Creation

Did God create the world? And if so, how did He do it? What evidence does nature provide? Where did human beings come from? What does the Bible teach about creation? Without doubt such questions generate the most heat in discussions about science and faith. There are many reasons why these issues are so contentious -- they impinge on hermeneutics (how we interpret the Bible), epistemology (how we come by "knowledge"), the history and philosophy of science, as well as aspects of archaeology, palaeontology, biology, astronomy, geology, chemistry, physics, and even mathematics. But perhaps the main source of controversy and confusion stems from the instinctive sense that where we come from determines who we are and how we should then live. And this underlying feeling, right or wrong, often makes it hard for participants in the debate to remain even handed and objective. We hope you find this collection of resources helpful

• Is Evolution Atheistic? by Dr Denis Alexander.
• Does Evolution Have any Religious Significance? (pdf) by Dr Denis Alexander.
  ( html version )
• Genesis and Creation (pdf only) by Prof Robert S White.
• Can a Christian believe in evolution? by Dr Denis Alexander.
• Is Intelligent Design Biblical? (pdf only) by Dr Denis Alexander. A shorter version (html) was published in Evangelicals Now.
• Sermon on Genesis 1 (pdf only) by Prof Robert S White.
• Why Are Christians Passionate Darwinians? (pdf only) by Dr Denis-Alexander.
• Intelligent Design Theory. New hypothesis or old idea in a new guise? (pdf only) by Prof. John Bryant, published in the Biochemist magazine.
• Cosmic Purpose and the Contingency of Human Evolution (pdf only) by Prof Ernan McMullin.

Other resources

• Our recommended books, where many of these issues are discussed.
• We have compiled a List of Bible passages related to the creation.
• The Bible's teaching on creation is rich and many-faceted -- see for example The Message of Creation, by David Wilkinson, (available from CiS books ) -- but the question of "By what mechanism did God create the world?" is not a major theme. Nevertheless, the answer to this question is heavily disputed amongst the Christian public. Christianity Magazine recently ran a useful article (August 2005): What you need to know about the evolution debate, summarising a number of different positions.
  • Other articles by Tony Watkins
  We also have some advice for students: Making your mind up about the HOW of creation
• For more in depth analysis, see some excellent lectures from the CiS-St.Edmunds Cambridge local CiS group:
  • Has Science eliminated God? Richard Dawkins and the Meaning of Life
    Prof Alister McGrath
  • Science and the Bible: Are they incompatible? The creation story as a test case
    Rev Dr Ernest Lucas

The authors of the articles and books recommended above all espouse a robust orthodox Christianity, and most would go further and classify themselves as solidly evangelical in their hermeneutics and opinion on the authority of scripture. On the issue of "How did God create the world?", many of the links above reflect the dominant view amongst Christians professionally active in academia, which might loosely be characterised as "theistic evolution". However, amongst the general Christian evangelical public other views on evolution or the age of the earth are also quite common, particularly in the USA and in Australia. Our US sister organisation, the ASA, has written a helpful ASA General Statement on Creation, summarising those views.

We have also compiled a large list of Creationism Links, mainly concerned with young earth creation science (YECS), an approach to "How did God create the world?" espoused by a particularly vocal group of advocates.