#29 Emergent Creationism – part 1

After exploring one end of the spectrum of Creationist beliefs (Young Earth; Intelligent Design), we now move to the other end.

This week, we talk to Dr. Chris Barrigar an Anglican pastor from Montreal, Quebec, who’s proposed an idea by which God might have front-loaded the intrinsic properties of the primal cosmic egg in such a way that it would not only explode into the universe we now inhabit, but would inevitably produce “agape-capable beings”.

But in setting the stage for his scientific idea, we heard him tell a personal story that was equally worth exploring. He became a Christian in his teen years, when his parents brought home their born-again experience. In university, he pursued a very broad liberal arts degree and a couple career paths before submitting to a call to full-time Christian ministry.

But after several years in Bible seminary and time spent in India, he found he had to reject his previous Christian faith. It wasn’t science that did him in: it was encounters with the Christian church itself, and with other world religions and philosophies.

His journey took him from Fundamentalist Christianity, to liberal Christianity, to other world religions, and finally even atheism, but none of these seemed to satisfy him. They weren’t “intellectually and emotionally honest”. Yet he still felt there was something more. (Anything you might be able to relate to?) He wondered whether there was something else … something he might have missed the first time around through all those different corners of the theological/philosophical maze.

In finding that answer inside the broad Christian tradition, he also discovered the meaning of the universe.

Again, as with all of our previous guests, we believe there’s much to learn from his experiences. So we decided to first present his journey through faith and worldview (this week) before hearing about his provocative new idea on Emergent Creationism (next week).

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