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Intelligent-design advocate leaving


Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has named a creationist to lead its Center for Theology and Science and also created new centers focused on arts and the law.

Each center will consist of one professor who will teach students, conduct seminars for the public and eventually develop degree programs, according to seminary spokesman Lawrence Smith.

Kurt P. Wise, currently a professor at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., will head the Center for Theology and Science. Wise also is director of the college's Center for Origins Research. Its Web site affirms the "validity of the biblical account" of creation.

The college is named for William Jennings Bryan, the lawyer and politician who argued against evolution in the famous 1925 Scopes trial in Dayton, Tenn.

Wise replaces William Dembski, a leading advocate for the intelligent design concept, who resigned to teach at a seminary closer to his Texas home. Dembski and Wise both say God created the world, but take different approaches.

Wise, who holds degrees in philosophy and paleontology from Harvard University, advocates a form of creationism that says God created the Earth relatively recently and seeks to link scientific evidence to a literal reading of the biblical book of Genesis.

Dembski also says God created the world but interprets parts of Genesis figuratively. The intelligent design concept says life is too complicated to have arisen by chance; it does not explicitly identify the designer as God, though many evangelical Christians have embraced the movement as pointing to a divine designer.

Federal courts have ruled that both creationism and intelligent design are religious rather than scientific ideas. Most biologists say the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the theory of evolution, including some Christians who say the theory poses no conflict with their faith.

Seminary trustees last week also approved two other appointments.

Steve R. Halla will head the seminary's Center for Theology and the Arts. He is an artist who has taught at the University of Texas at Dallas and Dallas Theological Seminary.

Peter J. Richards will direct the Center for Theology and Law. Formerly a researcher at the Emory University School of Law, he has law degrees from the University of North Carolina and Yale.

Seminary President Albert Mohler said in a statement that these centers would seek to help "evangelicals and Southern Baptists in particular to engage some of the most crucial issues of our day."

Other seminaries also have sought to integrate theology with other fields.

Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, for example, has a dual degree program allowing students to earn a master of divinity along with a law, social work or business administration degree from the University of Louisville.

Fuller Theological Seminary in California offers a master of arts in worship, theology and the arts, while Knox Theological Seminary in Florida offers a master's program in Christianity and culture.