Howard J. Van Till (born 1938) is an American physicist and emeritus professor of physics at Calvin College, where he taught for 31 years. His research included solid state physics and millimeter-wave astronomy. He is also noted as a writer on science and Christianity.

Early life

Van Till was born in 1938 and grew up on a farm. When he was a child, he took a bottle of turkey medication from his parents' farm, mixed it with some mineral powders, and shook it; this resulted in the bottle exploding, causing him to lose a considerable amount of blood from his

jugular vein The jugular veins are veins that take deoxygenated blood from the head back to the heart via the superior vena cava. The internal jugular vein descends next to the internal carotid artery and continues posteriorly to the sternocleidomastoid mu ...

Religious views

Van Till was brought up as a

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, and known for such beliefs for much of his life. He has been active in writing and speaking on the interaction of science and Christian belief, for example as a member of the editorial boards of ''

Science and Christian Belief ''Science and Christian Belief'' is a biannual peer-reviewed academic journal published by Christians in Science and the Victoria Institute. The editors-in-chief are Keith R Fox and Meric Srokosz. The journal was established in 1989, with Oliver ...

'' and '' Theology and Science'', and working with the

Templeton Foundation The John Templeton Foundation (Templeton Foundation) is a Philanthropy, philanthropic organization that reflects the ideas of its founder, John Templeton, who became wealthy via a career as a Contrarian investing, contrarian investor, and wanted ...

. In 2006 he gave a presentation to the Freethought Association of West Michigan in which he recounted that he had less certainty than before on some religious questions. He now attends a more liberal church.

Opposition to creationism

In 1986 Van Till published ''The Fourth Day'', which sought to reconcile Christianity with Darwinist science. Writing in 2006,

Russell D. Moore Russell D. Moore (born 9 October 1971) is an American theologian, ethicist, and preacher. In June 2021, he became the director of the Public Theology Project at ''Christianity Today'', and on August 4, 2022, was announced as the magazine's incomi ...

described this work as "monumental", and Van Till as "the most lauded and prolific defender of theistic evolution among American evangelicals". In 1988 Van Till co-wrote ''Science Held Hostage: What's wrong with creation science and evolution'' with Davis A. Young and Clarence Menninga. Ronald L. Numbers. ''Darwinism comes to America''.

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

, 1998. pp.12,57,163, He was publicly accused of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...

after the issue of ''The Fourth Day'', and Van Till's professorship was subject for four years to a monthly review of his beliefs and eligibility to teach at Calvin College. He continued to teach until 1999, but his Calvinist faith was affected by the inquiry. An article of his in 1996, claiming that theistic evolution was compatible with the teaching of renowned church fathers

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...

and

Basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also k ...

, drew rebuttals from Jonathan Wells and John Mark Reynolds, to which Van Till responded in turn. Ronald L. Numbers in 1998 stated that Van Till is a devout Christian who sees little or no evidence of God in nature and whose view is a good example of "

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 ...

". However, Numbers records that Van Till prefers the term "creationomic perspective" over "theistic evolution". In a February 2016 article in ''Theology and Science'': "SOBIG; A Symposium on Belief in God", he now describes his theological and philosophical view as "a comprehensive but non-reductive naturalism".

References

External links

Van Till listing
on

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

List of Van Till's articles
in

Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith ''Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith'', subtitled ''Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation'', is the academic publication of the American Scientific Affiliation. Background The ASA's original constitution provided two goals for th ...

The Legend of the Shrinking SunChristianity and Darwinism: Letters about Van Till debate with Phillip E. Johnson
in 1993 June/July

First Things ''First Things'' (''FT'') is an ecumenical and conservative religious journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society". The magazine, which focuses on theology, liturgy, church history, religio ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Till, Howard J. 1938 births Living people American Calvinist and Reformed Christians Calvin University faculty Christian scholars Writers about religion and science American critics of creationism Former theistic evolutionists Religious naturalists