Theistic evolution is the effort to reconcile Darwin's theory of undirected evolution with belief in God in general and Christian theology in particular. Analogous terms to theistic evolution include "evolutionary creation," "fully gifted creation," and "biologos."
Theistic evolution encompasses a wide array of different approaches and views, which has generated considerable confusion about the actual meaning of the term. To a large extent, differences in opinion among theistic evolutionists are driven by how theistic evolutionists define both "theism" and "evolution."
Does theism require a God who actively and intimately guides the development of life? Or does it allow a passive God who may not even know how the development of life will ultimately turn out? Alternatively, does evolutionary theory require an undirected process (as Darwin insisted)? Or can evolution include a process guided to specific ends by an intelligent cause? One's conception of theistic evolution will be markedly different depending on how one answers these questions.
In the initial decades after Darwin proposed his theory, theistic evolution typically was presented as a form of guided evolution. Although Darwin himself firmly rejected the idea that evolution was guided by God to accomplish particular ends, many of Darwin's contemporaries (including those in the scientific community) rejected undirected natural selection as sufficient to explain all the major advances in the history of life.
Instead, there was widespread acceptance of the idea "that evolution was an essentially purposeful process... The human mind and moral values were seen as the intended outcome of a process that was built into the very fabric of nature and that could thus be interpreted as the Creator's plan." [Darwinism (1993), p. 6]
