Integrating ID and Biblical Thinking

Intelligent Design is not necessarily a theologically-related topic, except that, for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, every topic is related in some way or other to God and to Biblical thinking. Thomas Woodward, near the end of his most recent book on ID, says that a fully integrated statement of this relationship is still lacking or at least underdeveloped (pp. 186-187; as explained early in the book, he uses "Darwinism" as shorthand for the neo-Darwinian synthesis):

"It is clear that religious issues are in play in this grand debate, but this is true just as much on the Darwin side as it is on ID's side. Many scholars working in the ID community have pointed out a key fact: Darwinism may not entail atheism, but it appears certain that to some extent, atheism entails Darwinism. Thus to question Darwinism on scientific grounds, to an atheist, cuts deep into the beliefs and presuppositions embedded in their own worldview. This is a dynamic fact of the ID-Darwinism debate that is often overlooked. It is clear also that ID theorists need to do a better job of explaining the interface between the question, 'Is there real design in nature?' and the logical next question, 'Who or what is the designer?'... Clearly, those interested in ID do have deep interest in knowing the answer to the question: are there principled ways to proceed out of the bare design inference into investigating the nature and identity of the design-agent that will honor empirical evidence, logic, and respect for pluralistic rational discourse?"

It's not that this has never been addressed, but that questions keep arising and need to be answered. My last post took another stab at this, but it admittedly remains unconnected to other aspects of the overall question. I'm trying to gather a list of the major questions, with a view to pulling many or all of them together under one framework.

Here's my list so far. What would you add?

• Did ID arise out of a strictly religious agenda, or does it have genuine empirical roots?

• How does ID relate to Scientific Creationism?

• Is ID is a watered-down (disguised) version of Creationism?

• Is ID a disguised attempt to sneak religion into American public schools and other places where it's legally, socially, or politically unwelcome?

• Does referring to a Designer as an explanation quench scientific curiosity?

• ID makes very minimal claims about the characteristics of the Designer. Is this a fair approach; and what should Christians do with it?

• Is theistic evolution theologically viable? How does it relate to ID's claims and programs?

• Does the possibility of an active, intervening God conflict with laws and regularities of science?

• Is ID about a "God of the Gaps"?

• Is ID a misguided attempt to demonstrate or prove the reality of God?

• What about Scientific Creationists' views of ID, and does ID's typical old-earth view conflict with Genesis?

• What are the religious entailments of Darwinism?

• What are the biological/scientific entailments of Philosophical Naturalism?

That's my list so far. I think I've written about all of these; and if I haven't, dozens of others certainly have, so the information is out there. Is there a place on the web to find this all addressed integratively? William Dembski has written this; I don't know of others. Are there questions missing from this list?

Posted: Mon - April 9, 2007 at 03:14 PM |

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson getCategoryName("<$CategoryUUID$>");

Integrating ID and Biblical Thinking

Thinking Christian by Tom Gilson