The Return of Natural Theology

Intelligent Design the Future

Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture

Science, Philosophy, Astronomy, Society & Culture, Life Sciences

4 • 993 Ratings

🗓️ 28 August 2023

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Influenced by a long line of materialist thinkers, Charles Darwin proposed the mechanism of natural selection as a substitute for God. But how does his theory’s explanatory power measure up to recent scientific discoveries? On this ID The Future, physicist Brian Miller discusses the resurgence of natural theology in modern science with Pat Flynn, co-host of the Philosophy for the People podcast. Natural theology advances arguments for God based on reason and the discoveries of science. It’s an ancient pursuit that fell out of favor in the 19th century as a materialist account of life’s origins took center stage. But scientific findings of the last century point to mind, not a mindless process, as the likeliest explanation for a life-friendly universe. As a result, the pendulum is swinging back to teleology, ushering in a new heyday for natural theology. In addition to giving an historical overview of natural theology, Dr. Miller and Flynn also discuss fundamental problems in origin of life studies that demand a better explanation than materialists can offer. Miller speaks plainly about the problem: “Here’s the fundamental challenge,” he says. “All natural processes tend to create greater disorder (entropy)…The origin of life requires chemicals to go into a state of both high order and high energy. That never happens without help!” This is Part 1 of a 2-part discussion. With thanks to Pat Flynn and the Philosophy for the People podcast for permission to share this interview.

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0:00.0	I d the future a podcast about evolution and intelligent design
0:12.3	greetings I'm Tom Gilson. We have an outstanding and extended conversation for you to
0:18.4	listen to today on ID the Future covering more than the usual territory. The interview is hosted by Pat Flynn on his philosophy for the people
0:29.1	podcast he's a man of many talents ranging from martial arts to music and from philosophy to
0:35.9	theology and his guest is physicist Brian Miller research coordinator for the
0:42.1	Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture, who ties
0:46.3	the philosophy and the theology together with biology, physics, and engineering.
0:52.2	Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast.
0:55.0	We are joined by Dr. Brian Miller, a new guest on the show.
0:58.0	I'm delighted to welcome you to the show.
1:00.0	Dr Miller, thanks so much for taking time to be here it's a pleasure to be here
1:05.2	so I guess we're gonna probably talk about a couple of different things I'm really
1:09.1	interested in getting your perspective on what science has to say for natural theology.
1:14.6	You know, I'm not a scientist and I rarely play one on the podcast.
1:18.7	It depends how ambitious I'm feeling on any given day.
1:21.4	But I am very interested in natural theology and I think
1:24.0	science does have something, contemporary science does have something to
1:27.1	contribute. And in fact maybe that will be my first question for you. There's a
1:31.6	philosopher that I like very much. Maybe you've read him so my listeners will be my there's only two things that science has contributed that's
1:43.7	that science, relatively recent scientific discoveries that have any
1:48.2	bearing on natural theology and he says those two things are that it seems like the universe had a beginning.
1:55.8	That's one of the things that we're going to talk about today.
	...

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