Some quotations:

"We should not be surprised at Natural Theology's capacity to adapt"

"Natural selection cannot not occur"

"Evolution is the basis for all biological understanding"

"Self awareness is a blessing and a curse"

"Eden is an evolutionary impossibility"

"Divine determinacy at the quantum level is gap theology"

In a year full of Darwiniana, the Forum conference had to take a somewhat eccentric perspective on the subject, and "bringing Darwinism up to date" seems to have been a successful approach. The lecturers led us through the impact of evolutionary theory on biology, on natural theology, and on the expressions of Christian faith in the 150 years since the Origin of Species. Two contemporary attempts to relate religious belief to natural selection were also analysed: Intelligent Design theory and a highly original approach to trinitarian incarnation. Eighty-five participants enjoyed the intellectual feast, the fine hospitality of Wesley House and Westcott House in Cambridge, and excellent late summer weather.

In his lecture "Biology since Darwin", Professor Sam Berry revealed the varying fortunes of natural selection in five fluctuating periods since 1859, leading eventually to the Neo-Darwinian synthesis of the 1920s-1940s and the genetic discoveries continuing to the present-day. Of particular interest were the discoveries of gene combinations which had shown that objections to the potential benefits of mutations were unfounded. The total randomness proposed by Jacques Monod, the modified randomness of Stephen J. Gould and the directionality of Simon Conway Morris were also compared. Professor Berry introduced the concept of homo divinus, a supposed palaeolithic group or individual physically descended from the ape-homo line but taken into a new relationship with God and providing the basis for the biblical Adam. Celia Deane-Drummond, respondent to Professor Berry, did not approve of homo divinus, and Mike Poole suggested that the concept of spiritual development would be more acceptable if expressed in the form of emergence.

The public Gowland Lecture by Professor David Fergusson also used a five-part structure, in this case five variants of Natural Theology, from a strongly theistic form aiming to establish consistency between revelation and truths known to reason, through gradually weakening forms to the weakest form of Professor Fergusson's taxonomy, an alignment of belief with the results of other disciplines. The main impacts of natural selection on theology were perceived to be the apparent remoteness of God as scientific explanations were increasingly productive, the emphasis on chance, the problem of evil emphasised by the amount of waste and suffering in nature, and human insignificance. Professor Fergusson considered that the weaker forms of natural theology were the most appropriate in the present circumstances, but for this he was criticised by his primary respondent Professor Sarah Coakley who appealed robustly for a return to aspects of some at least of the higher categories.

The Forum's President, Professor John Brooke, spoke on "Christian Darwinians". In his customary way, Professor Brooke eschewed any simplification or categorisation of history - his message was that it had never been impossible to reconcile Christianity and Darwinism, but the variety of ways in which this was done shows how divisive Darwin was. One of Darwin's lesser known goals was to diminish divine responsibility for those parts of nature deemed unattractive or evil to human perception. Professor Brooke's account of the variety of Christian reactions to natural selection was extended by his respondent David Knight, who introduced the conference to parson naturalists, Christian agnostics and pillars of the establishment.

A clear and thorough "Critique Of Intelligent Design" was proposed by Dr Denis Alexander who argued that the statistical basis of recent ID arguments was unfounded and that gaps in current scientific explanations should not be treated as the locus of divine activity. This was a familiar critique, but offered with great lucidity and an up-to-date knowledge of the ID movement. Dr Alexander's own guess was that the movement would wither away in due course for lack of scientific support. His respondent Sjoerd Bonting agreed that scientific explanation should be accepted where it was available, but suggested that God intervenes to prevent the process from going off the rails. But where the rails ought to be, or where they were leading, or how serious a derailment was sufficient for divine intervention, were not explained.

Brains were stimulated in a totally new direction by the "New Theology of Evolution" offered by Dr Christopher Southgate and Dr Andrew Robinson. Using semiotic concepts derived from the philosophy of C.S. Peirce, and mathematical modelling demonstrating the benefits to an entity of interpreting its environment, they argued that processes within living things could be seen as ‘vestiges of the Trinity' (a concept that goes back to Augustine). They also showed how their project, sponsored by the ‘STARS' initiative, had led to novel predictions both in origin of life research and in human evolution. It was of particular interest that the latter predictions had come out of theological reflection on human being, so that theology was helping to shape scientific inquiry (so much of the work the Forum exists to share moves only in the opposite direction).

In his final presentation as the Forum's retiring Chair, Professor Neil Spurway summarised the conference, far more effectively and entertainingly than this brief report can achieve. Three short papers by conference participants added to the richness of the Forum's exploration of Darwinian themes. One of these papers discussed Darwin's seven-fold contribution to theology. The persistence of theological debate about natural selection during 150 years serves to emphasise the value of Darwin's original publication and the amazing longevity of his contribution to scientific research and to other areas of human learning.

Peter Colyer, supplemented by the Editor
September 2009