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Geneticist Todd Wood offers an apology

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Readers will perhaps recall that on February 3, at the famous Scopes trial courthouse, YEC geneticist Todd Wood and evolutionary creationist theologian Darrell Falk will discuss origins issues. Meanwhile, Wood has issued an apology, which might provide some interesting context.

He is disappointed in Tim Stafford’s book, The Adam Quest “a collection of short biographies of Christians who have very different perspectives on the creation/evolution question”:

When Stafford was trying to convince me to grant him an interview, I noted that he seemed to be singing the same tune as TCF. I was encouraged, and I thought that in Stafford’s book I would have a tangible example of the sort of conversation that Darrel and I are trying to develop with the help of TCF. So I promoted the book sight unseen here on my blog and to the Core Academy constituency.

Then he read the book.

As I said, I was hoping that Stafford’s book would be a model of a “new way” of interacting between creationists and evolutionists, and what I got was the standard, patronizing, dismissive conclusions. “Creationism is anti-science, and our ‘hope’ should be in making peace with evolution.” Well, I’m sorry, but that’s not the kind of conversation I want to be a part of. My idea of meaningful conversation involves mutual understanding and respect, and I don’t think Stafford understood me at all.

(See “Evolutionary creation vs. young Earth creation at Scopes Trial courthouse?” and “Scopes courthouse debate February 3 probably representative, sources say” for details of the courthouse meet. )

Whatever’s going on, I can tell you this: I’m not backing down from the TCF conversation. My reason is simple: I believe that the Spirit of God is moving in these conversations. Evidently, I’m a lousy judge of human characters, but this sheep knows his Shepherd’s voice. And if I’m right about that, then I can’t risk dropping out. Something great just might happen the next time Darrel and I are together, and I don’t want to miss it. I’ll just have to pray earnestly that God will protect me from being used, and open my eyes if I am. I think that’s probably a good prayer for all of us. And if we’re vigilant and persistent, and if we commit together to practice love and faith and grace, I think God will bless beyond what any of us could expect.

To those who bought The Adam Quest on my recommendation, please read with caution. I vehemently disagree with the conclusions of the book. I don’t agree with the author’s assessment of young-earth creationism, and I certainly don’t agree with dismissing 90% of evangelical Christians (that do not accept evolution) as “anti-science.” I am sorry that I was not more careful with my recommendations, and I will strive to do better in the future.

Hmmm.

Presumably, during the courthouse conversation, Wood will ask Falk what he thinks of the book.

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Note: An earlier version of this article referred to Wood as a paleoanthropologist.  His training and background are in genetics and protein evolution. Thanks to alert reader for spotting this.

Comments
Slight corrective to OP- Darrel Falk is not a theologian, but a biologist. He specifically backed out of committing to a theological conclusion when I was discussing with him on BioLogos a couple of years ago. Given that he was running the organisation at the time, that was slightly frustrating.Jon Garvey
January 20, 2014
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First things first. Is evolutionary biology as a theory the product of biological scientific investigation,??? Shouldn't take long for evolutionists to defend it IS. Then they can say the same thing to creationism. Otherwise its just YES, NO, YES, NO, YES, NO and so on. to whether creationist or anyone is anti=science or incompetent in doing science.Robert Byers
January 19, 2014
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