Category Archives: Science and Faith Theory

Biotheology: ethics and biotechnology

By Brian Edgar | Published: May 22, 2010

By Brian Edgar

The term ‘bioethics’ is usually construed too narrowly (as bio-medical ethics relating to the person) rather than as a parallel to the wide range of issues covered by biotechnology (including gene manipulation, nanotechnology, biodiversity, ecology, biopharming , reproductive medicine and stem cell research etc), and there is a tendency to overlook the significance of the overall connectedness of human, animal and plant life.

Therefore what is required is a new field of biotheology to go alongside the more traditional sub-disciplines of systematic theology such as theological anthropology (doctrine of humanity), Christology, pneumatology, ecclesiology etc. Read More »

Also posted in Biotheology Theory | Comments closed

Climate Change: problem or opportunity?

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 21, 2010

By Brian Edgar and Mick Pope

Climate change is just one of the many issues which ought to be of interest to Christians. But climate change is also different to most of the others because of the way in which it draws together so many different dimensions of life.

  • This is not merely a scientific issue, it is also a social one.
  • It is not only an ethical issue, but also a deeply theological one.
  • In fact, it is a global, political, ethical, philosophical, theological, social, environmental, spiritual and eschatological issue! Read More »
Also posted in Climate Change | Comments closed

Calvin and Science

By Brian Edgar | Published: April 6, 2010

By Brian Edgar

The year 1543 was a momentous one. Not only did Nicolaus Copernicus publish De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of Celestial Bodies), his astronomical masterpiece which offered a heliocentric alternative to Ptolemy’s geocentric system but Andreas Vesalius published his equally groundbreaking work in biology – De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Structure of the Human Body). And as if that was not enough John Calvin published his own explicit call for an intellectual reformation in theology in his tract The Necessity of Reforming the Church, a tract that would be used for centuries to focus attention on the practical implications of the reformation doctrines of the gospel for the life of the church. Read More »

Posted in Science and Faith Theory | Comments closed

The human person according to Paul

By Brian Edgar | Published: March 28, 2010

By Brian Edgar

What exactly is meant when there is talk of a person being made up of ‘body and soul’? Are there two parts to a person? Can they exist separately?  Does the soul live on after the death of the body?  Discussions of the Biblical understanding of the person inevitably lead to the question as to whether the person is best understood  as unified whole (monism)  or as a integrated dualism of body and soul/spirit. Read More »

Also posted in Purpose and Destiny, Theology of the Person | Comments closed

Intelligent Design in schools?

By Brian Edgar | Published: March 25, 2010

By Brian Edgar

There was, a little while ago, a very public debate about whether the teaching of Intelligent Design should be banned in Australian schools. There are strong advocates for doing this it and the suggestion inevitably produces tensions. The situation in Australia, however, is not as heated as in the USA, partly because the processes by which curricula are established are different, and this tends to reduce the level of tension. Nonetheless, it remains a controversial issue.

Unfortunately, I reckon there is, in Australia, a general lack of theological understanding about what intelligent design actually is and what it achieves Read More »

Also posted in Purpose and Destiny | Comments closed