Amazon Info: The debate about biological origins continues to be hotly contested within the Christian church. Prominent organizations such as Biologos (USA) and Faraday Institute (UK) insist that Christians must yield to an unassailable scientific consensus in favor of contemporary evolutionary theory and modify traditional biblical ideas about the creation of life accordingly. They promote a view known as “theistic evolution” or “evolutionary creation.” They argue that God used—albeit in an undetectable way—evolutionary mechanisms to produce all forms of life. This book contests this proposal. Featuring two dozen highly credentialed scientists, philosophers, and theologians from Europe and North America, this volume provides the most comprehensive critique of theistic evolution yet produced. It documents evidential, logical, and theological problems with theistic evolution, opening the door to scientific and theological alternatives—making the book essential reading for understanding this worldview-shaping issue.
My rating: 4 stars My review: It’s rare that I’ll write a book review without first reading the entire book, but I fear this one, at over 1000 pages, will take me much longer than I ever thought. Given the scientific and academic subject matter, the intensity of the debate, and the writing style of the authors, this stay at home mom will have her work cut out for her! All that said, the topic is fascinating to me and I believe it’s not only important, but vital that we Christians learn about the various views on creation/evolution within our own circles. This book is a deep, full, and detailed argument not just in favor of creation, but against a view within creation science referred to as Theistic Evolution … sort of combining the idea that yes, God did create, but used the process of evolution to do it (my kindergarten explanation!). Anyway, if you are at all interested in the topic (and you should be) this is a great volume to have in your library of resources and while thick and pricey, it’s definitely worth the money! Here’s a little taste from the intro chapter:
In this book we will provide a comprehensive scientific, philosophical, and theological critique of the idea known as theistic evolution. But before we can do that, we will need to define what the proponents of this perspective mean by “theistic evolution”—or “evolutionary creationism,” as it is sometimes now called. Indeed, before we can critique this perspective we will need to know what exactly it asserts. Is it a logically coherent position? Is it a theologically orthodox position? Is it supported by, or consistent with, the relevant scientific evidence? The answer to each of these questions depends crucially on the definition or sense of “evolution” in play. “Theistic evolution” can mean different things to different people largely because the term “evolution” itself has several distinct meanings.
And just to give you a feel for what you’re in for, here’s the table of contents (don’t get scared off!)
SECTION I: THE SCIENTIFIC CRITIQUE OF THEISTIC EVOLUTION Section I, Part 1: The Failure of Neo-Darwinism 1 Three Good Reasons for People of Faith to Reject Darwin’s Explanation of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fjallraven Kanken UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Douglas D. Axe 2 Neo-Darwinism and the Origin of Biological Form and Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105 Stephen C. Meyer 3 Evolution: A Story without a Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139 Matti Leisola 4 Are Present Proposals on Chemical Evolutionary Mechanisms Accurately Pointing toward First Life? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165 James M. Tour 5 Digital Evolution: Predictions of Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193 Winston Ewert 6 The Difference It Doesn’t Make: Why the “Front-End Loaded” Concept of Design Fails to Explain the Origin of Biological Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217 Stephen C. Meyer 7 Why DNA Mutations Cannot Accomplish What Neo-Darwinism Requires . . Fjallraven Kanken Backpack Sale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 Jonathan Wells 8 Theistic Evolution and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis: Does It Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257 Stephen C. Meyer, Ann K. Gauger, and Paul A. Nelson 9 Evidence from Embryology Challenges Evolutionary Theory . . . .289 Sheena Tyler Section I, Part 2: The Case against Universal Common Descent and for a Unique Human Origin 10 The Fossil Record and Universal Common Ancestry . . . . . . . . nike air max 90 femme . . . . .331 Günter Bechly and Stephen C. Meyer 11 Universal Common Descent: A Comprehensive Critique . . . . . . . . .363 Casey Luskin 12 Five Questions Everyone Should Ask about Common Descent . . . .403 Paul A. Nelson 13 The Battle over Human Origins (Introduction to Chapters 14–16) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .431 Ann K. Gauger 14 Missing Transitions: Human Origins and the Fossil Record . . . . .437 Casey Luskin 15 Evidence for Human Uniqueness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .475 Ann K. Gauger, Ola Hössjer, and Colin R. Reeves 16 An Alternative Population Genetics Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .503 Ola Hössjer, Ann K. Gauger, and Colin R. Reeves 17 Pressure to Conform Leads to Bias in Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .523 Christopher Shaw SECTION II: THE PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE OF THEISTIC EVOLUTION 18 Why Science Needs Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mochilas Fjällräven Kanken Tienda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .547 J. P. Moreland 19 Should Theistic Evolution Depend on Methodological Naturalism? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .561 Stephen C. Meyer and Paul A. Nelson 20 How to Lose a Battleship: Why Methodological Naturalism Sinks Theistic Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .593 Stephen Dilley 21 How Theistic Evolution Kicks Christianity Out of the Plausibility Structure and Robs Christians of Confidence that the Bible Is a Source of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .633 J. P. Moreland 22 How to Think about God’s Action in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .659 C. John Collins 23 Theistic Evolution and the Problem of Natural Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . .683 Garrett J. DeWeese 24 Bringing Home the Bacon: The Interaction of Science and Scripture Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nike tn . . . . . . . . .705 Colin R. Reeves 25 The Origin of Moral Conscience: Theistic Evolution versus Intelligent Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .731 Tapio Puolimatka 26 Darwin in the Dock: C. S. Lewis on Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .755 John G. nike mercurial vapor West SECTION III: THE BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL CRITIQUE OF THEISTIC EVOLUTION 27 Theistic Evolution Undermines Twelve Creation Events and Several Crucial Christian Doctrines. . . . . . . . . . nike hypervenom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .783 Wayne Grudem 28 Theistic Evolution Is Incompatible with the Teachings of the Old Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .839 John D. Currid 29 Theistic Evolution Is Incompatible with the Teachings of the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .879 Guy Prentiss Waters 30 Theistic Evolution Is Incompatible with Historical Christian Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .927 Gregg R. Allison 31 Additional Note: B. B. Warfield Did Not Endorse Theistic Evolution as It Is Understood Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .953 Fred G. Zaspel General Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .973 Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1001
I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.