Evolution and Dogma

This 1896 volume by Reverend J. A. Zahm, a professor of physics at the University of Notre Dame, considers the Catholic theological tradition as it relates to evolution. The author discusses Darwin's theory of evolution in detail, and traces the debate between theologians and scientists back to the early days of evolutionary theory. He compares late nineteenth-century evolutionary theory and the beliefs of the Catholic church, carefully evaluating the arguments and probing errors and misconceptions in theory and terminology. He also attempts to shed light on the little-understood relations between evolutionism and Christianity as a whole, and discusses whether a person of any Christian denomination can be an evolutionist. Zahm's thoughtful work is considered to be one of the most important volumes on evolution ever written by a Catholic.

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion

If we want nonscientists and opinion-makers in the press, the lab, and the pulpit to take a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion, Ronald Numbers suggests that we must first dispense with the hoary myths that have masqueraded too long as historical truths. 

Until about the 1970s, the dominant narrative in the history of science had long been that of science triumphant, and science at war with religion. But a new generation of historians both of science and of the church began to examine episodes in the history of science and religion through the values and knowledge of the actors themselves. Now Ronald Numbers has recruited the leading scholars in this new history of science to puncture the myths, from Galileo’s incarceration to Darwin’s deathbed conversion to Einstein’s belief in a personal God who “didn’t play dice with the universe.” The picture of science and religion at each other’s throats persists in mainstream media and scholarly journals, but each chapter in Galileo Goes to Jail shows how much we have to gain by seeing beyond the myths.

God and evolution: fundamental questions of Christian evolutionism

Written by Archbishop Józef Zycinski of Lublin, this book offers an important and insightful examination of the basic philosophical questions involved in the relation between evolutionary theory and the Christian religion. It is made more valuable by its serious study of Pope John Paul II's message about evolution issued in 1996.

The book begins with a discussion of the biological and metaphysical aspects of Darwin's own conception of evolution. It goes on to reject two versions of "fundamentalism" --the Christian anti-evolutionism of authors such as Phillip Johnson and the anti-Christian scientism of authors such as Richard Dawkins--and to explore the possibility of a dialogue between evolution and Christian thought from the perspective of Pope John Paul II.

Next, Zycinski calls into question the classical opposition between the teleological and the causal interpretation of evolutionary processes. He attempts to overcome that opposition by reliance on the concepts of supervenience and an evolutionary attractor. In this way, he proposes a new approach in which teleological anthropomorphisms as well as reductionist metaphors are avoided.

The author then presents a theology of nature in which particular attention is given to the immanence of God and to Divine kenosis. Finally, the book offers a theological anthropology, including chapters on the harmonization of paleontology and theological anthropology, the limits of sociobiology, and original sin in relation to scientific knowledge of the human person. 

"Zycinski has written an original and valuable theology of evolution. It is significant that a respected Catholic bishop embraces evolution with such enthusiasm and interprets it in such a sophisticated and appealing way." --John F. Haught, Georgetown University.

Saving Darwin

How to Be a Christian and Believe in Evolution. Evolution Is Not the Bible's Enemy. Saving Darwin explores the history of the controversy that swirls around evolution science, from Darwin to current challenges, and shows why —and how— it is possible to believe in God and evolution at the same time.

Karl Giberson is an internationally known scholar of science and religion, and one of America’s leading participants in the creation-evolution controversy.

Finding Darwin's God

Ken Miller is both an outstanding scientist and a gifted teacher. In this scholarly book, he uses his unusual abilities to explain the overwhelming evidence for evolution in a lucid and very entertaining way. In this process, he directly addresses the arguments that are made by each of the various schools of modern creationism. Dr. Miller is also a deeply religious person, and in a very personal and direct way he takes issue with those scientists who claim that modern science has disproven the existence of God. He convincingly argues that science and religion offer different, but compatible, ways of viewing the world. In taking this position, he is supported by the leaders of most of the world’s major religions. His book should be read by all those who want to understand this central issue.

Darwin's Angel

Richard Dawkins' apologia for atheism has attracted huge attention, and sales, all over the world. In a telling critique cast in the classical form of a letter to Dawkins John Cornwell takes issue with it.

'Monkeys make men ... Men make angels'- Charles Darwin.

The God Delusion is a clarion call to the faithless, the waverers, and even firm religious believers, to follow the author into radical atheism not merely as a private conviction but as a public profession. Wouldn't humankind be better off without religion, he asks. John Cornwell's Darwin's Angel is not so much a combative repudiation of Dawkins'arguments as a playful conversation with them, posing alternative view-points, exposing lapses in logic and errors of fact, from the vantage point of a friendly Guardian Angel.

Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology

There remains a widespread perception that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection marked the demise of any viable Christian natural theology - most notably, that of William Paley. But did Darwinism really shake such fundamental beliefs to the core? Or did Darwin's "dangerous idea" instead serve to transform and illuminate our views on the relation between the natural world and the divine? Darwinism and the Divine presents a detailed examination of the implications of evolutionary thought for natural theology, from the publication of On the Origin of Species more than a century-and-a-half ago through to the present day. Integrating and extending the latest scholarly research from across a wide variety of disciplines, world-renowned theologian Alister E. McGrath first explores the forms of natural theology that emerged in England from the late 17th century until 1850, showing us how these views were affected by the advent of Darwin's theories. McGrath offers the most detailed account of the intellectual background to William Paley's natural theology currently available, and offers an informed assessment of the impact of Darwin on such approaches. He then considers how Christian belief has adapted to Darwinism, and whether there is a place for design both in the world of science and the world of theology. Journeying well beyond On the Origin of the Species, Darwinism and the Divine offers a scholarly and thought-provoking consideration of the co-existence of natural theology with Darwinism in today's world.

Negotiating Darwin: the Vatican confronts evolution

Drawing on primary sources made available to scholars only after the archives of the Holy Office were unsealed in 1998, Negotiating Darwin chronicles how the Vatican reacted when six Catholics-five clerics and one layman-tried to integrate evolution and Christianity in the decades following the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species.

As Mariano Artigas, Thomas F. Glick, and Rafael A. Martínez reconstruct these cases, we see who acted and why, how the events unfolded, and how decisions were put into practice. With the long shadow of Galileo's condemnation hanging over the Church as the Scientific Revolution ushered in new paradigms, the Church found it prudent to avoid publicly and directly condemning Darwinism and thus treated these cases carefully.

The authors reveal the ideological and operational stance of the Vatican and describe its secret deliberations. In the process, they provide insight into current debates on evolution and religious belief.

Evolution, Creation and Intelligent Design

In The Origin of Species, Darwin advanced a scientific explanation of the design of organisms. The adaptations of organisms are outcomes not of chance, but of a process that, over time, causes the gradual accumulation of features beneficial to organisms, whenever these features increase the organisms’ chances of surviving and reproducing. There is “design” in the living world: eyes are designed for seeing, wings for flying, and kidneys for regulating the composition of the blood. The design of organisms comes about not by intelligent design, but by a natural process, which is creative through the interaction of chance and necessity.

Organisms are pervaded by imperfections, dysfunctions, cruelties, and even sadism. The theory of evolution accounts for these mishaps by natural selection, as the outcomes of natural processes, so that they need not be attributed to God’s explicit design.

Francisco Ayala

Creation or Evolution - Do We Have to Choose?

It is often thought that an intrinsic compatibility exists between the ideas of ‘creation’ and Darwinian ‘evolution’. This misunderstanding arises from two main sources. First, since the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) evolution has frequently been used for various social, political, religious or anti-religious purposes. These ideological investments are not intrinsic to the theory, which focuses on providing an explanation for the origins of biological diversity, but have the consequence that in the public domain the term ‘evolution’ often has associations incompatible with the idea of ‘creation’. The second main reason for the supposed incompatibility arises from the US anti-Darwinian creationist and Intelligent Design movements. These movements agree with the claims of ultra-Darwinians such as Richard Dawkins that ‘creation’ and ‘evolution’ provide rival accounts for the origins of biological diversity. This lecture will draw on the traditional understandings of ‘creation’ shared by all the Abrahamic faiths to suggest that there is no need to choose between creation and evolution. Instead they provide two different provide complementary narratives for the history of living things on this planet. Both accounts are important if we are to do justice to the complex reality of life.

Denis Alexander

Francisco Ayala

Francisco J. Ayala is University Professor and Donald Bren Professor of Biological Sciences and Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Ayala is a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science, and served as Chair of the Authoring Committee of Science, Evolution, and Creationism, jointly published in 2008 by the NAS and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ayala has received numerous awards, including the 2010 Templeton Prize for exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, and 20 honorary degrees from universities in nine countries. He has been President and Chairman of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and President of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society of the United States. Dr. Ayala has written numerous books and articles about the intersection of science and religion, including Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion (Joseph Henry Press, 2007) and Am I a Monkey? (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010). He teaches classes in evolution, genetics, and the philosophy of biology, which are also the subjects of his research.