Does the understanding of evolution, now 150 years old and still developing, require a readjustment of traditional religious beliefs? What we know about the incredible scope of the world of living organisms can only increase our wonder and awe of God's works. How awesome is the world of life on earth! Consider that the tiniest insect is more complex than a star! We had wonder and awe when there were only our unaided senses and our reason as tools to comprehend nature on earth and in sky. Before Darwin, however, when we looked at the 6000-year chronology we thought we saw in the Bible, we tended to think of ourselves as created one time, not subject to further change. Some fundamentalists continue to believe that. Science now tells us that men are still evolving creatures, subject to the same forces as other creatures. According to the Episcopal Church's catechism on science and religion, that is in line with the long-standing theological teaching of continuing creation.

At some place in human evolution, we became intelligent enough to become conscious of God. The Bible could be described as a history of the progression of man's relationship with God. Surely, no one thinks that we have finished our exploration of God's nature and fully understand either His intrinsic character or what He intends for mankind. It would be arrogant to throw out the accumulated wisdom of Bible, tradition and reason and start a new journey of exploration based only on what science tells us about the natural world. Yet that is just what some scientists of agnostic persuasion would have us do. At the same time, people who believe in God as revealed by Bible and religious tradition cannot ignore or disregard the teachings of science. They help us understand God's universe and man's place in it. Reason based on observable fact has to have a place in religious thought. No matter how we go about exploring man's relationship with God, we can expect a further progression, or evolution if you will, of that relationship.

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Lecture Index

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