BioLogos
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
BioLogos is a term for Theistic Evolution suggested by Francis Collins in his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief (July 2006).
Bios is the Greek word for "life". Logos is Greek for "word," with a broader meaning in Heracleitean Philosophy and Stoicism--namely the rational principle ordering the universe. In Christian theology, "Word" refers to Christ in this role, as the creative agent for all that exists. This application is especially elucidated the first section of the gospel of John, forming part the textual basis for Christian belief in the Trinity. It is an alternative title to God the Son for the second person of the trinity.
"BioLogos" expresses the belief that God is the source of all life and that life expresses the will of God. It represents a fresh new term for,theistic evolution,a potentially confusing term for the position held by many serious biologists who are also believers. Biologos represents the view of many scholarly believers that science and faith can co-exist in harmony.
BioLogos rests on the following premises:
- The universe came into being out of nothingness, by the hand of God, approximately 14 billion years ago.
- Despite massive improbabilities, the properties of the universe appear to have been precisely tuned for life.
- While the precise mechanism of the origin of life on earth remains unknown, once life arose, the process of evolution and natural selection permitted the development of biological diversity and complexity over very long periods of time.
- Once evolution got under way no special supernatural intervention was required.
- Humans are part of this process, sharing a common ancestor with the great apes.
- But humans are also unique in ways that defy evolutionary explanation and point to our spiritual nature. This includes the existence of the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the search for God that characterizes all human cultures throughout history.
