God in Nature: A Critical Examination of John’s Haught’s ‘Confir... - Ning Xu - SRF Online June 2024 скачать в хорошем качестве

God in Nature: A Critical Examination of John’s Haught’s ‘Confir... - Ning Xu - SRF Online June 2024

God in Nature: A Critical Examination of John’s Haught’s ‘Confirmation’ Approach to A Theology of Evolution Ning Xu; University of Oxford ABSTRACT: In this paper, I shall examine John Haught’s theology of evolution in light of his ‘confirmation’ approach to science and Christian theology. Tracing the rationale behind Haught’s thinking, I ask whether ‘the idea of God as revealed in Christ’ has ‘illuminate[d] the story of life without contradicting…the scientific information pertaining to evolution’ (Haught, 2006). At the heart of John Haught’s ‘confirmation’ approach to a theology of evolution lies a profound understanding of an intrinsic correlation between evolutionary science and Christian theology. For Haught, theology, when shaped by a ‘confirmation’ approach to evolution, offers a rigorous and coherent framework through which Darwinian thought may be illuminated. In attempting to penetrate into the depths of reality, does Haught’s ‘confirmation’ approach facilitate a greater understanding of evolution in light of Christian theology, or does it risk compromising the integrity of both, by conflating the two as one metaphysical narrative? Anchored by this question, I shall argue that by highlighting the ontological compatibility between evolutionary science and theology, Haught’s ‘confirmation’ approach reframes the interdisciplinary dialogue from one of ‘proof’ to ‘resonance’, and unveils the satisfactory degree of explanatory capacity of theology in both correlating with and accounting for evolution. In tracing Haught’s engagement with evolutionary materialism, I shall examine his ‘confirmation’ approach in dialogue with the notion of ‘inference to the best explanation’, before turning to the idea of a renewed ‘theology of nature’ under which his approach may be further developed. Recorded at 'Peacocke @ 100 - Continuous & Cocreation: Emergence in Scientific Age' an online conference from the Science and Religion Forum - 13th - 14th June 2024 Find out more about The Science and Religion Forum and register for future conferences at https://www.srforum.org/