Evolution and Africa

So as of late I have picked up a book on Africa in preparation for my trip this summer to Uganda. Yes, for those of you who do not know, I'm going to Uganda and Rwanda for 2 weeks on a pilgrimmage with Duke Divinity School--it should be absolutely amazing and a true answer to prayer. But as I'm reading the book, I'm stumbling over (and groaning over) the many references to Evolution.

Forgive that I come off as a complete fundamentalist in my struggles over this issue, but I just don't believe in it. I can't believe that humans derived from monkeys--I see the resemblance, but I trust the Genesis account. Now granted I find certain aspects of evolutionary biology and anthropology extremely boring subject matter, I don't believe that it should be totally chucked out--especially for those in those areas of study. But I'm just at a loss for how to respond in my annoyance. Annoyance at the pervasiveness of evolution in the current book I'm reading and in the culture, but also at my lack of clarity and ability to communicate what I think/believe is false or true about it, since I definately do not believe in chucking all of science due to a few Scriptural problems with it. I'm annoyed that it makes me want to skip large chunks of the book I'm reading because I find it so at odds with my beliefs that it seems like silliness to me...and also somewhat mystical--like reading a gnostic text or watching Joel Osteen on tv.

How do I go to a land that for so long has experienced oppression by my own people (because of both the Bible and Darwin), and then not believe in such a pro-African anthropology such as the culture hearths? I'm having such trouble reconciling.

But here is something I find helpful in the midst of my struggle that I found in a book by Thomas E. Schmidt in Straight and Narrow?: Compassion and Clarity in the Homosexuality Debate (yes, I know, that is a can of worms on its own). But he says he believes in "the primacy and finality of the Bible's authority for faith and practice" meaning "that Scripture is the first place to look and the last place of appeal for guidance...Human experience, human traditions, and human reason...[are] a few examples of positive input [for authority] and are essential participants in a conversation intended to apply Scripture to our lives. To say that they have no place, that the Bible speaks alone, is simplistic and perhaps deceptive--there is always some interpretation going on."

I like that Scmidt argues that we cannot be ideologues. In the particular quandary that he studies (homosexuality), he argues that there is a complex theological case against it. I also like that my professor, Ellen Davis, argues that the issue is too messy and will not truly be resolved by the Church in our lifetimes. So I can take comfort and do some sort of settling in the ambiguity, and hopefully reading and responding with love when it comes to these hot button issues that truly are complex, where Scripture and Experience seem to collide.

Poverty and the Problem of the "Boot straps": An American Fallicy

So today in my Pastoral Care in Cross Cultural Perspective class, I found myself wanting to weep at the cross. We were having a discussion about Eastern culture (which experiences more communal identity) and Western culture (which has an individualistic perception of identity). Dr. Acolatse, our professor, grew up in Ghana. And she mentioned that the issue of homelessness would NEVER occur in African culture. In Africa, a person would never have to feel the shame of feeling that they failed at making a living for themselves. In our culture it leads to homelessness or suicide--feeling that you can't provide for yourself. Rather, an African would be taken in my a family member, no matter the hardship it proved to add another mouth the feed. As Americans, we look at people as if it is their own fault for not "making it," sending that person in despair. In Eastern culture, you make a living together--not on your own.

What a humbling thought to think that in some places around the world that homelessness and suicide would not exist just because of a way of thinking or a value system.