Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation [Perfect Paperback]

Gordon J. Glover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2007

As debates within the Church over the scientific details of creation become more frequent, the experts seem to grow more entrenched while the rest of us only become more confused. Somewhere between the endless arguments over distant starlight and Carbon-14 dating, calculating the mathematical improbabilities of things that already exist, and parsing ancient Hebrew and Greek, somebody needs to ask the simple question, If 3,500 years of scientific progress can t help modern Christians figure out Genesis, then how could the ancient Israelites possibly have understood it so well? What secret did this newly liberated gaggle of Hebrew nomads take with them out of Egypt that holds the key to understanding God s telling of His own creation story? Beyond the Firmament challenges all creationist camps whether Young-Earth, Old-Earth, or Theistic Evolutionist to step outside of traditional paradigms and recognize how our modern, Western, post-Enlightenment scientific worldview actually blinds us from seeing the simple truth of Creation as it was originally intended; and how our failure to grasp the theological significance of the biblical creation model puts science and faith on a collision course.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Gordon J. Glover's new book will be important for several groups of people: thoughtful Christians troubled by culture wars and seeking a way beyond them, people engaged in the science-religion debate that seems to have heated up (on both sides) in recent years, and those interested in how world-views (ancient, medieval, modern, or whatever) resource and limit the ways we read sacred texts and apply them today. I found it energetic, well-researched, and constructive. --Brian McLaren, author/activist (brianmclaren.net)

Gordon J. Glover takes seriously the claims not only of Biblical revelation but also of natural revelation (creation), and he deftly navigates the frontier between the scientific investigation of the universe's origins and the theological investigation of Holy Scripture. As an advocate of Biblical infallibility, he asks us to stay tune to ancient Near Eastern world-views and to exercise hermeneutical sensitivity in inquiring what the book of Genesis is actually attempting to say. While not endorsing all of Glover s conclusions, I commend this work as a thoughtful treatment of the issues surrounding origins as seen from an intentionally and distinctly Christian perspective. --P. Andrew Sandlin, President, Center for Cultural Leadership (christianculture.com)

Many times I have heard conservative Christians complain that the Big Bang removes God from the picture, so it must be an atheistic theory… But science can only examine the physical universe in terms of material cause and effect, and is not equipped to address transcendent meaning or purpose, and as described in this book, the interpretation of the physical aspects of nature cannot be held hostage to particular philosophies of either Christians or atheists. I would strongly recommend this book as a valuable addition to a church library and bookstore, and it should pique some Christians, agnostics, and atheists into thinking about what they believe, or what they do not believe. --Dr. Christopher M. Sharp, Research astrophysicist and educator (csharp.com/creationism.html)

About the Author

A native of Texas, Gordon J. Glover currently lives and works in the Baltimore-Washington area with his wife Kathryn, and their three children: Dabney, Truitt and Bryn. Gordon has always had an insatiable interest in the natural sciences; specifically how they relate to Christian theology and the Bible. Sacrificing the romantic idea of a scientific career on the alters of pragmatism, he studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas and Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University. He then served 10 years in the U.S. Navy as a Deep Sea Diver and Ocean Engineer before settling down in the suburbs of southern Maryland. In his ongoing quest to integrate science with Christian orthodoxy, Gordon has probably held just about every conceivable position on Creation. He now spends most of his free time studying, discussing, speaking and writing about the challenging philosophical issues that arise from the scientific investigation of natural history - and doing backyard astronomy with his kids.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: Watertree Press (August 30, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978718615
• ISBN-13: 978-0978718619
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #534,150 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible does not teach Young Earth Creationism, March 13, 2008

By 

Paul R. Bruggink (Clarington, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation (Perfect Paperback)

How different would Christian evangelism be if all of the Young Earth Creationists (YECs) gradually folded their tents and gave up their sincere but misguided fight that is so detrimental to Christian evangelism, especially toward the scientific community. Since YECs believe that the Bible trumps science every time, no argument from science is ever going to make this happen. This book, written by an evangelical Christian layman for conservative evangelical Christian adherents of Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism (OEC) and Intelligent Design, takes a giant step toward achieving the above goal.

Gordon J. Glover maintains that YECs and OECs are equally wrong in their approach to interpreting Genesis 1 & 2 (and other references to creation in the Bible). His main theme is that Genesis 1 & 2 are not scientific accounts of the origin of the universe and that both YECs and OECs err in trying to interpret it that way. He makes a very good case from the Bible itself that God accommodated his message to what the Israelites of that time could understand, and that God's message was theological, not scientific.

