Emergent Evolution? Klapwijk and Dooyeweerd

Abstract

With his book Purpose in the living world? Creation and emergent evolution1 Klapwijk meets two challenges. Often the suggestion is made that the theory of evolution denies any meaning and purpose to the world because everything is the result of chance. Klapwijk argues that the actual process of evolution provides arguments for the opposite view, according to which evolution cannot be properly understood without the recognition of purpose and directionality. The question posed in the main title is definitely given a positive answer. The second challenge concerns the Christian response to the theory of evolution. Should it be rejected because it is incompatible with the belief in creation? Again, Klapwijk’s answer points in the opposite direction. “Darwin’s theory does not undermine the picture of creation but clarifies it.”(Purpose 210) Evidently, Klapwijk’s Christian conviction does not urge him to reject the theory of evolution, trying to find scientific or philosophical arguments against it. The scientific theory of evolution rather is accepted as an established fact. The point is how to interpret (or transform) it in such a way that it can be integrated with the Christian faith.

Jan Lever: Challenging the Role of Typological Thinking in Reformational Views of Biology

“…The question has been discussed whether Dooyeweerd's critique of Lever originated in some kind of essentialist thinking. Klapwijk, for example, blames Dooyeweerd for his hidden essentialism (Klapwijk 2008, 248-258;, while Geertsema criticizes Klapwijk's interpretation of Dooyeweerd (Geertsema 2011). Our analysis shows that the discussion between Lever and Dooyeweerd (and Diemer) must be understood in the context of the intellectual and scientific climate of the time.…”