Today’s question: “How does creation and evolution work together? I believe in science but I love the creation story.”

I love science and the creation story, too! You’re playing to my strengths. First let’s define a term. Evolution is the theory that things change over time. That’s not a definition, that’s THE definition. If you see that things change over time, then you “believe” in evolution. What is in dispute is how things change over time and what method and how long.

There is change in the creation stories of Genesis 1 & 2. God creates different things on different days. Things appear in an order and that order is pretty close to how we understand biological evolution: water, then land, then plants, then fish in the sea, then animals on the land.

People really don’t like when biologists point out that humans are animals. We like to trick ourselves and think ourselves completely apart. Yet in Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let us create humanity in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and birds in the sky…” etc. Who was God talking to? Some theologians say it was the other parts of the Trinity. Others say the angels. Yet my favorite answer comes from the rabbis in the 1100s. God is talking to the animals. God is saying, “You, animals, create the body, and I will supply the mind.” I think that’s so cool.

We are on this earth. We were created here in it, we come from it, this is our home. We are perfectly adapted to the various climates that we live in. There is no divide between science and religion for me. Both are beautiful stories which try to explain how we got here. Other writes have done a way better job and if you’re the reading time, here are a few books:
Saving Darwin and Seven Glorious Days, both by Karl Giberson who is an amazing writer and human being.
Thank God for Evolution by Michael Dowd, a UCC pastor and scientist.
Ask the Beasts by Elizabeth Johnson, a renowned Catholic theologian and the distinguished Professor of Theology at Fordham University.

If you would like to meet and talk more, I can go for days on this topic! I set up a whole lecture series on the intersection of science and religion, so this is sort of a pet project of mine. Great question!