A Book Critique of The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age

1 I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals, since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher

Through the 1920s, conflicts regarding the teachings of religious values versus Evolution, along with the increasing fight for women’s independence, caused a great deal of tension within America. Prior to the ‘20s schools taught the Bible and Christianity’s principles were stressed. It was in 1925 when Clarence Darrow defended John Scopes, a biology teacher, who was put on trial in the court for teaching the theory of Evolution (Doc C). This document illustrates the dialogue of

In Science and Religion: Are They Compatible?, Alvin Plantinga argues that proponents of naturalism, like Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett, tell us that, according to the theory of evolution, neither God nor any other agent has designed or created the living world, and that evolution, therefore, clearly contradicts the central tenant of theistic religion (which Dennett labels “entirely gratuitous fantasy” ). If what these experts say is true and we must understand evolution only in the context of naturalistic, unguided evolution, “then evolutionary theory is deeply incompatible with theistic religion, whether Christian…or Jewish.” However, Plantinga stresses that evolution does not need to be interpreted in this way, and that, because of this, religion does not have to be held in such opposition to science at all. Christian and Jewish doctrines require only that “God intended to create creatures of a certain kind…planned that there be creatures of that kind…and acted in such a way as to accomplish this intention,” and such a claim is clearly consistent with evolutionary theory in that naturalism is not a necessary requirement of the theory itself. In this paper I will explore the positions of the Jewish faith with respect to the question of evolutionary theory, and, more explicitly, will draw comparisons between Judaism and Christianity to investigate whether popular religion is as staunchly opposed to evolutionary theory as Dawkins and Dennett propose. If the work of

The 1920’s were a time of change. New ideas were becoming more readily experimented with and even accepted by large portions of the population. Some of these included jazz music and the fight against the alcoholic prohibition. The radical idea I will focus on in this paper, however, is Evolution. It is a theory that had been around for over half a century before the 20’s but had only more recently caught on in the US. It contradicted the Christian theory of Divine Creation as described in the Bible. This caused many religious fundamentalists to fight against it. They took their battle to the law books, and they were challenged by pro-evolution modernists in the Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925.

This chapter is not just white noise, we have seen this process of church, state, tribe, market, and science

Too much of the Christian worldview’s attention is focused on reconciling the Bible with science and archaeological discoveries when it should be focused on redemption. The theme of the Bible could be summarized into four categories Creation,

Advancement thinking can initially appear to have some logic, but it will eventually be exposed as a naturalistic myth when compared to the biblical model of Intelligent Design. The Universe and every plant and animal is exquisite evidence for an omnipotent and omniscient creator God. In the 21st century, Christians are living in an age that has many technological and medical advances. For example: stem cell research is advancing, the progression of prosthetics, and replacing the human heart with the heart of an animal (i.e. pig). Above all, technology is not enough evidence in Christendom for the support of the theory of evolution or argues against the existence of an ultimate God. Man was made in the image of God who created the universe.

Bush authored a book where he discusses the topic of advancement but uses a few different names to cover them. One of the names use is simply advancement which as he put it means that things get better over time through natural causes. The other being advancement theology, which means that it gets better through natural evolution. From Christianity perspective to hear the word evolution can almost start an immediate war of words because that almost takes away from the deity of God and Christ. With that in mind it is a more common word in our society that is used to describe the ever changing climate of the world. When looking at the two ideas, the idea of advancement theology is almost something that

Robert Wright’s Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny discusses the idea of biological evolution and cultural evolution that results to social and global structure, system, and perspective. In his introduction, Wright tells the readers about the concept of biological evolution where he argues that the human destiny begins with a chaotic formation of the society that aims to build a concrete structure in order to establish proper social, political, and moral culmination of sorts. Wright moves further into the idea of biological evolution in his discussion of the DNA, which he defines as the “secret of life.” Truly, the evolution of mankind is difficult to trace because of the complexity of the human body—particularly the construction of the DNA. Then, the author relates it to other structures and institutions like the politics, history, and even religion.

More Christians need to start challenging the many flaws in the big bang theory and Darwinism; which by the way, the Royal Society, this November, “calls for revision of the standard theory of evolution.”

The article, “A Matter of Scale,” urges the audience to observe the small and extraordinary components of the biosphere and acknowledge its genetic variations as explained by Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, Kelly’s essay, “Evolution: An Article of Faith,” considers Darwin’s theory as a “false religion” suppressing God’s ability to create the “work of intelligence.” (Evolution) The heated debate over the credibility of Darwin’s theory of evolution has led to the division of scientific and religious groups. Devoted, religious people discover two major flaws with Darwin’s theory of evolution regarding the inaccuracies of the fossil record and the contradicting phrase “survival of the fittest” that has passed on harmful mutations to next

In America, public schools are allowed to teach any philosophy explaining the existence of all species on Earth. This ranges from christian creationism to scientific evolutionary timelines. Many have disputes about which should be taught in public schools. However, there are many valid reasons why Evolution should not be the only "human timeline" (Wanjie, 56) taught to children in public schools. Reasons such as natural interpretation, philosophical understanding of existence, and pure human rights; everyone should be free to think.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, introducing the theory of evolution. One hundred and fifty-six years later, scientists still accept this senseless philosophy. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay states, “Our school systems teach the children that they are nothing but glorified apes who are evolutionized out of some primordial soup” (Snyder). Schools worldwide have presented exactly this to the young, impressionable minds of your future doctors, engineers, scientists, and presidents. They assure us that if we give a small amount of mud enough time it can, by itself, bring about the art of da Vinci, the plays of Shakespeare, the music of Mozart, and the brilliant mind of Einstein.

Garreau, Joel. Radical Evolution: The Promise and Peril of Enhancing Our Minds, Our Bodies- and What It Means to Be Human. New York: Random House, 2005. Print.

Since the 1800’s, the influence of Darwin’s theory of evolution has been taken into thorough consideration and repetitively debated to whether human biological development evolved from chimpanzees through out time along with the idea of how all life on earth came to existence. In fact, this theory has struck such a high level of controversey that it primarily became a crucial idea of intellectuality discussed within the West and around the world. Science and relegion have been the greatest factors which have shaped and mended values and ideas of western societies, essentially making a lasting impression on human history. Most writers and theologians believe that science and relegion are ideaologies which condradict one another and carry