Karl Willard Giberson (born May 13, 1957) is a Canadian physicist, scholar, and author, specializing in the
creation–
evolution debate (see
Creation–evolution controversy). He has held a teaching post since 1984, written several books, and been a member of various academic and scientific organizations. He formerly served as vice president of the
BioLogos Foundation.[1]
Giberson was a member of the faculty at his alma mater,
Eastern Nazarene College, from 1984 to 2011. In that time, he taught courses on physics, astronomy, and science and religion, as well as directing the Honors Scholar Program. His strong support for evolution made him increasingly controversial[2] and played a role in his departure in 2011.[3]
In early 2009, Giberson became the Executive Vice President of The
BioLogos Foundation, founded by
Francis Collins.[5] He served briefly as president before leaving the foundation in 2011 to further pursue his passion for writing.[6][7]
Giberson is a contributing editor to Books & Culture, where he has published many essays on science. He was the founding editor of Science & Theology News, the leading publication in the field until it ceased publication in 2006, and editor-in-chief of Science & Spirit from 2003 to 2006 for the
John Templeton Foundation.[10]
His essay "Say it Ain't So: America's Ongoing Hostility to Religion" appears in the college reader What Matters in America.[19]
Books
Worlds Apart: The Unholy War between Religion and Science, (
Church of the Nazarene and Beacon Hill Press, 1993)[20] has, despite controversy, been used at various Nazarene and other evangelical colleges to counter
Christian Fundamentalist approaches to "origins".
Species of Origins: America’s Search for a Creation Story (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002),[21] coauthored with
Don Yerxa, garnered recognition as one of the most balanced treatments of the creation–evolution controversy in print. America's leading scholar of
creationism,
Ronald Numbers, described it as "accessible, accurate, and even-handed."[22] It is used as a textbook and has been translated into
Polish for an inclusion in a contemporary philosophy series.[23]
Saving Darwin: How to be a Christian and Believe in Evolution (HarperOne, 2008),[27] was recognized by the Washington Post Book World as "One of the best books of 2008."[28]
The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions (
InterVarsity Press, 2011),[29] coauthored with
Francis Collins, aims to show Christians why they need not reject science nor God.[30]
Quantum Leap: How John Polkinghorne Found God in Science and Religion (Lion UK, 2011),[31] coauthored with Dean Nelson, examines the science-and-religion relationship through the lens of the life of physicist and Anglican priest
John Polkinghorne.
The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2011)[32] coauthored with
Randall J. Stephens, explores how intellectual authority is applied and misapplied in
Evangelicalism. The authors wrote an op-ed for
The New York Times summarizing some of the issues that the book raises.[33]
The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in Our Fine-Tuned World (IVP Books, 2012),[34] is an exploration of the religious resonances of our modern understanding of cosmology.
Seven Glorious Days: A Scientist Retells the Genesis Creation Story (Paraclete Press, 2012),[35] explores what the
Biblical creation story would look like if it were written within the framework of modern science.
Saving the Original Sinner: How Christians Have Used the Bible's First Man to Oppress, Inspire, and Make Sense of the World (
Beacon Press, 2015),[36] explains how the idea of the Biblical
Adam has evolved throughout the ages and explores the influence that the fall of Adam has had on Western ideas. Giberson contends that the attempts of
Evangelical Christians to preserve a literal interpretation of the
Biblical creation story have contributed to them becoming intellectually isolated in a variety of fields.
^Giberson, Karl W. (December 2010). "Theology in the Context of Science". The Quarterly Review of Biology. 85 (4): 485–486.
doi:
10.1086/656832.
JSTOR10.1086/656832.
^Giberson, Karl (March 8, 2010).
"Scientific Methods". Weekly Standard. Retrieved March 25, 2012.
^Goshgarian, Gary (2010). What Matters in America. Longman Publishing Group.
ISBN978-0-205-66922-6.
^Karl Giberson, Worlds Apart: The Unholy War between Religion and Science, Beacon Hill Press, 1993
ISBN0-8341-1504-2
^Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa, Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002
ISBN0-7425-0764-5
^Karl Giberson and Mariano Artigas, The Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientist Versus God and Religion, Oxford University Press, 2006
ISBN0-19-531072-1
^Giberson is, in fact, the first scholar associated with the
Church of the Nazarene to publish with the Oxford University Press.
^Karl Giberson and Francis Collins, "The Language of Science and Faith: Straight Answers to Genuine Questions, InverVarsity Press, 2011
ISBN0-8308-3829-5
^Karl Giberson, The Wonder of the Universe: Hints of God in Our Fine-Tuned World, IVP Books, 2012
ISBN0-8308-3819-8
^Karl Giberson, Seven Glorious Days: A Scientist Retells the Genesis Creation Story, Paraclete Press, 2012
ISBN978-1557259288
^Karl Giberson, Saving the Original Sinner: How Christians Have Used the Bible's First Man to Oppress, Inspire, and Make Sense of the World, Beacon Press, 2015
ISBN978-0807012512