Gentle as God’s NT Redeemed People
  • Level I Eschaton—The Renewed Humanity in God’s New Creation

I wanted to show that there is a return to the original narrative sequence (creation) in the eschaton, so that our basic human calling to tend the earth and develop culture to God’s glory is renewed.

I probably tried to accomplish too much, since I combined two topics that I usually divide into two class sessions when I teach this material. The result was that I ended up going ten minutes over my allotted time of 25 minutes.

Toward the end I used this picture of Sean Purcell doodling a quote from my eschatology book.

A video of the talk is now posted on You Tube.

I ended the talk with the title of the conference: This Changes Everything!

You can find a two-minute video montage of the Jubilee 2015 conference here.

Birthday Reflections on (Almost) a Year of Blogging

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I started blogging in mid-February 2014. So I really should wait another month to reflect on the past year. But today is my birthday, so I think it’s appropriate to take an opportunity to look back.

A Posture of Gratitude

I am, first of all, grateful to God for the gift of life—this fragile, contingent existence we have as human beings, subject to all the ups and downs of joy and suffering. Despite the difficulty, which often accompanies the joy, I receive every moment (and another year) as a gift.

I am grateful also for the gift of salvation through Christ. It is amazing that the incomprehensible Creator of the universe should enter human existence and suffer death so that death would be overcome and we can participate in the renewal of life that comes with resurrection—a renewal that begins even now, with the ultimate hope of a new heaven and a new earth.

And I am grateful for the continuing presence of God’s Spirit—in my life, in the life of my family, my friends, my church, and my seminary (all of which are signposts of grace and means of support in a life that cannot be lived in isolation).

So I am aware, at this milestone in my life, that the essential posture of healthy existence is gratitude, a response of openness and thanksgiving to our loving Creator and Redeemer, who continually calls us into newness, often through other people.

I am specifically grateful for my loving wife, Marcia, who has been a faithful friend and partner on a life journey that has had many twists and turns. And kudos to my two sons, Andrew and Kevin (both in their twenties), who have figured out a great deal about life and have become their own persons. I am immensely grateful to God for the gift of family, both near and far.

And I am a part of an amazing church, the Community of the Savior, whose commitment to the ancient-future Christian faith sustains me and empowers me for a life of ministry.

I thank God for the opportunity I have had to teach over the years at different institutions—first at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto while pursuing my doctoral degree; then at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School for six years; then ten years of teaching undergraduates at Roberts Wesleyan College; and now the last (almost) four years at Northeastern Seminary (NES).

I’d have to say that NES is simply the best environment in which I have ever worked. I have many wonderful students and amazing faculty and staff colleagues; and my Dean, Doug Cullum, is specially gifted by God with theological insight, deep compassion, and organizational skills par excellence (and he is also one of the pastors at my church; not sure how he does it all).

And it was Lisa Bennett, Associate VP for Communication & Enrollment at NES, who prompted me to begin blogging.

Blogging

Blogging—right. I was going to talk about that.

The first thing to say is that blogging has turned out to be just a hard as I thought it would be when I wrote my first post on the difficulty I foresaw in blogging as an introvert.

But it has also been rewarding. Through this website (and the various social media sites that this blog is linked to) I have been able to get into contact with friends and colleagues from the past and I’ve met lots of new people who share similar interests.

The biggest problem with blogging is that it is extremely time-consuming. Maybe some people can just knock off a few comments and post them without much thought. But I tend to agonize over what I’m going to say; writing a blog post takes a long time (especially if it is a content post, and not just an announcement). And then I edit, edit, edit. And then I edit some more.

When I look back at my second blog post (“Creation to Eschaton—And the Kitchen Sink?”) in which I suggested the topics I expected to post on, I see that I have accomplished only some of my predictions so far. I have posted on topics of creation, evolution, suffering, doubt, redemption, and the eschaton. But I certainly haven’t addressed all the specific issues I listed there. And I haven’t talked much about Caribbean theology (except in telling some of my life story). The good news is I haven’t run out of ideas for blog posts; I have lots of topics left to discuss (and new ones constantly arise).

I’m also aware that I began two multi-part book reviews (one on Bruce Glass’s Exploring Faith and Reason, the other on Ron Osborn’s Death Before the Fall) that I have not yet completed. I hope to get to those shortly.

I’m also interested in suggestions and questions from readers of this blog that might lead to other topics (some have already given me ideas for new posts that I want to write in the coming year).

So, for now, one last note of gratitude: Thanks to all my readers; I value your interaction (either through posted comments or emails).

So here’s to another year; I pray that my posts might stimulate and encourage you in your life, your thinking, and your faith.