Evangelicals, evolution, and inerrancy: a comparative study of congregational boundary work

ABSTRACT

A number of evangelical Christian denominations and networks uphold a specific doctrine of Scripture, stating that the Bible is the ‘inerrant’ word of God. Those who adhere to biblical inerrancy tend to reject literary interpretations of the creation accounts in the Bible and therefore to reject evolutionary theory. Indeed, evolution rejection frequently functions as a key boundary for biblical inerrantists that must be strictly maintained. In this comparative study, we analyse interview data and other materials to uncover the mechanisms by which evolution rejection as a boundary is strengthened, maintained or weakened within two evangelical church congregations that adhere to biblical inerrancy: one in London, UK, the other in Texas, US. We find significant differences in boundary work between the two congregations and consider how the interplay of three factors—1) orientation of the congregation (internal or external), 2) religious context (minority or majority), 3) boundary salience—may lead to boundary strengthening or weakening.

KEYWORDS:

• Evangelical
• inerrancy
• creationism
• Intelligent Design
• Richard Dawkins
• Ken Ham
• boundary work

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Denis Alexander, without whom this study would not have been possible, and Lizzie Henderson for valuable assistance with transcribing interviews. The authors are also grateful for comments and suggestions made by Bob Thomson and the reviewers of the Journal of Contemporary Religion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This is the campaign of the Discovery Institute—a politically conservative non-profit think tank based in Seattle, Washington, which advocates ID.

2. “[The Bible] has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.” (THE 2000 BAPTIST FAITH & MESSAGE, see http://www.sbc.net/bfm2000/bfm2000.asp, accessed 2 August 2018)

3. “The Bible as originally given is in its entirety the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine.” (FIEC Doctrinal Basis, see https://fiec.org.uk/about-us/beliefs, accessed 2 August 2018)

4. Pastor Steve defined Gap Theory as “an unknown amount of time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2”. In Day/Age Theory, “‘Day’ is poetic or relative therefore could be ages”. According to Literal Six Days Theory (Young Earth Creationism), “In 24 hour periods God creates with the appearance of age”.

5. This period saw the publication of several popular scientifically oriented atheist books, (dubbed “New Atheist”): The God Delusion (2006) by Richard Dawkins, The End of Faith (2004) and Letter to a Christian Nation (2006) by Sam Harris, God is Not Great (2007) by Christopher Hitchens, and Breaking the Spell (2006) by Daniel Dennet.

6. This is based on a search of the Lexus Nexus database of UK national newspapers.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the Templeton World Charities Foundation through the “Uses and Abuses of Biology” sub-grant scheme (Grant #UAB018) and the John Templeton Foundation “Religious Understandings of Science Study” (Grant #38817).

Notes on contributors

Amy Unsworth

Amy Unsworth is a Research Fellow in Science and Technology Studies at University College London, UK. Her research explores public understandings of science in relation to religion and non-religion.

Elaine Howard Ecklund

Elaine Howard Ecklund is the Herbert S. Autrey Chair in Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology at Rice University, Houston, TX, where she also directs the “Religion and Public Life Program”. Her most recent book is Secularity and Science: What Scientists around the World Really Think about Religion (with David R. Johnson and Brandon Vaidyanathan, 2019).