1/9. This thread builds on the last one & looks at a recurring motif I have noticed. I've been thinking about the creation-evolution debate for 40 yrs & only lately have thot of this insight (slow learner!). Any adequate doc. of creation will consist of a mix of prov. & miracle.
2/9. In Ch. 2 of 'Interpreting Scripture', I argued that inspiration is a mix of miracle & providence. God wks thro the human capacities of the biblical writers (Luke interviewing eye-witnesses), but also gives miraculous visions & words that come miraculously (Moses on Sinai).
3/9. I also argued that prov. & miracle are both actions of God & the only diff. is that one is usual & the other unusual. But God is always at work in his creation & always present to it. Miracles are not sudden & arbitrary intrusions into a self-suff. cosmos as Deists think.
4/9. The biblical writers see prov. (Ps. 104)as God's work every bit as much as his miraculous deeds in Israel's history (Ps. 105). So should we. The temptation we face today is to 'naturalize' creation by eliminating miracle from our description of it. But we must not do this.
5/9. The most slippery, ill-defined phrase in theol. may be "theistic evolution." What does it mean? Who knows? Some seem to think it is naturalistic evol. with God hovering invisibly in the background somehow. Better to call this "Deistic evol." & reject it as practical atheism.
6/9. Even if we posit an old earth, there are at least 4 places where God acts miraculously: the initial creation out of nothing, the creation of life, the creation of man & woman, the curse. If these are explained w/o the category of miracle, we end up with Deistic evolution.
7/9. Young earth creation (YEC) & old-earth progressive creation (PC) both explain creation as a combination of miracle & prov. This is what is crucial; the details can be argued endlessly. But Deistic evolution must be rejected. There must be special creation of man & a fall.
8/9. I find that those committed to evol. often zealously work to eliminate all miracle from our acct. of creation. They are just as opposed to PC as to YEC. They want all prov. & no miracle. But an orthodox doc of creation necessarily will include both miracle & providence.
9/9. If this is true in inspiration/hermeneutics & also in creation/providence, is it possible that we will find this motif running all thro the loci? I think so. Sanctification springs to mind immediately, as do the sacraments. Theol. is coherent b/c it springs from revelation.
