Benedict on Darwin
This is all over the blogosphere and news media, of course, but here goes:
“The question is not to either make a decision for a creationism that fundamentally excludes science, or for an evolutionary theory that covers over its own gaps and does not want to see the questions that reach beyond the methodological possibilities of natural science.” - Pope Benedict, in his new book, Creation and Evolution
I haven’t been able to find lengthier excerpts online, like an introduction or a chapter. So I have to, for the time being, ask questions based on this quote and other scattered phrases:
- What “gaps” does evolutionary theory cover over?
- What questions reach beyond natural science?
- What “complete, scientifically proven theory” would Benedict hold up as a model for evolution?
- How does evolution demonstrate that “it’s scientific to think that everything is free of direction and order“? (italics added)
- To what extent does the biblical cosmology influence his understanding of science, given that in 2004 he accepted the date of the earth as 4 billion years old.
- Where is his criticism originating? Natural theology? Philosophy of science? Biblical interpretation? Papal infallibility?
These are the kinds of questions I’d like to see asked in news coverage of the Pope’s new publication, rather than lining up sides or arguing that he is seeking “another way” between evolution and creationism.
Image: AP by Pier Paolo Cito. Bernini’s Chair is a good example of the Catholic cosmology, wherein Christ gives the keys of heaven to Saint Peter, surrounded by angelic beings and the Doctors of the Church (Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Athanasius).