The Biologos Foundation ran an invitation only workshop earlier this month on the issues of science and faith – evangelical faith. They are posting a number of the papers considered over the next several weeks both on the Biologos site and for consideration on the blog Science and the Sacred. I will interact with much of this material and open it for discussion here. (We already had a fine discussion of Bruce Waltke’s white paper: One, Two).

Yesterday they posted a statement – and a list of the participants in the workshop. It is an impressive list. And includes both male and female participants from a broad range of evangelicalism and includes 10 of the people I would most like to be in a room with – from Francis Collins to NT Wright, Dallas Willard, Pete Enns, Mark Noll, Bill Phillips, Earl Palmer, Tim Keller, Owen Gingerich, John Walton, Darrel Falk and more. We have much to look forward to.

Today lets just look at the statement (it is after all Thanksgiving in the US at least):

Many voices in our current culture assert that there are irreconcilable conflicts between science and faith in Christ. We, the undersigned Christian pastors, theologians, scientists, and other scholars, respectfully disagree. We have learned much from each other during these days of communal prayer, presentation, discussion, and worship, but we also recognize that we have much more to learn and many others from whom to learn. We affirm that the truths of Scripture and the truths of nature both have their origins in God, and that further exploration of all these truths can enrich our joyful and worshipful appreciation of the Creator’s love, goodness, and grace. We commit to exploring these important issues further.

Thanksgiving is an appropriate time to post this… I for one, am thankful that this discussion is being held at a high level, taking science and faith seriously.  We need this as we move forward.

What do you think of this statement?

If you wish to contact me, you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net