three-year process initiated by church leadership to stimulate dialogue among Adventist theologians, scientists, and church administrators about the biblical account of origins concluded with an international conference in Denver, Colorado, August 20 to 26 at which the church's historic understanding of a literal, six-day creation of the world was affirmed.

The Denver Faith and Science Conference was the third and last annual session of a series of meetings emerging from a 2001 Annual Council recommendation. An earlier international gathering of scholars and administrators in August 2002, in Ogden, Utah, was followed one year ago by regional conferences in seven of the church's 13 world divisions. The August 2004 session was intended to summarize the findings of the previous meetings and to prepare recommendations for a report to the church's Annual Council session that will convene October 8-14 at the world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Participants in all three phases were drawn from religion and science faculties of Adventist universities and colleges, and elected church leaders at union and division offices. Scholars from the church's Geoscience Research Institute and the Biblical Research Institute also participated in the conference. The 135 attendees present in Denver included 45 persons from outside the North American Division.

Church leaders were cognizant from the beginning of the process that establishing such a dialogue was not without risks. General Conference vice president Lowell Cooper, who served as chair of the organizing committee, reminded conference attendees in his August 20 orientation address that members in several areas around the world were paying unusually close attention to the Denver proceedings.

"There is on the one hand a foreboding that discussing doctrinal issues may lead to a watering down of our faith," Cooper said, "that somehow the package of beliefs will be weakened, or perhaps that we shall soon find ourselves on a slippery slope with nothing to hang on to."

Cooper also acknowledged that Adventist scholars clearly understood risks as well: "On the other hand, there is a nagging fear that we shall disparage learning, scholarship, and inquiry in order to preserve our beliefs from close scrutiny."

The six days of the conference featured opportunities for daily and Sabbath worship and fellowship along with nearly 20 presentations from scientists and theologians about their areas of specialty. Some scholars grappling with scientific data on age-of-the-earth matters highlighted the incompatibility of such findings with the church's traditional understanding of Genesis 1-11, while other scientists pointed to findings that they believe support that belief. Differences in theological perspective among the seminary and religion faculty on the meaning of the biblical text were also aired. Special attention was paid in presentations and discussions to the role of scholarship in the church, and what expectations church administrators and constituents may legitimately have of scholars employed by church institutions.

"I think this conference was a very good start-perhaps a pattern for ongoing discussions in various areas of the church's life and thinking," says Adventist Review editor William Johnsson, who attended both the 2002 and 2004 international sessions. "We need to keep talking. We are a world church, and growing fast, with fine, trained minds in various disciplines. There's great value in getting such groups together to examine our common faith."

Johnsson also underscored both the quality and spiritual impact of the Denver presentations, even while noting that the content of the presentations frequently called for intense concentration. "The level of intellectual involvement was very high," he notes, "and the level of pastoral concern or personal concern for fellow participants was equally high."

"One of the things we can say with great clarity is that these conversations were among believers," adds Cooper. "We didn't have people there who believed in philosophical naturalism and who were making arguments from that standpoint. We're Seventh-day Adventists. But within the Seventh-day Adventist community there are people who come from different directions and different disciplines and at different paces."

Cooper characterized the proceedings as a "very civil and courteous dialogue for the most part," while acknowledging that deeply held differences in belief sometimes surfaced in sweeping generalizations.

Other participants saw greater clarity for themselves and for the church's understanding of its historic belief emerging from the Denver meetings.

"I was reminded of how critical and central our belief in creation is for both the Adventist message and for the basic message of Christianity as a whole," says Dr. Greg King, professor of Old Testament at Southern Adventist University. "The Bible's story of salvation is only convincing, coherent, and self-consistent if understood in conjunction with the Bible's description of a recent creation in six literal days. In fact, there's a close relationship between the doctrine of creation and many other important teachings of Scripture."

Some participants wished that greater weight had been given to the methodological concerns of scientists present. "We in the sciences have long dealt with the fact that everything we do has uncertainty to it," says Dr. Clark Rowland, professor of physics at Andrews University. "It appears that some of our colleagues believe that their uncertainty approaches zero, while ours approaches infinity."

Cindy Tutsch, associate director of the Ellen G. White Estate, expressed her concerns about the impact of divergent views on the next generation of believers.

"I'm apprehensive that earth-origins pluralism will continue to be tolerated at our Adventist universities," she says. "Professors who hold 'deep-time' positions have not yet been definitively requested to refrain from teaching those views as verities. As a youth minister and parent, I hope that our Adventist educational system will always build confidence in Scripture as well as in the writings of Ellen White."

The organizing committee that guided the three-year process prepared a 3,000-word report for the General Conference president. The report will also be presented at the Annual Council. (The full text of the report will appear in the November 11 World Edition of the Adventist Review, and online at www.adventistreview.org.) The report highlights the importance of the study of origins to the entire Seventh-day Adventist belief system, and acknowledges the tensions between the study of science and biblical perspectives, calling for humility and continuing dialogue between adherents of various views.

Among its most significant findings from the process is this conclusion: "Reaffirmation of the church's fundamental belief regarding creation is strongly supported. Seventh-day Adventist belief in a literal and historical six-day creation is theologically sound and consistent with the teaching of the whole Bible."

The report also notes that some present at the Denver meeting urged that the church consider refining its current Fundamental Belief No. 6 to remove any perceived ambiguity. "Concern has been expressed regarding what some see as ambiguity in the phrase 'In six days' found in the church's statement of belief on creation," the report notes. "It is felt that the intended meaning (that the six-day creation described in Genesis was accomplished in a literal and historical week) is unmentioned. . . . There is a desire for the voice of the church to be heard in bringing added clarity to what is really meant in Fundamental Belief No. 6."

The report recommends that "the historic Seventh-day Adventist understanding of the Genesis narrative be affirmed more explicitly," and that church leaders "assess and monitor" the success of denominational schools and programs in providing Adventist youth and young adults with a biblical understanding of origins and an awareness of the challenges they may face because of those beliefs. It also calls for "increased opportunity" for interdisciplinary dialogue and research "in a safe environment" for Adventist scholars around the globe.

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Bill Knott is an associate editor of the Adventist Review. Sandra Blackmer is news editor.