Jacob Klapwijk – författare

Are evolution and creation irreconcilably opposed? Is 'intelligent design' theory an unhappy compromise? Is there another way of approaching the present-day divide between religious and so-called secular views of the origins of life? Jacob Klapwijk offers a philosophical analysis of the relation of evolutionary biology to religion, and addresses the question of whether the evolution of life is exclusively a matter of chance or is better understood as including the notion of purpose. Writing from a Christian (Augustinian) point of view, he criticizes creationism and intelligent design theory as well as opposing reductive naturalism. He offers an alternative to both and an attempt to bridge the gap between them, via the idea of 'emergent evolution'. In this theory the process of evolution has an emergent or innovative character resulting in a living world of ingenious, multifaceted complexity.

Are evolution and creation irreconcilably opposed? Is 'intelligent design' theory an unhappy compromise? Is there another way of approaching the present-day divide between religious and so-called secular views of the origins of life? Jacob Klapwijk offers a philosophical analysis of the relation of evolutionary biology to religion, and addresses the question of whether the evolution of life is exclusively a matter of chance or is better understood as including the notion of purpose. Writing from a Christian (Augustinian) point of view, he criticizes creationism and intelligent design theory as well as opposing reductive naturalism. He offers an alternative to both and an attempt to bridge the gap between them, via the idea of 'emergent evolution'. In this theory the process of evolution has an emergent or innovative character resulting in a living world of ingenious, multifaceted complexity.

What Clement of Alexandria, Calvin of Geneva and Gutierrez of Peru, and all the other thinkers discussed in this book have in common is at least this: they all bear witness to their struggle with the relation between Christian faith and non-Christian thought. This relation is the theme of the collection of essays presented here by way of case studies. The struggle of the early church with the philosophy of the late antiquity was one of life and death. Faced with a despising Greco-Roman elite, Christians were forced to take a stand with respect to the Greek mind very existentially. As Christianity gained influence in the highly developed intellectual culture of the Roman Empire, the church wavered between acceptance and rejection of that culture. Such hesitance between antithesis and synthesis also marked the church in the Middle Ages. The tensions left a wide track of power struggles. How did Christians throughout the ages, actually find their way through the tension-fraught terrain of faith and culture? The issue far surpasses mere academic or historical interest: we ourselves are involved, and we are unable not to choose. This book is one of the results of the research and discussions of an interdisciplinary team at the Free University of Amsterdam. Co-published with the Institute for Christian Studies.