Creation, Evolution, and Hermeneutics: Recent Trends in Adventism

Authors

  • Jean Zukowski Faculdade Adventista da Amazônia- FAAMA, Pará, (Brasil) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0658-6597
  • Luan Alves Cota Mól Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo, UNASP, (Brasil)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19141/1809-2454.kerygma.v17.n1.pe01564

Keywords:

Hermeneutics, Doctrine, Theology and Science, Adventism

Abstract

Abstract: Seventh-day Adventists, since their early days, have regarded themselves as a religious movement that bases its beliefs on the Bible and advocates for historical creation in six literal days. Recently, proposals that confront this belief have emerged in the Adventist milieu causing some reflection on issues hitherto undiscussed. However, as this debate involves the ancient conflict between theology and science, it is necessary to recognize that, generally, the discussions boil down to conflicts between different interpretations and perceptions, and little attention is paid to the philosophical presuppositions of each model.

Goal: To identify the broader hermeneutical presuppositions that influence the main proposals about the debate between creation and evolution in Adventism.

Methodology: Through a bibliographic survey of the writings of Desmond Ford, Fritz Guy and Roy Graf, this work highlights, without exhausting the theme, the main proponents of three different models, called respectively in this research progressive, modern (Guy) and historical (Graf).

Results: The doctrinal differences within Adventism are conditioned by deep philosophical (ontological) foundations, and a hermeneutic (and not merely doctrinal) analysis of the debate between creation and evolution reveals the different paradigms that act as keys of interpretation for Ford, Guy and Graf, and the latter model seems to fit more with all the information provided by the scriptures and with the Adventist philosophical system.

Conclusion: Indeed, different philosophical bases and assumptions shape the worldview in such a way that it is possible to perceive different interpretations of the biblical text even within a single religious movement. It is also perceived the need, in future research on Adventist beliefs and different proposals, to always recognize the need to go beyond the doctrinal and exegetical debate, seeking to perceive the different paradigms of each interpreter and their implications in the theological formulation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

Jean Zukowski, Faculdade Adventista da Amazônia- FAAMA, Pará, (Brasil)

Doutor em Religião com ênfase em História do cristianismo -Andrews University – A.U, Michigan, (Estados Unidos). Professor de teologia na Faculdade Adventista da Amazônia- FAAMA, Pará, (Brasil). 

 

 

Luan Alves Cota Mól, Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo, UNASP, (Brasil)

Bacharelando em teologia pelo Centro Universitário Adventista de São Paulo, UNASP, (Brasil).

References

AGOSTINHO. Confessions, XII, 25. In: Bernard Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955), 107).

BULL, Brian; GUY, Fritz. Then a Miracle Occurs. in: BULL, Brian; GUY, Fritz; TAYLOR, Ervin. Understanding Genesis: Contemporary Adventist Perspective. Riverside, CA: Adventist Today, 2009.

CANALE, Fernando. Basic Elements of Christian Theology: Scripture Replacing Tradition. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Lithothec, 2005.

CANALE, Fernando. Criação, Evolução e Teologia: introdução aos métodos científicos e teológicos. Engenheiro Coelho, SP: Unaspress, 2014.

CANALE, Fernando. Toward a Criticism of Theological Reason : Time and Timelessness as Primordial Presuppositions. Tese (Doutorado em Teologia) – Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University, 1983. Disponível em: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/22. Acesso em 21 nov. 2022.

DULLES, Avery. The Craft of Theology: From Symbol to System. New York, NY: Crossroad, 1992.

FORD, Desmond. Genesis versus Darwinism: The Case for God in a Scientific World. N.p.: A&S Publications, 2014.

GRAF, Roy E. The Principle of Articulation in Adventist Theology: An Evaluation of Current Interpretations and a Proposal. Berrien Springs, MI: Adventist Theological Society, 2020.

GUY, Fritz. Change, Scripture, and Science: Good News for Adventist Thinking in the Twenty-First Century. Spectrum, vol. 37, n. 3, p. 50-55, 2009.

