Evolution. Creationism. Darwin. Adam and Eve. The question is this: Did God really create the entire world in 6 days…or was something else at work? Did the world, perhaps, come about on its own?

These questions have placed followers of Biblical teachings, atheists, scientists, and pretty much everyone else in a position to choose. Do you believe God knows every little hair on your head? Do you believe we evolved from monkeys? Does God exist? Is God actively involved in your life? In media and church reports, answers tend to fall on one side or the other: Either you believe in Darwin’s evolutionary theory or you believe in creationism (that God created the world). But there is a middle ground, a gray area, that is almost always overlooked. It’s easy to forget that there’s almost always a middle path. I myself had forgotten until I saw a report from the Chicago Tribune this morning.

In it, the reporter examines the ideas of Howard Van Till, a professor and physicist in Michigan who wrote “The Fourth Day” in 1986. His book stirred up controversy, claiming there was a way to reconcile evolution with the Bible. Van Till expounded that everything had evolved and that God was a force within all of nature. The big news today is that Van Till no longer thinks God can “coerce nature.” Rather, he’s not sure what God does or who he is at all. He’s just confused, and he’s content with not having a total understanding of how we came about and what will happen to us when we are no longer. But he’s happy to know that something made the world as orderly as it is.

The article gives great examples of others who have tried to reconcile evolution with creationism. But they left out one important figure: Teilhard de Chardin. De Chardin was a Catholic Jesuit monk who spent most of his life as a paleontologist — one of the first to be allowed to dig up bones on many forbidden sites. Mankind was evolving, he thought, and moving closer and closer toward God — or at least toward a full understanding of the universe. The Church objected to his ideas, but his thoughts provide an interesting take on what is normally viewed as a black and white issue.

Check out the Chicago Tribune’s article here.

Read more about Teilhard here.

Filed under: Christianity, Religion and Ethics, Religion and Science | 1 Comment »