Creationism and the Conflict over Evolution (Cascade Companions)
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
How do our current notions of the workings of the universe fit with our deepest convictions about its meaning and value? From religion, we grasp the world as a created, given gift. From science, we apprehend it as evolving, in process, changing. How do we bring these apprehensions together? Or can we? Is our impulse to find the two complementary: creation and evolution? Or is it to find them contradictory: creation or evolution?
The way in which we answer these questions carries personal and intellectual consequences. It will constitute the first piece in a worldview within which we order our religious beliefs and scientific judgments.
In the Logos edition, all Scripture passages in Creationism and the Conflict over Evolution are tagged and appear on mouseover, and all Scripture passages link to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “evolution” or “conflict.”
Save more when you purchase this book as part of the Cascade Companions Series (15 vols.).
- Discussion of three problematic presumptions that treat creation and evolution as incompatible
- Introduction of the outlines of the modern evolutionary theory
- Exploration of contemporary religious resistance to evolutionary theory
- The Bible and Creation
- The Meaning of Creation
- Method, Truth, and Evolutionary Science
- Catholics and the Theory or Evolution
- Creationism in the Public Arena
- Fundamentalist Anxiety
Top Highlights
“Augustine’s methodological principle, crede ut intelligas, ‘Believe in order that you may understand,’ became a theological mantra of the tradition.7 In his view, trust in a reliable source (faith) is an essential condition of understanding. Because God is the author of truth, faith and reason are complementary. Augustine’s ‘divine illumination epistemology’ brings God into relation with science, not as an alternative explanation to what scientists propose about the world but at the root of their understanding of the world. God illumines the human mind, making the world and divine truths intelligible. All knowledge is from God. In knowing what is, human beings come to know what God already knows.” (Pages 46–47)
“In naming the supernatural as the cause of natural events, creationists confuse what Thomas Aquinas distinguished as primary and secondary causality. Secondary causality refers to the finite system of laws governing the universe. Secondary causality is created. It is the condition for the possibility of the verifiable explanations that contribute cumulatively to our knowledge of reality and that serve as the ground for further prediction and experimentation. Primary causality refers to the ultimate source for secondary causality, to God as the source of the whole, to the ultimate source for the existence of the universe and its intelligibility. Primary causality is infinite, not finite. As the primary cause, God operates not by ‘making things’ or species but as the ground of being itself.” (Pages 112–113)
The scientific failures of ‘Intelligent Design’ and other forms of creationism have been detailed in dozens of books, scores of articles, and in a handful of spectacular court cases. What Tatha Wiley adds to this mix is a provocative and highly readable analysis of the theological failings of today’s creationist movement. It will surprise those who assume that creationism is rooted in Christian tradition, and it will challenge those who believe that the biblical narrative is hopelessly at odds with modern science.
—Kenneth R. Miller, professor of biology, Brown University, author of Finding Darwin’s God and Only a Theory
- Title: Creationism and the Conflict over Evolution
- Author: Tatha Wiley
- Series: Cascade Companions
- Publisher: Wipf & Stock
- Publication Date: 2008
- Pages: 164
Reviews
5 ratings
Robert Baribeau
6/3/2026
I can't offer a rating for this book because I haven't read anything past the sample pages. In fact, this may be the first free book Logos has offered that I choose not to claim. What follows is not a complete review of this book or a response to its arguments. It's just a brief call for theological discernment to anyone who might be wrestling with this topic. It's often argued that we can cling to Christian theology without believing that the portions of the Bible on which that theology is based are literal and historical. But there are several times in Scripture when theology is dependent on history. The most obvious example of this is the resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15), but we find examples in Genesis as well. If it is only the theology and not the historical accuracy of the creation account that matters, then what exactly does that theology include? Among many other things, it clearly includes the idea that God approved of His original creation. He saw that it was good. Later on, in Genesis 6:11-12, we have a clearly contrasting statement in which God looks at the earth and sees that all flesh has become corrupt. The primary evidence of this corruption is that the earth has been filled with violence. It was the belief of both Old and New Testament writers that suffering and death are the result of sin, not part of God's original design (Isaiah 11:6-9, Romans 8:19-22). If God used evolution to create the world, then we have a Bible that consistently misrepresents God's character and how He feels about death and suffering, not to mention the damage done to the gospel itself if sin and death are disconnected. The scientific arguments against macro-evolution are numerous (the irreducible complexity of the cell alone deals it a fatal blow), and there are plenty of serious scientists and mathematicians who reject it. The huge mistake that people make is that Christian fundamentalists are putting ideology before reason and that those who embrace evolutionary theory are following reason alone. This is a conflict between Christian and anti-Christian worldviews, not between science and religion. This conflict is referred to several times in Scripture (2 Corinthians 10:5; 1 John 5:19) and it shouldn't take anyone by surprise. We should want to tear down the obstacles that are preventing people from coming to faith in Christ, but we should also be careful that the obstacles we're attacking are the lies, not the truths that people find hard to accept.
Richard Wayne Daniels
6/3/2026
There are many sober, well informed, books on this subject. This is NOT one of them. Don't bother with this one.Aaron Sauer
6/1/2026
Tom Serrano
12/21/2013
Rev. Lynwood F. Mundy
8/3/2013
John Vignol
12/31/2012
If modern science is a work of the devil then a bridge built by an engineer based on modern physics is a work of the devil. A doctor who uses modern biological science is using a work of the devil. Don't cross that bridge or take that medicine and God forbid you have an operation. You must follow your beliefs consistently, not just when it is useful for bashing what you don't understand. Genesis assumes a geocentric universe. Creation is based on the earth as the center of creation. So tell astronomers to stop trying to show the universe as huge and expanding. It is just an ornament to the earth as Genesis says. Or so you interpret Genesis. That is the key. It is not science or creation it is what hermenutical principles you use. Yours are mistaken.David Kivioja
12/23/2012
Although many Christians think this is not an important issue, we should understand the implications of accepting a view where the Bible fits science. I for one was one & because no one in the church could logically explain to me creation, I turned my back on God & did not accept him until later in my life. However, once I did God lifted the veil from my eyes. "In the beginning, God created..." meaning He created all laws of nature. Whatever He created cannot contratict another aspect of what he created, otherwise we worship in illogical god. So if we are taught contradictions, first look at the observation & assumptions. Today there is no observational evidence for evolution & we see the assumptions are fraught w/error. The church must not be uncomfortable to confront this discussion; we must "...always [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you." Always start w/the inerrant Word & observe the world vice the other way.Lionel Edes
12/23/2012
Pleasantly surprised to find Logos offering a book about the biblical account of creation that is other than a 19th century theologian's hysterical defense of creationism. Please: creationism is NOT to be equated with biblical faith. It would behoove reviewers who haven't even bothered to read the book to at least read the sample pages. The Bible: a powerful account of how people should learn to live as God intended. Evolution: a powerful tool to explain how change occurs within organisms. The first is visionary, literary, religious and profoundly true. The second is a theoretical model affecting research in areas like genetics. I don't see myself changing anyone's mind in a posting the length of a tweet, but I thought I'd at least give credit to Logos for offering a thoughtful and respectful book on this subject.Pastor Greg Bishop
12/18/2012
"In the beginning God..." Start here and end with the authority of scripture plus nothing. I agree with the other postings.
