Evolutionary creation, also presented as Evolutionary creationism, is the religious
belief
A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take i ...
that God as Creator brings about his plan through processes of
evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. It is a type of
creationism
Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism is 't ...
which, like
theistic evolution
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution) is a theological view that God creates through laws of nature. Its religious teachings are fully compatible with the findings of modern science, including biological ...
, accepts modern science, but there are
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
differences. Its proponents, who tend to be conservative
evangelical Christians
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...
, hold that God is actively involved in evolution to a greater extent than theistic evolutionists.
Proponents
In June 2003,
Denis Lamoureux
Denis O. Lamoureux (born May 27, 1954) holds a professorial chair of science and religion at St. Joseph's College at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He has doctoral degrees in dentistry, theology, and biology. The author ...
wrote an article which appeared in ''
Crux
Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for c ...
'' on "Evolutionary Creation: Beyond the Evolution vs. Creation Debate", and in 2008 he published a theological book on ''Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution'' aimed both at anti-evolution Christians including
young Earth creationists
Young Earth creationism (YEC) is a form of creationism which holds as a central tenet that the Earth and its lifeforms were created by supernatural acts of the Abrahamic God between approximately 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. In its most widesp ...
, and at those looking to confirm their reconciliation of faith with evolutionary science. His main argument that Genesis presents "science and history of the day" as "incidental vessels" to convey spiritual truths would be unlikely to persuade young Earth creationists. The faith position presented by Lamoureux helps put over his message, but makes the book unsuitable for use in U.S. public schools.
Lamoureux rewrote his article as a 2009 journal paper, incorporating excerpts from his books, in which he noted the similarities of his views to theistic evolution, but objected to that term as making evolution the focus rather than creation, and distanced his beliefs from the
deistic
Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin ''deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge, and asserts that empirical reason and observation of t ...
or more liberal beliefs included in theistic evolution.
There is diversity among evolutionary creationists in explaining how these two concepts fit together.
References
Publications
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pdf
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Religious belief and doctrine
Evolution and religion
Religion and science
Creationism
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