Creation

God as Creator

•Creation ex nihilo•Young Earth

Creationism•Ussher•Old Earth Creationism•Qualities of the God of

Creationism

Theory of Intelligent Design

• 1970s•Discovery Institute• Science and Religion

together• Fine-tuned•DNA• Anthropic Principle•God is the intelligent

creator

God as Creator – Symbolic interpretation of Genesis

• “Identical realities described in vastly different terms.”•Genesis and the Big Bang• Let there be light• Bible = symbolic truth that God

created the universe• ‘Middle way’ between

Creationism and scientists who reject the creation story because of Big Bang Theory.

God as sustainer

•Ontological Dependance•Creation ex nihilo•Order – Heaven, Earth and Waters•Order – Time• ‘Being’

God as Personal

•Genesis – caring God•Genesis 2 – God

described anthropomorphically•Relationships – Adam

and Eve• ‘In the image of God’•God the Father

Deism

•God created world then left• Reason and rationality reveals

creator God.•God is not personal•God is not a sustainer•No relationship – prayer is

pointless.

Big Ban

g

The Big Bang – origin of the universe

• 10-15 billion years ago• Huge explosion from a point of

singularity• >1 second – time and space• Second later, laws of physics and

chemistry, like gravity• 3 mins – protons and neutrons

formed atoms• Half million years, temperatures

cool enough for hydrogen and helium• Billion years – stars and galaxies• Many stars died before earth

formed.

Evidence for the Big Bang

•The universe is expanding•Galaxies are moving

apart from one another•Red Shift•Background radiation

Nature of the universe

•Still expanding•Random chance•No creator•Will end in Big Crunch or will continuously expand•Still cooling

• The explosion will slow down and stop due to gravity• Everything will rush back to the point

of singularity• Oscillating Universe Theory• Conditions for life = chance• BUT expansion seems to be getting

quicker

• Expansion getting faster• 2nd law thermodynamics – entropy• Heat Death

End of the Universe

How does the Big Bang challenge religion?

•Different to Genesis account•Questions the age of the

universe•Undermines the Bible• Suggests that the universe could

be a cosmic accident rather than the result of loving design•Questions the relationship

humans feel they have with God.• Explains the existence of the

universe without need for God.

Evolution

• Charles Darwin• 1859 – On the Origin of the Species• Adaptation• Survival of the fittest•Natural Selection• Richard Dawkins

How does Evolution challenge religion?

•Undermines the Bible•Questions the special relationship and

the ‘image of God’• Purpose? (“Blind, unconscious,

automatic process ...”)• Is there any need for God? ‘Intellectual

suicide’?• Suggests that creatures have adapted

to their environment, countering the religious idea that God loving crafted their environment.

How do Christians respond to these challenges?

• Creationists – deny scientific theories.• Scientific creationism – the

Bible is science.• Symbolic interpretation

(Schroeder)• Mythological and theological

truth• Reductionism

Science and Religion are irrelevant to each other

• Science cannot discredit religious faith• “We can neither affirm or deny it,

we simply cannot comment on it as scientists.”• Evolutionary theory has no bearing

on the existence of God.• “Either half of my colleagues are

enormously stupid, or else the science of Darwinism is fully compatible with conventional religious beliefs – and equally compatible with atheism.”

“Dawkins presents Darwinism as an intellectual highway to atheism. In reality, the intellectual trajectory mapped out by Dawkins seems to get stuck in a rut at agnosticism. There is a substantial logical gap between Darwinism and atheism, which Dawkins seems to prefer to bridge by rhetoric, rather than evidence.” (McGrath)

“Old God so wise that He could make all things; behold He so much more wise … He can make all things make themselves.”(Kingsley)

So, do science and religion conflict with each other? Are they complimentary? Are they just irrelevant to each other?

Conflict

Compliment

Irrelevant

B QuestionsA good B question will:• Have a clear argument running through it, but

will not use ‘I’.• Examine both sides.• Contain analysis (next slide will help)• Be focussed on the question. • Come to a conclusion which is based on

evidence discussed in the essay.

Critical Analysis• This is a very damaging criticism because ___.• However, one could argue that _____.• The Design Argument can not stand up against

this criticism because _____• Although Polkinghorne defends the Design

Argument by stating _____, he fails to protect the argument fully because _______.

• Dawkin’s argument’s is weak here because ____.• Despite this criticism, the Design Argument is still

a sound one because ________.

Michael Behe• Discovery Institute• irreducible complexity• Blood clots

Is Intelligent Design a scientific or religious theory?

Daniel Dennett• Even complex structures, like the eye, can

be explained through Natural Selection• Even the eye has flaws, such as blind spots –

why would God create flaws?