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UPDATE: “The Groaning of Creation” Chapter 7 – Part II
Should we interfere whenever an outbreak happens to an animal species that drives it to the point of extinction, or should we let Nature take its course and not interfere?
We have come to the end of Christopher Southgate’s book The Groaning of Creation. We will have one final meeting coming up to summarize our final thoughts of the book.
In this session we discuss the impact of human overpopulation and if humans should or ought to intervene when an animal species is on the brink of extinction.
Here are our essays.
Chapter 6: “The Call of Humanity” – Part I
We will start Part I of Chapter 6 of Christopher Southgate’s The Groaning of Creation.
Please answer one of the following questions:
UPDATE: The Groaning of Creation: Chapter 5 – “Heaven for Pelicans? Eschatological Considerations – Part I
God’s covenant with animals.
This past Sunday we completed the first half of Chapter 5 of Christopher Southgate’s The Groaning of Creation.
Here are our essays.
“The Groaning of Creation” – Chapter 5: “Heaven for Pelicans? Eschatological Considerations” – Part I
This week we will be covering the first 4 sections of Chapter 5 of Christopher Southgate’s The Groaning of Creation.
Please answer one of the following questions:
Chapter 3: “Strategies in Evolutionary Theology”
Are these dolphins engaging in the act of gang rape? If so, are they culpable for their actions? Are they sinning?
Had a very interesting session this past Sunday. One of the topics revolved around “when” sin “entered” the picture.
Was it always present in creation or did it emerge around the time anatomically similar homo sapiens did around 200 – 150 thousand years ago? Or was it around 50 – 40 thousand years ago when when cognitively modern humans came about that sin entered the picture and we became morally aware or conscious of our actions?
If sin was around since the beginning, then are animals culpable of sin? Are the dolphins above sinning and are to be held accountable for their actions?
Among our group, there still seems to be a prevailing belief that humans are somewhat set apart and distinct from the rest of the animal kingdom. We are still uncomfortable with being called animals or part of the animal kingdom.
Does being created in “the image of God” make us unique, separate, and above all other creatures?
Here are our essays.
Chapter 3: “Strategies in Evolutionary Theology”
Job suffers and mourns alongside Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Does God suffer alongside us as well?
We will go over Chapter 3: “Strategies in Evolutionary Theology” in Christopher Southgate’s book The Groaning of Creation.
Groaning of Creation: Chapter 2 “Roads Not Taken” – Part 2
Some interesting conversations today as we finished Chapter 2 of The Groaning of Creation as we discussed whether or not Genesis advocates vegetarianism, whether Jesus was the apex of human evolution or humanity itself, and if the doctrine of the Fall is a necessary and viable concept given the discoveries of science.
Here are our essays.
Groaning of Creation: Chapter 2 – Part II
“God, Adam and Eve”, Woodcut, Catholic Picture-Bible
This week, we will finish up Chapter 2: “Roads Not Taken” of The Groaning of Creation.
We will examine the doctrine of the Fall and see whether or not it comports with evolutionary theory and the theology of Andrew Elphinstone.
UPDATE: The Groaning of Creation” – Chapter 1 “Introduction”: Part II
Is God Responsible for extinctions that happen throughout nature? Does he cause them? Is there something good that can come about through the extinction of a species? Or is it a total waste?
Yesterday, we discussed how extinction may not be a total loss, the role of humans in God’s creation, an eschatological ‘need’ for redemption, a response to Ivan Karamazov, and whether or not God played a direct role in the evolution of homo sapiens.
Our response are here.
“The Groaning of Creation” – Chapter 1 “Introduction”: Part II
Above is a reading from a scene between Ivan (a skeptic) and his religious brother Alyosha from Fydor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov regarding the difficulty of believing in a loving God in the face of the abuse and suffering of innocent children.
Though Southgate’s book focuses primarily on the suffering of animals, he uses the illustration above in this chapter to convey his thesis that “[T]he crux of the problem is not the overall system and its overall goodness but the Christian’s struggle with the challenge to the goodness of God posed by specific cases of innocent suffering.”
Project Augustine 