“An Evolving Creation: Oxymoron or Fruitful Insight?” by Keith Miller
In the first in a series of posts going through the book “Perspectives on an Evolving Creation” (Keith Miller, ed.), we look at the Scientific and Theological justifications for the very idea of an “Evolving Creation”.
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As the title of this essay suggests, it sets the tone for the rest of the book by laying out what exactly the authors mean by an “evolving creation”. Miller begins by defining terms. “Evolution,” as he uses it, “refers to the descent with modification of all living things from a common ancestor. Miller talks of “Creation” as a noun meaning anything “to which God has given being” and as a verb meaning God’s past and present action of bringing things into existence and sustaining them there (closely related to the idea of Providence). In light of these seemingly innocuous, uncontroversial definitions, can we really say that an idea of an “Evolving Creation” is inherently antithetical and contradictory? Miller, nor I, believe this is the case.
