Sunday evening, Bess, a number of friends, and I went to hear Calvin professors Kelly Clark (philosophy) and Steve Matheson (biology) speak on “God after Darwin, Dawkins, and Dennet” at the Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids. Kelly has been a friend of Bess’s since high school, and Susan Ford Clark, Kelly’s wife, shared an apartment with Bess their senior year–in fact, Kelly and Susan, and Bess and I, were married on the same day in the same church (at different times). It was great fun to go out to dinner with the Clarks and catch up a bit; we haven’t seen them much over the years.
It was interesting to hear Kelly and Steve Matheson, both evangelical scholars and believers in natural selection, talk. Being ‘pro-evolution’ is a bit of a third rail in some evangelical circles, and being ‘pro-God’ is a bit of a third rail in some professional circles. They did a masterful job of presenting–in just over an hour–a basic epistomological stance, what explanations are, and why theism and natural selection are compatible.
(“Sue” corrected to “Susan.”)
Will.Whim 
Susan, not Sue
Are you party to the ongoing conversation at Salon.com on this subject? They call it “Atoms & Eden”. I’m a Premium subscriber, and have much appreciated the articles from various theist and atheist viewpoints. Most are interview pieces, where the positions of Francis Collins, or Dawkins, or other leaders in their fields can mostly speak for themselves.
I also did a long two-part blog on the subject, a response to post-evangelical atheist Michael Shermer. This put me in touch with Quantum Pork, some Chicago area fellas (academics and laymen) that were just starting a website on matters of science and apologetics. So my blog/article ended up being edited slightly and reposted there. Here’s the link:
http://homepage.mac.com/quantumpork/pages/parlor_tricks.html
It’s a bit rambling perhaps, but hopefully light and informative.