God and Molecules: Chemical Evolution and Divine Providence - Paperback

by Ross Hastings (Author)

God's Providential Work in Creation Before Life Began

God has been present and active in creation from the moment he created it ex nihilo. Few Christians would question this claim, but its implications for ongoing theology and science dialogues have not been fully explored.

In this pathbreaking and field-advancing work, Ross Hastings brings his expertise in both scientific and theological disciplines to bear on the topic of divine providence in chemical evolution.

Based on the latest research in the developing field of chemical evolution and the work of theological giants such as Karl Barth, Hastings shows how God may have been providentially and non-competitively at work in the process by which simple prebiotic molecules gave rise to the complex molecules in the first living organisms.

In God and Molecules, Hastings

• provides cutting-edge theological engagement with the developing scientific field of chemical evolution,
• advances the discussion in theology and science with this new integrative work, and
• offers a holistic alternative for thinking about chemical evolution that overcomes the binary of theology versus science.

God and Molecules pushes toward new frontiers in theology and science and casts a compelling, integrative, and ultimately healing vision for how God has been lovingly involved in the developmental process of the earliest life on earth.

Author Biography

W. Ross Hastings (PhD chemistry, Queen's; PhD theology, St Andrews) is the Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. Among other books, he is the author of Missional God, Missional Church; Total Atonement; and The Resurrection of Jesus Christ. He also serves as an Anglican priest at St. John's Vancouver and enjoys watching rugby, soccer, and cricket. He lives in Vancouver with his wife, Tammy. They have five children and nine grandchildren.