What my decade long foray into the creation-evolution debate taught me about the human condition (and how it applies today) – Part 2: How it all started

This is the second post in this series.  Here is a link to the first post (an overview of the series).

Integrating faith and learning

I really had not given any thought to any potential issues between Christian belief and evolutionary theory until I began my career as a biology professor at a Christian university in North Carolina.  I took the position because I was specifically looking for a way to blend my Christian belief within a profession, and I felt that taking a faculty position at a Christian university was a great way to do this.  There wasn’t a single event which got me interested in the creation-evolution debate - it was a series of events and experiences.  First, I began teaching a basic biology course, which included typical introductory-level coverage of evolutionary theory.  The textbook was a commonly used one at many universities, and it very briefly acknowledged there was some controversy concerning evolutionary theory.  I had many students with strong Christian faith, and were raised to see evolutionary theory as conflicting with their religious beliefs.  I had students visiting my office after class sessions on evolution, some inquiring about my personal thoughts on evolution, and others expressing concern, given the beliefs they were raised with.  

Coming into my second or third academic year, an invited speaker at an August faculty orientation presented on the integration of faith and learning, and challenged faculty to consider ways in which we could present our disciplinary content through the eyes of Christian faith.  This really resonated with me, and started me on a path of looking for opportunities to talk about issues in biology from a Christian perspective, rather than simply present scientific content.  Fortunately, there’s plenty of great content in biology to discuss within a Christian framework.  I developed a number of discussions addressing Christian views of genetic mutation and disease, human reproduction and sexuality, evolutionary biology, and environmental issues. My pursuit of integration of faith and learning was important to my understanding of the symbolic and spiritual understanding of the Tree of Life depicted in the Bible.

A conference and some courses

As a young faculty member, I sought out opportunities to learn from others, and ended up participating in two formative events which really got me started down the rabbit hole of the creation-evolution debate.  One was a conference for Christian biologists held by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities at Gordon College.  It turns out that this conference was focused on providing feedback to the author of the book Biology Through the Eyes of Faith, to help inform updates to the 2nd edition.  The book addressed several biological issues of interest to Christians.  It was also at this conference that I was introduced to Denis Lamoureux, who was in the process of developing a framework by which to harmonize God’s creative activity with what science knows about evolutionary processes.  

Prior to this conference, I really was not aware that there were so many professionally trained biologists, who were devoted and passionate followers of Jesus Christ, and who were seriously attempting to be faithful to spiritual truths and also knowledge informed by scientific research.  It was striking that we started each day of the conference with praise and worship, and a devotional, prior to the conference sessions.  I loved how the attenders, despite their different positions, engaged in civil and intelligent dialogue on the evolutionary history of humankind and the creation stories in the Book of Genesis.  Some preferred a real Adam and Eve as part of their knowledge framework, and some did not require it.  There was discussion of geological time, and a range of ideas to reconcile the worldwide flood described in Genesis, with what is known about Earth history through the study of geology.  There was discussion of the adaptive nature of genetic mutation as a mechanism of species diversification and survival, alongside the more complex issue of mutation as a cause of genetic diseases, while considering the concept of a loving God as creator of complex genetic systems.  This was a pivotal event in persuading me to pursue the integration of my Christian faith with science as a means of knowledge about the natural world. 

Not very long afterwards, I participated in a National Science Foundation funded Chautauqua short course for college teachers.  The Chautauqua program, "Creation, Evolution or Both? A Multiple Model Approach," was held in May 1997 at the University of Dayton, and was taught by Professor Craig E. Nelson of Indiana University.   Craig Nelson was a key figure in the establishment of ENSIWEB, a resource site for teachers related to teaching the nature of science and evolution.  This course covered a lot of territory, spanning theories of learning, approaches to fostering critical thinking, Multiple views on the relationship between science and religion, and navigating difficult evolutionary concepts in the classroom.  It was at this course I was introduced to William Perry’s scheme of intellectual development.  It made a lot of sense to me, as I definitely encountered many students (and non-students) who clearly favored dualism as an approach to knowledge.

 

      Derived from:  Perry, William G., Jr. (1970). Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. 

I followed this course, with another Chautauqua course in 1998 at Temple University (Changing Science Courses to Promote Critical Thinking) and again in 2000 at UT-Austin (Science in the New Millenium:  Summit of Truth or Slippery Slope?  Welcome to the Science Wars).

I think it’s obvious that dualism predominates many of the impassioned polarized voices we witness in American politics and society.  The idea of helping students move beyond dualism, understanding science as a way of knowing, and cultivating critical thinking was very appealing to me.  The nature of acquired knowledge requires one to address uncertainty, and most people are quite uncomfortable with uncertainty when desiring to know something.  The impact of uncertainty on human cognition and behavior is well studied.  Resolving uncertainty is a primary motive in peoples’ lives.  In doing so, people are prone to cognitive biases in processing information.  This can lead to premature conclusions, and poorly informed and poorly reasoned positions.  Perry’s scheme of intellectual development provided a means to reduce the insecurity of not knowing something with certainty, yet being able to commit to well-informed and well-reasoned positions.

Lessons on the nature of science and evolution

The sum of what I was exposed to over the first few years of my instructional experience and my professional development as a Christian professor of biology resulted in the inclusion of a multiple lecture module on the nature of science with emphasis on science as a way of knowing, and significantly expanded coverage of evolutionary theory, in the introductory college biology course I taught.  Every term, at the end of the course, quite a few students expressed excitement and interest in learning more about science and evolution, and would ask if there was another course covering the topics in greater depth.  At the time, there wasn’t.  That finally changed when I started offering an upper-level elective course entitled Creation, Evolution, or Both?  I offered the course 5 or 6 times between 2003 and 2013.

I loved teaching this course, and I loved the discussions we had in class.  It was exceedingly challenging to compile and deliver content - to help students navigate the intricacies of assigned professional-level readings in multiple sciences; to summarize findings; to synthesize take-aways.  It was a continual process of discovery - we’d make discoveries as we chased rabbit after rabbit to their point of origin.  While the course involved extensive reading, it only represented a small fraction of the information I compiled on the subject.  My approach was to come at the subject from a position of neutrality, while presenting current information from the most authoritative sources, and searching for “truth” without attempting to conform the truth to individual biases.  The students knew I was a committed Christian up front, although I know some students questioned my Christian belief, because I did not clearly come out against evolutionary theory.  I really couldn’t - I knew too much.  I saw too much uncertainty and complexity across the spectrum of creationist and evolutionist positions.  And ultimately, my goal was to assist students to become more comfortable with making commitments in the midst of uncertainty. I didn't want students relying on me (a perceived authority or expert - Perry's dualism position) for the "right" answer, and instead, I wanted them to witness my comfort with uncertain knowledge and know that it is ok to not have definitive answers for all questions.

Speaking of uncertainty and complexity, I learned a lot about how people respond to complex issues, and use simplicity to resolve matters involving uncertainty. This is the subject of the next post.