You are not logged in.
This thread is for the examining of Michael Dowd's book, <b><i>Thank God for Evolution</i></b>.
Offline
<b><font color="ff0000">First impressions.</font></b><ol><li>Michael Dowd's <a href="http://thankgodforevolution.com/" target="_blank">promotional website</a> is impressive; as are the list of accomplished people (Nobel laureates, etc.) who praise his work. <LI>He enthusiastically promises everyone that his book will help them. <LI>The first 75 pages of his book are available for downloading free <a href="http://thankgodforevolution.com/pdfdownloadform" target="_blank">at his website</a>. <LI>He seems to think "in reverse" using common religious terms to speak of evolution. This has a disarming effect. People not wanting their religion denounced will find no such way of talking from Dowd. He knows how to speak religiously even about evolution.<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>The scientific history of cosmos, Earth, life, and humanity is our shared sacred story - our common creation myth. It is an epic tale that reaches back billions of years and crowns each and every one of us as heir to a magnificient and proud lineage...<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote> <LI>Dowd has developed a religious context in order to explain why evolution is such a wonderful story and so helpful to humanity. <LI>Rather than religion merely assenting to evolution, he shows how religion can enthusiatically embrace evolution.</li></ol><img src="http://www.atomorrow.net/discus/messages/16/2149.jpg" alt=""> <BR><font color="ffffff"><font size="-2">.</font></font>
Offline
<img src="http://www.atomorrow.net/discus/messages/16/2152.jpg" alt="">
Offline
<b><font color="ff0000">Religious Background</font></b> <BR> <BR>Michael Dowd was a fundamentalist Christian with an anti-evolution background. He was shocked to discover that the evangelical colleges he attended taught evolution. Here is part of his story:<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1><b>quote:</b></font><p>Although I learned to accept evolution at Evangel, I did so only with my mind—not my heart. That final shift happened suddenly, in February 1988. I was in Boston for the first session of a course titled “The New Catholic Mysticism,” taught by cultural therapist Albert LaChance. Albert began by telling the scientific story of the Universe in a way that I had never heard it told before—as a sacred epic. <BR> <BR>Less than an hour into the evening, I began to weep. I knew I would spend the rest of my life sharing this perspective as great news. My evangelizing began shortly thereafter as an avocation wedged into the rest of my life. Even so, virtually everything I’ve preached and written since that epiphany has been in service of a religiously inspiring understanding of evolution, such that others, too, might experience our common creation story as gospel and be inspired to love and serve accordingly. <BR> <BR>By no longer opposing evolution, but wholeheartedly embracing it as the “Great Story” of 14 billion years of divine grace and creativity, I now have a more intimate relationship with God than ever before. <BR> <BR>Throughout this book, I will be sharing how and why this is the case, and I will do so in ways that non-Christians and nonreligious people can also celebrate. <BR> <BR>Over the course of ten years, I pastored three United Church of Christ congregations—one in New England and two in the Midwest—before shifting careers into interfaith sustainability work and community organizing. <BR> <BR>In the spring of 2000, I attended a Pentecostal/Charismatic worship service near my childhood home of Poughkeepsie, New York. I’ve always loved the energy and enthusiasm of “Spirit-filled” worship. At a moment when the congregation was swept up in ecstatic praise, the woman who had invited me turned and grasped my hands. <BR> <BR>“I have a word from God for you,” she declared. “Great!” I replied. She continued, “Thus sayeth the Lord, ‘My son, I have called thee home to reveal thy true mission. Step out boldly with thy beloved and fear not. For I will bless thy steps and thy ministry more abundantly than thou canst imagine.’” (pages 2 and 3)<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>He reports that Catholicism, Pentecostalism and Evolutionary thinking all played a role in shaping his current "evangelistic" preaching about evolution as "The Great Story". For the "ultra-conservative" Adventist, his reported experiences would probably set off alarm bells. He learned his message from a Catholic mystic and received a "prophetic" message and endorsement from a "Spirit-filled" charismatic Pentecostal. <BR> <BR>(Message edited by Don on October 29, 2009)
Offline
Thanks, Don, for a very accurate (though very preliminary) representation of Dowd's ideas. <BR> <BR>Note that Dowd was too an "ultra-conservative" Christian to start with. Should his experiences set off those alarm bells? I guess you are suggesting that an ultra-conservative Adventist cannot conceive that God may speak to anyone else except E G White? Mystic experiences happen in all religions and denominations, and have a lot in common, they also are not usually linked to "prophecy". They also don't (at least normally) go against the Bible. St Francis of Assisi was a Catholic mystic too, do you think ultra-conservative Adventist should not respect him? <BR> <BR>Perhps it will whet your appetite (perhaps the opposite), but in his book Dowd presents a spiritual exercise involving "speaking in tongues" that even an atheist can practise. But obviously this is not the main point of his book!
Offline
<b><font color="0000ff">I guess you are suggesting that an ultra-conservative Adventist cannot conceive that God may speak to anyone else except E G White?</font></b> <BR> <BR>No. I was thinking of how Adventists interpret the unholy trinity of the book of Revelation; i.e. The dragon, the beast and the false prophet. (I think those are the three.) Many ultra Adventists consider "speaking in tongues" of the devil. They predict that neo-pentecostalism, catholicism and spiritualism will form a confederacy to oppress dissenters. Dowd tells of his friend, under the influence of the Pentecostal "spirit", encouraging him to present his "Gospel" of evolution's grand story. Ultra Adventists would focus on this and its "obvious" source. <BR> <BR><b><font color="0000ff">St Francis of Assisi was a Catholic mystic too, do you think ultra-conservative Adventist should not respect him?</font></b> <BR> <BR>Strangely, many Adventists have a high regard for St. Francis. I do, too. Maybe it is because he was a bird-watcher. <IMG SRC="http://www.atomorrow.net/discus/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=0> <BR><font color="ffffff"><font size="-2">.</font></font>
Offline
I also think that the great mystics are not dogmatics - they generally live God-filled lives, and their experiences are hard to translate into human language. This makes it easier for even totally different religious traditions to respect the same mystics.
Offline