Michael Dowd

Michael Dowd
Michael Dowd in Boulder Colorado
Born	(1958-11-19) November 19, 1958 (age 58)
Fields	Big History, Religious Naturalism, Sustainability, traveling speaker
Alma mater	MDiv – Palmer Seminary, BA - Evangel University
Known for	Epic of Evolution, Evolutionary Christianity
Influences	Thomas Berry, Brian Swimme, Loyal Rue, David Sloan Wilson, David Christian, William R. Catton, John Michael Greer

Michael Dowd (born November 19, 1958) is an American Progressive Christian minister, author, and eco-theologian known as an advocate of Big History, religious naturalism, sustainability, climate activism, and the epic of evolution.

His evangelizing to some 2,000 audiences starting in April 2002 provided material for Thank God for Evolution in 2008. The book was endorsed by six Nobel Prize-winning scientists. On April 2, 2009, Dowd at the United Nations addressed the lack of an evolutionary worldview which he maintains has resulted in a global integrity crisis. Overcoming this crisis, he says, requires a deep time view of human nature, values and social systems. He maintains a Christian perspective and accepts the theory of evolution.

Dowd expanded his outreach program with the founding of EvolutionaryChristianity.com in 2010. Thirty-eight religious leaders from diverse backgrounds joined him in an audio seminar introduction. In spite of their dissimilar religious orientations and backgrounds, they hold many perspectives in common; such as valuing Big History (deep time), a global ethos, and realistic expectations grounded in an understanding of scientific (Evidence of common descent), historical (History of the world), and cross-cultural facts (cultural evolution) as "divine communication". This program has drawn both rebuttals and praise from Christian sources.

Dowd, raised Roman Catholic, graduated from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri summa cum laude receiving a B.A. in philosophy and biblical studies. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree with honors at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia. Dowd was ordained as a United Church of Christ minister and served as a congregational minister for nine years in churches in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Michigan.