Evolutionary Creation: God’s Two Books in a Complimentary Relationship

Evolutionary creation embraces the time-honored belief that divine revelation flows from two major sources — the Book of God’s Words and the Book of God’s Works. This position supports a complementary relationship between Scripture and science in understanding origins. The Latin complere, from which derives the word complementary, means “to finish” and “to fulfill.” The verb “to complement” refers to the act of adding something that is lacking in order to make complete. Therefore, together the Two Divine Books fulfill each other; alone they are incomplete. Science reveals how the Creator made this spectacular design-reflecting world, while the Bible declares precisely who created it — the Fa- ther, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Accepting Biblical Faith & Modern Science

The most compelling argument for evolutionary creation is that it accepts without any reservations both biblical faith and modern science. This position frees us from the chains of the origins dichotomy and the science-religion warfare myth, both of which have imprisoned many minds throughout most of the 20th century. Evolutionary creation meets the yearning of a scientific generation in search of spiritual meaning. In particular, it offers an intellectually satisfying worldview for those who experience the Lord in a personal relationship and know His creation through science (F. Collins, 2006; Falk, 2004; Lamoureux, 2008, 2009; Miller, 2003). Though this position recognizes that science and religion operate within their respective domains, it does not suffer from the intellectual schizophrenia of placing them in isolated airtight compartments. Instead, evolutionary creation fea- tures an integrated worldview and takes pleasure in a respectful and fruitful dialogue between the best science today and the foundations of historic Christianity.

Free from Scientific Concordism

Evolutionary creationists also enjoy freedom from scientific concordism. Instead of tearing the words of Scripture out of their lexical and historical contexts in order to harmonize them with modern science, these Christians are neither embarrassed nor apologetic for the obvious ancient science in the Bible. For example, there is no need to twist and manipulate the Hebrew word raqia’ (traditionally and best translated as “firmament”), and then claim that it refers to the atmosphere or outer space (Beale, 2008; C. Collins, 2004; Lamoureux, 2008; Ross, 2001). Scripture clearly states that God created a hard dome overhead, and evolutionary creationists recognize that this is an accommodation to ancient peoples by the Holy Spirit, in order to reveal the spiritual truth that He is the Creator of the heavens. In light of the ancient science in God’s Word, it is evident that the Bible is not a book of modern scientific facts revealed before their discovery, but a book of inerrant, life-changing, spiritual truths.

Christian evolutionists are free as well from the God-of-the- gaps. This idea of divine creative action sees the Creator as a tinkering meddler who intervened sporadically into the world to add creatures and/or missing parts. From this perspective, God made the original creation incomplete. But instead of looking for “gaps” where He purportedly entered to create, evolutionary creationists assert that His divine power is apparent in the robust self- assembling character of the evolutionary continuum of life, from the first molecules to human beings. And instead of fearing the Creator’s retreat from the world because of the loss of supposed “gaps” in nature, evolutionary creationists welcome scientific discoveries that fill gaps in our knowledge and claim these as declarations of the Lord’s glory. In particular, advances in the sciences dealing with evolution proclaim the faithfulness of God’s natural processes in an evolving creation.

Unified Vision of Science

Evolutionary creation is the only Christian view of origins that offers a unified vision of science. It does not postulate that those practicing certain scientific disciplines are intellectually incompetent or spiritually deceived (Johnson, 1997, pp. 11, 115; Morris, 1982, p. 75; Morris, 2000). There is no discrimination between sciences dealing with the daily operation of the world and those investigating its past origins. And evolutionary creation does not segregate evolutionary biology from cosmology and geology. For example, young earth creation has a disjointed understanding of science. On the one hand, it rejects the evolutionary sciences. Yet on the other hand, these anti-evolutionists support and even practice modern engineering and medical sciences, accepting research built on the assumption that natural processes feature robust regularity. Similarly, progressive creation has a double standard in its science. It affirms the evolution of the inanimate universe as offered by cosmological and geological sciences, but dismisses the unifying principle of biological science that life evolved.

However, these are false dichotomies that originate ultimately from the assumption that Scripture features scientific concordism and a God-of-the-gaps understanding of divine creative action. In contrast, evolutionary creationists uphold the unity and coherence of all the natural sciences, because scientific discovery is ultimately rooted in God. They believe that the Creator has made a world that faithfully follows His ordained and sustained natural laws and processes, and they embrace the belief that He has gifted us with marvelous minds and the ability to investigate the physical world. Through science, we can think God’s thoughts after Him and discover His method of creating the universe and life. In fact, Christian evolutionists believe that every scientific discipline is a gift from the Lord, including the evolutionary sciences.

A Complementary Relationship

To conclude, evolutionary creation offers a healthy and balanced complementary relationship between modern science and Christian faith. This position notes that the church’s struggle in the early 17th century with Galileo’s astronomy offers a valuable insight into understanding the evolutionary sciences and the biblical accounts of origins. This historic episode led many believers to realize that the Bible is not a book of science, but a book of salvation. Christians who accept evolution as God’s method of creation are especially inspired by the famed aphorism that Galileo popularized: “The intention of the Holy Spirit is to teach us how one goes to heaven and not how heaven goes” (Finocchiaro, 1989, p. 96). Rewritten for the church today, evolutionary creationists encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ to understand:

The intention of the Bible is to teach us that God is the Creator, and not how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created.

These concepts are explained further in my book, The Bible & Ancient Science: Principles of Interpretation.

About Denis Lamoureux

Denis O. Lamoureux is a professor of Science & Religion at St. Joseph’s College in the University of Alberta. He holds three earned doctoral degrees — dentistry, theology, and biology — and has written several books on the relationship between Christian faith and modern science. Denis worships at a Pentecostal church.

Click on the links to purchase his latest books from McGahan Publishing House, The Bible & Ancient Science: Principles of Interpretation and Beyond the Evolution vs. Creation Debate / Click HERE for his webpage.