- Christopher Southgate, The Groaning of Creation: God, Evolution, and the
Problem of Evil (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008). - Amos Yong, Renewal of Christian Theology , 266.
- Here I am gratefully indebted to the fi ne study by Thomas Jay Oord, The
Nature of Love: A Theology (Danvers, MA: Chalice Press, 2010). This part
of my paper refl ects my attempts to put into words years of thinking about
life as a biologist and life as a Christian very soon after reading Oord’s
important book. It’s not overstating things to say that book was an inspira-
tion. I’ve come to see theology and biology as two complimentary ways to
study life—two ways that are absolutely essential to a reasonable celebra-
tion of our creator’s work and his purpose. Oord has recently greatly
expanded his thesis in a fi ne study on providence and theodicy ( The
Uncontrolling Love of God: An Open and Relational Account of Providence
[Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015]). - John Polkinghorne, Testing Scripture: A Scientist Explores the Bible (Grand
Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2010). - James K.A. Smith and Amos Yong, eds., Science and the Spirit: A Pentecostal
Engagement with Science (Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana
University Press, 2010). - Yong, Spirit of Creation.
- A very helpful and hopeful move in this direction is the recent pilot col-
laboration among ten seminaries and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS), publisher of the world renowned journal
Science and premier supporter of science at many levels in the USA. The
seminaries initially involved represent a wide range of traditions, and
include Regent University School of Divinity. This is exactly the kind of
collaboration needed if we are to see much improved progress on the
faith/science front in this still young century. - Hervé M. Blottière, et al., “Human intestinal metagenomics: state of the
art and future,” in Microbiology 16 (2013): 232–239. - Robert Dunn, The Wild Life of Our Bodies: Predators, Parasites and Partners
That Shape Who We Are Today (New York: Harper Collins, 2011). - For a recent popular summary of how communication and cooperation
may well have played pivotal roles in making Homo sapiens so different
from our closest relatives see “ The It Factor ” in Scientifi c American’s
Special Evolution Issue, September 2014. The author, Gary Stix, summa-
rizes some of the work of Michael Tomasello and his colleagues centered
on the idea of “shared intentionality.” In fact, this entire special issue shows
how recent thinking in the fi eld of human evolution considers cooperation
to be more important than competition in making us who we are.
314 B. K. (BEV) MITCHELL