Peacocke Prize Essay - Towards an Eastern Orthodox Contemplation of Evolution$Maximus the Confessor's Vision of the Phylogenetic Logoi
In recent years, several scholars have hinted at a resemblance between Maximus the Confessor's logoi cosmology and evolutionary biology. In this article, I develop these suggestions further and claim that the logoi (divine ideas or wills) do indeed behave in an evolutionary fashion, diverging h...
| Published in: | Zygon |
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| Subtitles: | "Information and Reality: Contributions from the Science and Religion Forum" |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Wiley-Blackwell
2023
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| In: |
Zygon
Year: 2023, Volume: 58, Issue: 3, Pages: 789-805 |
| Further subjects: | B
Eastern Orthodoxy
B garments of skin B Natural Evil B Creation B Maximus the Confessor B Panentheism B logoi B Evolutionary Biology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | In recent years, several scholars have hinted at a resemblance between Maximus the Confessor's logoi cosmology and evolutionary biology. In this article, I develop these suggestions further and claim that the logoi (divine ideas or wills) do indeed behave in an evolutionary fashion, diverging hierarchically and interactively from the Logos. However, there the similarity ends, for the logoi are also purposeful, inviolable, and good, unlike evolution which is said to be random, ever-changing, and cruel. But rather than abandon the logoi-evolution congruity, I argue that, by harnessing theological resources from across the Eastern tradition, one can integrate Maximus' logoi vision more fully, resulting in an "incarnationally panentheistic" model of God's action and presence in evolution. More speculatively, within canonical Darwinism, the underlying (good) evolutionary motion of the logoi might be discernible in variation and adaptation, with the "evil" of competition and natural selection being "garments of skin" conceded by God as part of a simultaneous creation and cosmic fall. Information and Reality: Contributions fromthe Science and Religion Forum with Finley I. Lawson, "The Science and Religion Forum Discuss Information and Reality: Questions for Religions and Science"; Niels Henrik Gregersen, '"The God with Clay': The Idea of Deep Incarnation and the Informational Universe", Michael Burdett and King-Ho Leung, "The Machine in the Ghost: Transhumanism and the Ontology ofInformation"; Marius Dorobantu and Fraser Watts, "Spiritual Intelligence: Processing Different Information or Processing Information Differently?";Matthew Kuan Johnson and Rachel Siow Robertson, "A Co-Liberatory Framework for Big Data"; Peter M. Phillips, "Digital Theology and a Potential Theological Approach to a Metaphysics ofInformation"; and Andrew Jackson, "Peacocke Prize Essay - Towards an Eastern Orthodox Contemplation of Evolution: Maximus the Confessor's Vision of the Phylogenetic Logoi". |
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| ISSN: | 1467-9744 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Zygon
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/zygo.12885 |