Brooke Robertson“Thank God for Evolution!,” the second book written by evolutionary evangelist Michael Dowd, is an insightful and clever piece of literature that tends to be a little preachy.
Presenting the reasons why evolution can be viewed as a spiritual process, the book doesn’t dispel the traditions of the past or religious texts.
Instead, it projects a point of view that shows how evolution coincides with religious teachings, specifically Christian-based teachings.
I’m not a religious person, but my father used to read the Bible to me and I went to Sunday school as a little girl. Unfortunately, all I remember about that are the pretty little dresses and shiny shoes I was allowed to wear.
I guess I was never a true believer. I’m more of an agnostic, questioning everything that can’t be backed up by scientific evidence.
Dowd was the opposite. He graduated summa cum laude from Evangel University in Springfield, Mo., where he received a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies and philosophy. He also graduated from Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree.
In the book, Dowd, who served as a minister for nine years in Ohio and Michigan, tells the reader that he did not initially believe that evolution was a universal truth.
After years of both academic and spiritual education, he found that “the epic of evolution” not only coincided with Christian teachings, but is evidence of the divine.
Despite my lack of religious convictions, I enjoyed Dowd’s take on evolution.
Personally, the theory of evolution makes sense to me with or without God in the equation, but this book offers a divine evolution that will connect with the spiritual and religious alike.
The book is divided into five parts, each one focusing on a different aspect of evolution. For those like me with no religious views, Part IV may resonate deeply.
Part IV delves into spiritual evolution, discussing humanity rather than science. This chapter reads more like a self-help book, but it also shows how readers can apply “evolutionary spirituality” in real world situations.
Perhaps the greatest aspect of this book is that it shows the reader there is meaning behind evolution and science, that it is not just a mechanistic system of events and changes.
This is not a new concept for me. Evolution seems like a miraculous system of events to me, but apparently others think it’s too meaningless to be connected to a god.
This book is much more spiritual than scientific and though it belongs in the self-help section of bookstores, it is still a good read.