“Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion” Part 1

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Darwin's Gift?

Book Review Francisco Ayala wants us to understand and appreciate what he considers to be Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion. The author of a recent book by that name, Ayala certainly has a claim to knowledge on the issues: he trained as a seminarian in Spain, and is now an evolutionary biologist at the University …

May 12, 2008 – 7:34 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science | Tagged , , , | Comments (10)

“Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion” Part 2

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Darwin's Gift?

Book Review In his book Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion, Francisco Ayala suggests that evolution supplies the answer to a serious theological conundrum. I alluded to this in my first post on this book: Things that Seem Wrong About the World: When I was studying theology in Salamanca Darwin was a much-welcomed friend. The …

May 13, 2008 – 10:43 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Thinking Christianly | Tagged , , , | Comments (13)

“Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion” Part 3

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Darwin's Gift?

University of California, Irvine biologist Francisco Ayala writes in his book Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion (pages 174-175), Scientific knowledge cannot contradict religious beliefs, because science has nothing definitive to say for or against religious inspiration, religious inspiration, religious realities, or religious values. There are Christian believers, however, who see the theory of evolution …

May 14, 2008 – 10:04 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Thinking Christianly | Tagged , | Comments (1)

“Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion” Part 4

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Darwin's Gift?

Book Review In this, my fourth and final post on Francisco Ayala’s book Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion, I wish to examine very briefly his views on knowledge as related to science and religion. I am addressing the same primary audience that he does in his book: believers in God. For the sake of …

May 17, 2008 – 10:52 am | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Origins and Science, Thinking Christianly | Tagged , , , | Comments (12)

Postscript to the Series, “Darwin’s Gift?”

This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Darwin's Gift?

Having written a four-part series on Francis Ayala’s Darwin’s Gift to Science and Religion, I was already in strong disagreement over what Ayala called a “gift” to religion in Darwinism. Now I’m reading his monograph for the AAAS, “The Difference of Being Human,” and have found even more reason to disagree with him on this. The …

May 30, 2008 – 10:16 pm | By Tom Gilson | Posted in Ethics, Origins and Science | Tagged , , , , | Comments (8)