Trouble in Paradise - One Christian Denomination’s Contemporary Struggle Reconciling Science and Belief

"Proposed amendments to Seventh-day Adventist Fundamental Belief No. 6 represent an attempt to define acceptable Adventist understandings of creation more tightly and to exclude alternative viewpoints in a creedal fashion. In particular, there appears to be an attempt to exclude anything but a young age for life. One question which may be asked is whether the proposed amendments are in fact sufficient to exclude unwanted views, since there are models which allow for a creation week consisting of seven consecutive, contiguous, literal, twenty-four days, yet which accommodate current scientific understandings in ways recent creationism finds uncomfortable. While group identity is important, a focus on the formulation of tighter belief statements as a means of defining heretics will do little to bring resolution. Such documents can all too easily become primarily instruments of power and exclusion. They indicate a shift in focus from the core of a community’s identity to its borders and that is no advance. Listening to one another may not always bring unanimity of opinion but it should both foster respect and facilitate a deeper and more productive unity than mere uniformity could ever bring."

Availability:
Free
Publication Date:
2015
Author:
H Ross Cole
Publisher:
Avondale Academic Press
PO Box 19
Cooranbong, NSW  2265

Phone: 61 2 4980 2233
FAX: 61 2 4980 2118
Email: robert.mciver@avondale.edu.au
URL: http://www.avondale.edu.au/research/avondale-academic-press/
Order Information:
Christian Spirituality and Science, Vol 10, Issue 1
Subjects:
Language:
English
Resource Type:
Internet Resources; Published Articles & Papers
Resource Objective:
Development & Training
Level:
Tertiary
Audience:
Teacher / Faculty, Student / Learner
Religious Origin:
Seventh-day Adventist