The other day, I interviewed Dr. Barry Hankins about his book “Jesus and Gin.” One of the things we discussed was how early conservative Evangelicals were open to the idea that evolution and Christianity could coexist.
As Hankins told me, strict opposition to evolution wasn’t something held by B.B. Warfield, an evangelical, who “was open to thinking about evolution.”
A reader confirmed this, sending me a citation from “B.B. Warfield (1851-1921) A Biblical Inerrantist as Evolutionist:”
Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield of Princeton Theological Seminary, the theologian who more than any other defined modern biblical inerrancy, was throughout his life open to the possibility of evolution and at some points an advocate of the theory.
The mainstream media likes to paint Evangelicals as anti-science, and slyly imply that the faithful are rubes. As usual, reality is more complex — and interesting — than the stereotypes.
Listen to audio of my full conversation with Dr. Hankins here. Or download the podcast on iTunes.