Evolution Series at St Bride's - Part 3

EVOLUTIONARY CHRISTIANITY

by Jonathan Jelfs 

This is the third in our series ‘Thank God for Evolution’ and is a personal reflection on the theme ‘Evolutionary Christianity’.

From Evolutionary Protest…

When I was a teenager I certainly didn’t thank God for evolution. I had been brought up in a narrow sectarian fundamentalist environment and that became my worldview. At the age of 12 I had to choose between art, which was my best subject, and biology which I was told offered a better career possibility. Naturally it wasn’t long before evolution appeared in the biology curriculum and I had to respond to it. My response was to join the Evolution Protest Movement, now called the Creation Science Movement, and I remember being one of just two boys in the class who tried to offer a critique of evolution.

…To Evolutionary Participation

It’s been a long journey taking probably 20 years for me to consciously move from being a creationist to someone who finds the idea of evolution inspiring. Many Christians are grappling with the implications of evolution for Christianity and there is emerging conversation about Evolutionary Christianity and it is becoming a central focus of some churches. In this context, I am speaking of evolution in broad terms – not only the evolution of the universe and the species but also the evolution of human consciousness and culture. Evolutionary Christianity embraces the findings of the physical sciences and sees scientific evidence as the principal way of discovering truth about reality, as well as integrating other ways of knowing. Science offers us evidential truth but is necessarily silent on the meaning of that truth and how to use it. Wisdom is another domain, one where other disciplines including religion and spirituality have their voice.

Even so, it is possible to derive profound spiritual satisfaction in contemplating the wonders of the universe, in appreciating goodness, beauty and truth. Evolutionary Christianity fully accepts that human beings are evolved mammals, formed by the same processes that formed the millions of species in existence on the planet we share. Like all species, we are not an end product of evolution – perfect or fully complete – but a work in progress. But, we are participating in an astonishing process. Who could have imagined, if there had been any imagination present, that the great empty silence at the start of the Big Bang some 13.7 billion years ago would give rise to life on earth. Who could have imagined that the elements derived from star dust would develop the ability to think and that the universe would become conscious of itself? Who could have imagined that species would develop that corporately display love, compassion and altruism developing health and social services, charitable organisations, peace-making and conflict resolution skills? Who could imagine that there would be individuals that would offer up their own lives for the sake of pioneering a new evolutionary stage of non-violence?

From “blind pitiless indifference” to Sacred Evolution?

I suggest that Evolutionary Christianity goes far beyond the reconciliation of science and religion towards seeing the kind of transformation of consciousness and behaviour that can occur through spiritual awakening as part of the planet’s continuing evolution.  In the context of the wisdom of the spiritual traditions I go as far as to suggest that evolution may be a sacred process. As part of establishing evolution as a scientific discipline, it was stripped of any sense of direction, progress or purpose and eventually anti-directionalism became mainstream dogma in in evolutionary biology in the second half of the 20th century. This became linked with the idea that the evolution was dependent on selfishness, the selfish gene. Dawkins writes: “The world of the selfish gene is one of savage competition, ruthless exploitation, and deceit” (The Selfish Gene). Elsewhere he says that in the universe there is “no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference.”(River Out of Eden)

But is this true? It may not be. The testimony of the spiritual traditions is otherwise and the science is emerging to back this up.  I see a sacred process with both purpose and direction from energy to matter to life to consciousness to compassion to love to harmony, expressed in all the complexities of life, culture, the species, the earth and (who knows?) through technology beyond into the universe. In this context, I think of spirituality as ‘Relational Consciousness’: ideas and practices that nurture a conscious harmonious relationship with all of reality and a co-creative participation in its continuing evolution.

Conscious Evolution and Spiritual Practice

Mainstream science has been slow to accept that evolution moves towards increasing cooperation, but this is changing. The view has been that selfishness, rather than cooperation, is preferred by evolution. But there is now a growing body of research on the evolution of cooperation. This research shows that complex cooperation will emerge among self-interested individuals if they are organised so that all benefit from their cooperative acts. We are at a fascinating time in history where a shift towards conscious or intentional evolution is underway. Humanity, or any other organisms that reach a similar stage in evolution, have a key role to play in the future direction of evolution. Spiritual life and spiritual practices have a key role to play in developing evolvability. The world’s mystical and contemplative traditions are the main repositories of knowledge about how to improve our evolvability. Currently our behaviour is significantly affected by our evolutionary past affecting the ways that we experience and express such things as fear, aggression or love. Spiritual practice is capable of conveying greater freedom to choose. For example, the capacity for ‘present moment awareness’ developed by spiritual practices is of great interest to those interested in conscious evolution.

An Evolutionary Relationship with Life

As Evolutionary Christians, there is the opportunity to aspire to an evolutionary relationship with life, seeking to continue to be transformed, to live more consciously with greater freedom to choose to do that which is good, beautiful and true. This is the essence of the spiritual life.  We can be people who don’t see ourselves as isolated, selfish individuals who live for a short time and then die irrelevantly in a meaningless universe. To be followers of Christ is to be on the Way of continual transformation or evolution both in our own individual development and corporate behaviour. For example, the ways that we respond to issues of injustice is part of our evolutionary transformation. What starts as the selfish gene bombing its way out of trouble evolves to the skills of the peace-maker. We see examples of each in recent human history.

  The famous virologist Jonas Salk, who developed the polio vaccine, said this:

The most meaningful activity in which a human being can be engaged is one that is directly related to human evolution. This is true because human beings now play an active and critical role not only in the process of their own evolution but in the survival and evolution of all living beings. Awareness of this places upon human beings a responsibility for their participation in and contribution to the process of evolution. If humankind would accept and acknowledge this responsibility and become creatively engaged in the process of … evolution consciously, as well as unconsciously, a new reality would emerge, and a new age would be born.

  Jesus as an example of more evolved humanity

In the context of Evolutionary Christianity, I suggest that Jesus was at the leading edge of human evolution in the quality and nature of his relationships with God, with the natural world, and with other human beings. He was a person filled full with the evolutionary impulse, filled full with God, seeing clearly the next stage of development. Although he may not have known the language of evolution, he saw the necessary direction of development  consciousness and culture. His words, his life, his example remain pioneering for us today. Similar things can be said of the great prophets and sages of other Religious Traditions too. They saw beyond a fragmented human experience of separation between families, tribes, religions, nations, genders, species, planets, solar systems and universes – a product of an earlier evolutionary stage - to a new harmony that is possible ahead as we continue our evolutionary journey. Jesus said, “this is my commandment that you love one another”. Is this the way of the evolutionary future?

Some Questions

Q. Do you think evolution is a sacred process?

Q. Is it possible to have an evolutionary relationship with life?

Q. Do you think church communities can be communities of conscious evolution?

Q. Do you think Jesus taught and demonstrated an evolutionary shift for humanity?

Q. What is the role of Christian mission in the context of conscious evolution?

Books & Resources

Thank God for Evolution – Michael Dowd The Living Universe – Duane Elgin Integral Christianity – Paul R. Smith

The New Universe and the Human Future – Nacy Abrams, Joel Primack Evolutionary Faith – Diarmuid O’Murchu

The Universe is a Green Dragon – Brian Swimme

The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos – Brian Swimme

How Humanity Came into Being – Martin Lockley

Evolution’s Arrow – John Stewart

The Evolutionary Manifesto; Our role in the future evolution of life - John Stewart (paper)

The Meaning Of Life In A Developing Universe - John Stewart (paper)

Integral Consciousness and the Future of Evolution – Steve McIntosh

If Darwin Prayed: Prayers for Evolutionary Mystics – Bruce Sanguin