Evolutionary Innovation, Chance and Necessity: Science and Theology

Molecular biology pioneer Jacques Monod famously wrote that “chance alone is at the source of every innovation, and of all creation in the biosphere”. This view is consistent with Monod’s materialist philosophy of science, and has a strong conceptual basis rooted in the putative randomness of mutations. But factors other than chance have also influenced evolutionary innovations in the history of life. The role of underlying principles of evolution aside from either chance or natural selection has gained more attention recently. Do these developments constitute a shift away from the Modern Synthesis? What, if anything, are the worldview implications of these developments, and how do they sit with a Christian theological framing of evolutionary history?

Includes lunch and coffee