The Theology of an Evolutionist [Paperback]

A thoughtful 1897 meditation on religious faith and evolutionary science from one of nineteenth-century America's foremost Christian progressives.Lymon Abbott's Theology of an Evolutionist argues that evolution, far from negating Christianity, represents a 'history of the process of life' or, simply, 'God's way of doing things.' A companion to his influential The Evolution of Christianity, Abbott's work uses evolutionary theory to advance a progressive belief in human improvement.Lymon Abbott's Theology of an Evolutionist argues that evolution, far from negating Christianity, represents a 'history of the process of life' or, simply, 'God's way of doing things.' A companion to his influential The Evolution of Christianity, Abbott's work uses evolutionary theory to advance a progressive belief in human improvement.Editor of the influential Christian progressive journal Outlook and intimate with Henry Ward Beecher and Theodore Roosevelt, Lymon Abbott (18351922) played a central role in religion and politics in the turn-of-the-century America. In The Theology of an Evolutionist (1897), Abbott shows his characteristic optimism in human moral development, as he argues that the Christian faith can fully accommodate evolution as the means by which God changes and improves the world over time. Abbott writes 'not to disbelievers in evolution to prove that they are mistaken, but to believers in evolution to show them that their belief is not inconsistent with the Christian faith.' A companion to Abbott's popular previous volumes, The Evolution of Christianity and Christianity and Social Problems, this text presents an innovative and often elegant reconciliation of the still-current debate concerning scientific empiricism and Christian belief.Preface; 1. Some definitions; 2. Creation by evolution; 3. The genesis of sin; 4. The evolution of revelation; 5. The place of Christ in evolution; 6. Redemption by evolution; 7. Evolution and sacrifice; 8. Evolution and propitiation; 9. lãÂ