The misuse of scientific concepts within theology causes me exceptional annoyance. After all, before I suddenly switched to theology, I had intended to pursue a doctorate in physics. To be clear, this unfulfilled aspiration does not provide me with any noteworthy credentials. I cannot pretend to have the scientific expertise of, for example, the man…
Category: Theology
Know Your Pagans
Ancient pagans had no shortage of gods. In the first century, Varro categorized the Roman gods into three groups: the “certain,” the “uncertain,” and the “chosen.” The latter were the gods more specifically worshipped by Roman tradition. Yet Augustine mocks Varro’s categories with the fact that many of these so-called “chosen” gods performed such trifling…
Racism and Population Control
I’ve recently been reading Thomas Malthus’s 1798 first edition of The Principle of Population because of its significance for Charles Darwin, which I mention in my draft book on evolutionary theology, Evolution and Grace. Darwin was reluctant at first to apply natural selection to humans, but in fact it was Malthus’s teaching in regard to…