Tag Archives: Evolution
Ratzinger on Evolution and Evil: A Christological and Mariological Answer to the Problem of Suffering and Death in Creation
I’m delighted to share that my most recent piece has just been posted online for a special issue of the international journal Religions entitled Theodicy and Challenges of Science: Understanding God, Evil and Evolution. The article, entitled “Ratzinger on Evolution and Evil: A Christological and Mariological Answer to the Problem of Suffering and Death in Creation,” argues that Joseph Ratzinger’s thought offers a compelling way to address the presence of suffering and death across evolutionary history. The essay can be downloaded for free here:
Evolution and the Bible: A Conversation with Pat Flynn
It’s always a pleasure to chat with Pat Flynn on his podcast. I almost forgot to post this here, but here’s a conversation of ours on the Bible and evolution that went up on his show not long ago. I look forward to more conversations with Pat and others on this important and fascinating topic as I am getting close to finishing my book on it!
“Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation”
I am thrilled to announce that I’ve just published an article for a special issue of the academic journal Scientia et Fides dedicated to Philosophical and Theological Aspects of Evolution. The essay, entitled “Machine or Melody? Joseph Ratzinger on Divine Causality in Evolutionary Creation,” argues that creation should be thought of less as an intelligently designed machine that requires divine interventions for its development and more as a divine drama or masterpiece story that is continually being told as its plot unfolds naturally over the course of time.
Scientia et Fides is a peer-reviewed, online academic journal published twice a year by the Faculty of Theology of Nicolaus Copernicus University, in Torun, in collaboration with the research group “Science, Reason and Faith” (CRYF) at the University of Navarra. My article, along with the other essays recently published, is available free here.
Theology at AMU — Speaker Spotlight: Matthew Ramage
Looking forward to speaking at a great Christology conference here in a couple of weeks, cosponsored by the Thomistic Institute and Ave Maria University. Click here for more information my talk and the conference!
“Man, You Are Dust”: On Human Origins and Dignity in Light of Evolutionary Science
Next weekend at Benedictine College we are holding our 8th annual Symposium on Advancing the New Evangelization, and this year the topic is “Technology and the Human Person.” I’m currently writing a book on Benedict XVI, the Bible, and human origins in light of evolutionary science, and so I decided to craft a paper based on this work tied to he conference theme. My paper, whose title is the subject of this post, addresses the question of how we can uphold the uniqueness of man in light of the technological advances of evolutionary science and genomics. Here’s my talk abstract:
The famous atheist Richard Dawkins is no means alone in his contending that evolutionary biology makes it nonsensical to speak of man as “higher” than other living things. Indeed, within a materialistic evolutionary worldview, creatures are measured not by powers of the soul but rather by their sheer ability to survive and reproduce. From this perspective, there is no reason to suppose that anything about humans makes us, in contrast with other creatures, to be the image of God. In response to such an outlook, this paper will argue that the reality of human evolution, when approached according to sound theological principles, is not only consonant with man’s unique dignity but moreover casts considerable light on precisely what it means to be God’s image and how we ought to treat our fellow men and creatures within an evolving universe.
In the Beginning: Reading Genesis with Benedict XVI and Thomas Aquinas
Today our outstanding Benedictine College class of 2015 graduated, and with that summer begins for us here in Atchison, KS.
Just in time for summer, I have a new piece of scholarship to share. The file I’m attaching here is a chapter I wrote for a book entitled Reading Scripture with Thomas Aquinas, forthcoming later this year.
The chapter explores the respective exegetical methods and practices of Thomas Aquinas and Ratzinger/Benedict XVI as applied within the account of primeval history narrated in Genesis 1-3. Before treating commonalities between Aquinas and Ratzinger, I address the latter’s critiques of neo-scholasticism first so as to make it clear that Ratzinger is not strictly speaking a Thomist. With this initial caveat in place, there follows an overview of principles illustrating key points of contact in which Ratzinger implicitly (and explicitly at points) connects his exegetical programme with that of Aquinas. Finally, the core of the chapter consists in illustrating how the shared principles of Aquinas and Ratzinger are applied to specific realities within the biblical text.
In sum, I aim to show that Ratzinger conducts his exegesis of Genesis in a way that is much in the spirit of Thomas and indeed shares many parallels with Thomas’ exegesis of the same texts. At the same time, I endeavor to make it clear that Ratzinger makes significant advances beyond Aquinas with the help of the modern scholarly tools to which he is privy. Thus I hope the reader will see that Aquinas’ exegesis continues today to exert its influence and to remain profitable even as it needs to be supplemented by the best scholarship currently available—precisely the view advanced by a leading biblical scholar who was to become bishop of Rome.