Activities per year
Abstract
I explore an intriguing area that has crept under the radar of today’s science-and-theology conversation, namely scientific studies of the big miracle and catastrophe stories of the Bible (e.g. Noah’s flood, or the plagues of Egypt). These studies have proposed naturalistic explanations for some of the most spectacular and unlikely of the biblical miracles. While the scientists believe their naturalistic interpretations represent a major advance in understanding the stories, professional biblical scholars show little interest, or are openly disdainful. I will point out the striking parallels with the foundational ‘catastrophism-uniformitarianism’ controversy in nineteenth-century geology, and will suggest that the debate also takes us towards a novel kind of natural theology when we consider the biblical miracle and catastrophe texts. Here, the spectacular scientific explanations do not deny the miraculous character of the biblical stories so much as provide a uniquely modern purchase on their transcendent quality.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1036-1050 |
Journal | Zygon |
Volume | 53 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 21 Nov 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 30 Dec 2018 |
Keywords
- Miracle
- catastrophe
- Exodus
- apocalypse
- naturalistic explanation
- biblical studies
- uniformitarianism
- catastrophism
- hermeneutics
Fingerprint
Dive into the research topics of 'Apocalypses now: Modern science and biblical miracles. The Boyle Lecture 2018'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Activities
- 1 Public Engagement – Public lecture/debate/seminar
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The Boyle Lecture
Mark Harris (Invited speaker)
7 Feb 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Public Engagement – Public lecture/debate/seminar
Profiles
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Mark Harris
- School of Divinity - Personal Chair of Natural Science and Theology
Person: Academic: Research Active