Mellan ett reduktionistiskt och teistiskt förflutet och framtidens dynamiska komplexitet. Utvecklingslära och teologi i samspråk

Abstract

150 years after the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, this article suggests a new framework for the interpretation of the theory of evolution. Based on a number of examples, it is demonstrated that the alternative of either abstract theism or abstract atheism provides an insufficient horizon for the constructive engagement with evolution. Theological developments, ranging from the critique of the ontotheological understanding of God as causa sui to contemporary approaches that move beyond the notion of existence (God beyond or without being, a theology of the event; Tillich, Marion, Caputo), give birth to fresh ways of addressing issues of causality. These can be described in terms of a shift of interest from, for example, essence to process, definition to relationality, dualism to dialectics, stability to dynamics, hierarchy to cooperation, monism to network, design to emergence and purity to hybridity. These shifts correspond to some extent to recent developments within the discipline of biology. Increasing emphasis on the behaviour of systems and on cooperation in and between systems offers promising perspectives on the continuing dialogue between science and theology.