GUY, Fritz. God´s Time: Infinite Temporality and the Ultimate Reality of Becoming. Spectrum. vol. 29, n. 1, p. 19-28, 2001.

GUY, Fritz. Interpreting Genesis One in the Twenty-First Century. Spectrum vol. 31, n. 2, p. 5-16, 2003.

GUY, Fritz. Man and His Time: Three Contemporary Theological Interpretations, Tese (PhD em Teologia) Universidade da Escola em Divindade. Chicago, IL: 1971.

GUY, Fritz. Thinking Theologicaly? Adventist Christianity and The Interpretation of Faith. Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1999.

KANT, Imanoel. Critique of Pure Reason. London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1939.

KITTS, David. The Conditions for a Nomothetic Paleontology. In: History and Evolution. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.

RICE, Richard. Reason and the Contours of Faith. Riverside, CA: La Sierra University Press, 1991.

TIMM, Alberto. El Santuario y los mensajes de los tres ángeles. Florida: Asociación Casa Editora Sudamericana, 2019.

WHITE, Ellen. Counsels to Writers and Editors. Nashville, TN: Southern Publishing Association, 1946.

Downloads

Published

2022-04-28

How to Cite

ZUKOWSKI, J. .; COTA MÓL, L. A. . Creation, Evolution, and Hermeneutics: Recent Trends in Adventism. Kerygma, Engenheiro coelho (SP), v. 17, n. 1, p. e01564, 2022. DOI: 10.19141/1809-2454.kerygma.v17.n1.pe01564. Disponível em: https://unasp.emnuvens.com.br/kerygma/article/view/1564. Acesso em: 24 nov. 2024.

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2022): Fluxo contínuo

Section

Dossiê Origens

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Jean Zukowski, Luan Alves Cota Mól

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish on Kerygma must agree to the following terms:

  1. Once accepted for publication, the copyright of articles is automatically transferred to Kerygma.
  2. All material used in the text that is copyrighted by third parties must be duly referenced.
  3. Authors must also retain the reproduction rights of images and tables in their material, if necessary.
  4. The authors guarantee that the submitted text is entirely their authorship and has not been submitted and/or published elsewhere.
  5. The opinions, ideas and concepts expressed in the texts are the sole responsibility of their authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Kerygma;
  6. The editors reserve the right to make textual adjustments and adapt to the publication's norms.
  7. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, which allows sharing of the work with acknowledgment of authorship and initial publication in this journal. This license allows others to remix, adapt, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they give proper credit to you and their new works are not used for commercial purposes. However, users are not required to license those derivative works under the same terms.
  8. The authors agree with the free reproduction of their material by Kerygma, which may adapt, modify, condense, summarize, reduce, compile, expand, alter, mix with other content, include images, graphics, digital objects, infographics and hyperlinks, illustrate, diagram, divide, update, translate and carry out any other transformations, requiring the participation or express authorization of the authors.
  9. The authors agree that Kerygma can distribute the articles through cable, fiber optics, satellite, airwaves or any other system that allows access to the user at a specific time and place, either by free channels or by systems that import payment. Kerygma may also include work in a physical or virtual database, archiving in printed format, storing on a computer, in a cloud system, microfilming and other current forms of archiving or that may still be developed, with or without profit.
  10. Authors are permitted to enter into separate, additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version of the work in this journal (e.g., publishing it in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment in the new publication of its initial publication in this journal.
  11. Kerygma owns the rights to all works published by it. The full reproduction of these texts in other publications, for any other purpose, by any means, requires written authorization from the publisher. The same goes for partial reproductions, such as summary, abstract, portions with more than 500 words of the text, tables, figures, illustrations, etc.
  12. Authors are granted permission and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their personal websites) at any point before or during the editorial process. This is because it can lead to productive alterations and increase the impact and citation of the published work. (See "The effect of open access and downloads ('hits') on citation impact: a bibliography of studies.")