Editing Theistic evolution (section)

==Definition==
[[Francis Collins]] describes theistic evolution as the position that "evolution is real, but that it was set in motion by God",<ref name=collins-def>{{cite journal|doi= 10.1038/442110a|pmid= 16837980|title= Building bridges|year= 2006|journal= Nature|volume= 442|issue= 7099|page= 110|bibcode= 2006Natur.442Q.110.|doi-access= free}}</ref> and characterizes it as accepting "that evolution occurred as biologists describe it, but under the direction of God".<ref>Stipe, Claude E., "Scientific Creationism and Evangelical Christianity", ''American Anthropologist'', New Series, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Mar., 1985), p. 149, Wiley on behalf of the American Anthropological Association, {{jstor|677678}}</ref> He lists six general premises on which different versions of theistic evolution typically rest. They include:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Collins |first1=Francis S. |title=The Language of God |url=https://archive.org/details/languageofgod00fran |url-access=registration |date=2007 |publisher=Free Press |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/languageofgod00fran/page/200 200]|isbn=9781416542742 }}</ref>
# The [[Big Bang|prevailing cosmological model]], with the universe coming into being [[age of the universe|about 13.8 billion years ago]];
# The [[fine-tuned universe]];
# [[Evolution]] and [[natural selection]];
# No special supernatural intervention is involved once evolution got under way;
# Humans are a result of these evolutionary processes; and
# Despite all these, humans are unique. The concern for the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the continuous search for God among all human cultures defy evolutionary explanations and point to our spiritual nature.

The executive director of the [[National Center for Science Education]] in the United States of America, [[Eugenie Scott]], has used the term to refer to the part of the overall spectrum of beliefs about creation and evolution holding the [[theology|theological]] view that God creates through evolution. It covers a wide range of beliefs about the extent of any intervention by God, with some approaching [[deism]] in rejecting the concepts of continued intervention or [[special creation]], while others believe that God has directly intervened at crucial points such as the origin of [[human]]s.

In the [[Evolution and the Catholic Church|Catholic version of theistic evolution]], [[human evolution]] may have occurred, but God must [[Creationism (soul)|create the human soul]],<ref name="NCSE Continuum 2022" /> and the creation story in the book of Genesis should be read metaphorically.<ref>Pope John Paul II, 3 October 1981 to the Pontifical Academy of Science, [http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2COSM.HTM "Cosmology and Fundamental Physics"]</ref><ref>{{cite web|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050312083948/http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/cols/religion_science_collaboration.htm |title = An Open Letter Concerning Religion and Science|archive-date = 12 March 2005|publisher = University of Wisconsin Oshkosh|url = http://www.uwosh.edu/colleges/cols/religion_science_collaboration.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite book  | last=Glover | first=Gordon J. | year=2007 | title=Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation | location= Chesapeake, VA| publisher=Watertree | isbn=978-0-9787186-1-9 }}</ref>

Some [[Muslims]] believe that only humans were exceptions to [[common ancestry]] (human exceptionalism),<ref name="Hameed">{{cite news |last=Hameed |first=Salman |date=11 January 2013 |title=Muslim thought on evolution takes a step forward |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/jan/11/muslim-thought-on-evolution-debate |access-date=25 January 2013 |newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> while some give an allegorical reading of [[Adam in Islam|Adam]]'s creation (Non-exceptionalism).<ref>{{Cite news |title=Darwin'den 1000 yıl önce evrim fikrini ortaya atan Müslüman: Basralı El Cahiz |url=https://www.bbc.com/turkce/haberler-dunya-47414410 |access-date=2021-05-06 |work=BBC News Türkçe |language=tr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title='Darwin, evrimi Müslümanlar'dan çaldı' |url=https://t24.com.tr/haber/darwin-evrimi-muslumanlardan-caldi,34220 |access-date=2021-05-06 |website=T24 |language=Turkish}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Taslaman |first=Caner |title=Bir Müslüman Evrimci Olabilir Mi? |publisher=Destek Yayınları |year=2017 |isbn=9786053112082}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2015-12-23 |title=The Evolution Series Episode 1 |url=http://www.adnanibrahim.net/the-evolution-series-episode-1/ |access-date=2021-05-06 |website=الدكتور عدنان إبراهيم Dr Adnan Ibrahim |language=ar}}</ref> Some Muslims believe that only Adam and Hawa (Eve) were special creations and they alongside their earliest descendants were exceptions to common ancestry, but the later descendants (including modern humans) share common ancestry with the rest of life on Earth because there were ''human-like'' beings on Earth before Adam's arrival who came through evolution. This belief is known as "Adamic exceptionalism".<ref name=":13"/>

When evolutionary science developed, so did different types of theistic evolution. Creationists [[Henry M. Morris]] and [[John D. Morris]] have listed different terms which were used to describe different positions from the 1890s to the 1920s: "''[[Orthogenesis]]"'' (goal-directed evolution), ''"[[Lev Berg#Nomogenesis|nomogenesis]]"'' (evolution according to fixed law), ''"[[emergent evolution]]"'', ''"[[Creative Evolution (book)|creative evolution]]"'', and others.<ref>''The Modern Creation Trilogy'' (1998), New Leaf Publishing Group, p. 36</ref>

The Jesuit paleontologist [[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin]] (1881–1955) was an influential proponent of God-directed evolution or "orthogenesis", in which man will eventually evolve to the "[[omega point]]" of union with the Creator.

