Abstract

EVANS, Annette. Interpreting the Bible for children in coherence with evolution. Old testam. essays [online]. 2013, vol.26, n.2, pp.315-333. ISSN 2312-3621.

Children need both science and religion, but to avoid cognitive dissonance, the propositions of religion and science, if they are true in general, should "fit together" - they must cohere. The traditional understanding of God's activity in the world must now be reconsidered because the scientifically established mechanisms of evolutionary change have been shown to be determined by random mutation and natural selection. Christians have to accept the challenge of troublesome reorientations of understanding. Either some of the basic source material of Christianity must be reinterpreted, or scientific advances are to be rejected. Fundamentalists choose to follow the latter course, but the premise of this article is that the relation between science and religion should be one that establishes the compatibility (but not the reducibility) of one to the other. We urgently need to find new ways to convey our bible-based faith to young children. In approaching the interdisciplinary challenge, epistemological differences between science and religion are considered. Re-thinking Christianity is not a betrayal of unchanging truth. Christians need not identify with Creationism or Intelligent Design in order to see the magnificent achievements of modern science as a manifestation of the glory of creation rather than as a threat to faith.

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