Evolutionary Christianity
By Michael Dowd

Evolutionary Christianity values big history - the 14-billion-year epic of physical, biological, and cultural evolution - as divine revelation and as our common creation story.

Here are four core tenets of Evolutionary Christianity:

(i) It is impossible not to trivialize and demean God and gospel without a science-based, deep-time appreciation of human nature, our shared ancestry, the trajectory of big history, and the creative role played by death at all levels of the universe;

(ii) The history of everything and everyone can be interpreted in hopeful, soul nourishing ways, and in ways that inspire people to cooperate across ethnic, religious, and political differences in service of a just and thriving future for all;

(iii) An understanding of human instincts and our empathic nature, as given by evolutionary brain science and evolutionary psychology, can help each of us live with greater integrity and zest for life.  It can also deepen and enrich traditional views of The Fall and Original Sin;

(iv) When church leaders study the epic of evolution as they now do the Bible, and when they teach and preach the discoveries of science as divine revelation - as God's word and guidance for us today - Christianity will experience a revival unlike anything the world has ever seen. (TCPC 4/2010)