=== Alternative terms ===
Others see "evolutionary creation"<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/evolutionary_creation.pdf|title=Evolutionary Creation: Moving Beyond the Evolution vs Creation Debate|first = Denis O.|last = Lamoureux|via=ualberta.ca|journal =Christian Higher Education|volume= 9|pages=28–48|doi = 10.1080/15363750903018231|s2cid=17953449}}</ref> (EC, also referred to by some observers as "evolutionary creationism") as the belief that God, as Creator, uses evolution to bring about his plan. [[Eugenie Scott]] states in ''Evolution Vs. Creationism'' that it is a type of evolution rather than creationism, despite its name. "From a scientific point of view, evolutionary creationism is hardly distinguishable from Theistic Evolution ... [the differences] lie not in science but in theology."<ref name="Scott 2009 p. 69">{{cite book | last=Scott | first=E.C. | title=Evolution Vs. Creationism: An Introduction | publisher=University of California Press | series=ISSR library | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-520-26187-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FAAlDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA69 | language=it | access-date=2 August 2022 | page=69}}</ref> Those who hold to evolutionary creationism argue that God is involved to a greater extent than the theistic evolutionist believes.<ref name="Scott2018">{{cite web |author=Eugenie Scott |author-link=Eugenie Scott |date=13 February 2018 |title=The Creation/Evolution Continuum |url=https://ncse.com/library-resource/creationevolution-continuum |access-date=3 May 2019 |website=[[National Center for Science Education|NCSE]]}}</ref>

Canadian biologist [[Denis Lamoureux]] published a 2003 article and a 2008 theological book, both aimed at Christians who do not believe in evolution (including young Earth creationists), and at those looking to reconcile their Christian faith with evolutionary science. His main argument was that Genesis presents the "science and history of the day" as "incidental vessels" to convey spiritual truths. 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. He also distanced his beliefs from the deistic or more liberal beliefs included in theistic evolution. He also argued that although referring to the same view, the word arrangement in the term "theistic evolution" places "the process of evolution as the primary term, and makes the Creator secondary as merely a qualifying adjective".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://biologos.org/uploads/projects/Lamoureux_Scholarly_Essay.pdf|title=Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution|author=Denis O. Lamoureux|year=2003|publisher=University of Alberta|quote=The most important word in the term evolutionary creation is the noun "creation". These Christian evolutionists are first and foremost thoroughly committed and unapologetic creationists. They believe that the world is a creation that is absolutely dependent for every instant of its existence on the will and grace of the Creator. The qualifying word in this category is the adjective "evolutionary", indicating simply the method through which the Lord made the cosmos and living organisms. This view of origins is often referred to as "theistic evolution". However, such a word arrangement places the process of evolution as the primary term, and makes the Creator secondary as merely a qualifying adjective.|access-date=25 April 2012}}</ref>

Divine intervention is seen at critical intervals in history in a way consistent with scientific explanations of [[speciation]], with similarities to the ideas of [[progressive creationism]] that God created "kinds" of animals sequentially.<ref name="NCSE Continuum 2022" /><ref>see also {{harvp|Scott|1997|p=271}} for another definition</ref>

Regarding the embracing of Darwinian evolution, historian [[Ronald Numbers]] describes the position of the late 19th-century geologist [[George Frederick Wright]] as "Christian Darwinism".<ref>
Compare: {{harvnb
|Numbers
|1993
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=aDmZ5_iUixgC
|page= 36
|quote= "The reasons for [George Frederick] Wright's transformation from Christian Darwinist to fundamentalist can only be surmised."
}}
</ref>

[[Jacob Klapwijk]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Klapwijk |first=Jacob |title=Nothing in Evolutionary Theory Makes Sense Except in the Light of Creation |author-link=Jacob Klapwijk |date=2012 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24710031 |journal=[[Philosophia Reformata]] |volume=77 |issue=1 |pages=57–77 |doi=10.1163/22116117-90000522 |jstor=24710031 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805122206/https://jacobklapwijk.nl/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Nothing-in-evolution-theory.pdf |archive-date=5 August 2021|quote=The theory of evolution only makes sense in the light of creation, for creation is a force that drives all of temporal history [...]The short summary [of 'theistic evolution'] often is: God creates through evolution.[...]Thus I see "Creation through evolution" as a groundless statement. First of all, it contradicts the Biblical witness in Genesis of a completed creation.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and [[Howard J. Van Till#Creation and evolution|Howard J. Van Till]]<ref>[[Ronald L. Numbers]]. ''Darwinism comes to America''. [[Harvard University Press]], 1998. ISBN 0-674-19312-1 pp.12,57,163</ref> have, while accepting both theistic creation and evolution, rejected the term "theistic evolution".

In 2006, American [[geneticist]] and Director of the [[National Institute of Health]], [[Francis Collins]], published ''[[The Language of God]]''. He stated that faith and science are compatible and suggested the word "BioLogos" (Word of Life) to describe theistic evolution. Collins later laid out the idea that God created all things, but that evolution is the best scientific explanation for the diversity of all life on Earth. The name [[BioLogos]] instead became the name of the organization Collins founded years later. This organization now prefers the term "evolutionary creation" to describe their take on theistic evolution.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://biologos.org/common-questions/what-is-evolutionary-creation
|website=BioLogos |title=What is Evolutionary Creation?
|date=February 6, 2024}}</ref>