This approach is not new. It has been well developed in a number of commentaries on Genesis, including but not limited to John H. Walton's "The NIV Application Commentary-Genesis," C. John Collins' "Genesis 1-4," and Henri Blocher's "In the Beginning." What is new here is a discussion of the issues in a form much more accessable to Christian laymen. The author is neither a scientist nor a theologian, and, while his writing style is a bit flippant at times, he makes his points well, forcefully and understandably. He also acknowledges that it is going to take a lot of time for YECs to make the transition to a different way of understanding God's message in Genesis.

The author describes his reluctant acceptance of evolution as just another natural process through which God has been operating in his providental governance of the universe. In that vein, he expresses his dislike of the term "theistic evolution" as not making any more sense than "theistic meteorology." He cites a number of clearly stated, understandable reasons why biological evolution is currently the most reasonable explanation of the facts that scientists are observing in nature.

The author goes on to very clearly demonstrate that "creation science" is not science, that science is not the enemy of Christianity, and that science does not lie. He summarizes his position on "creation science" in four bullet points on page 105 as follows:
(1) Creaton science removes the Bible out from under the protection of the ancient Near-Eastern worldview - where truth did not always have to be expressed in scientific terms, and subjects it to the rigors of the modern materialists' worldview - which requires truth to always be precisely communicated in scientific terms.
(2) Creation science marginalizes the timeless theological realities of the creation story by exposing the timely physical details to scientific ridicule.
(3) Creation science hands the secular world a Biblical straw-man that can be easily torn down, along with the entire Christian faith.
(4) Since all scientific propositions are subject to falsification, creation science puts the Lord our God to the test!

I only wish that there were some way that Young Earth Creationists (and a few Old Earth Creationists) could be exposed to this book. I highly recommend it.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging, October 15, 2007

By 

Heather (Trujillo, Peru) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation (Perfect Paperback)

Reading Beyond the Firmament challenged me to think more deeply about how I view science in light of my faith. It challenged me to think more deeply than I ever have before about the things of creation and what might science have to say in regard to the details of how it came about. It challenged my mind and enlarged my view of God as the Creator. While I can not say that I agree with everything Gordon Glover agrees with, I can say that he opened my eyes to possiblities I might not have before considered. I love that he constantly reminds us throughout the book that "science is tentative" - it is always changing and so therefore so is man's interpretation of the data. I loved Glover's voice throughout the book - it was humble, and intelligent. His faith is evident and steadfast, and his openness to his own continuing education is inspiring. He really balances well science and theology and shows how they are not meant to be combatants.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fresh Approach to Science and the Bible, September 21, 2007

By 

Clifford R. Martin (Toledo, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Beyond the Firmament: Understanding Science and the Theology of Creation (Perfect Paperback)

"Why another book on science and faith?" Gordon Glover poses the question himself in the preface of Beyond the Firmament, his first book, released earlier this month by Watertree Press. While Glover offers his owns reasons, I would like to add a few of my own.

The motto of the publisher Watertree Press (also new) is Read. Think. Grow. With this book, their first release, readers will likely do all three. Glover challenges us to step outside our comfortable paradigms and think about issues like the big bang and evolution in new and fresh ways. He takes the reader on a journey of discovery to answer such questions as: What do we know, and how do we know it? What can the Bible tell us about nature? What can nature tell us about itself? What about evolution?

Glover's approach to this subject matter is unique. He does not write from the perspective of a trained scientist. This, I believe, is to his advantage. The reader will not be bogged down in the arcane language of the lab or technical terminology. (When it is necessary to introduce terms which might be unfamiliar, Glover defines those terms in simple language using footnotes on the same page.) Instead, Glover employs entertaining analogies and a bit of humor to shake us out of our comfort zones and compel us to think clearly! While Glover is not a trained scientist, he does not lack understanding of the technical issues at hand. But his presentation of those issue to the untrained reader is clear, straightforward and to the point. The result is a book that is easy to read, informative, and enjoyable. I recommend it to all my readers who wish to have a clearer world-view when it comes to the sciences of origins and the Bible.

Glover's forte is analogy. His analogies open up delightful windows upon the truth. They yield up opportunities to look at things from completely new and fresh angles. This sometimes indirect approach catches us off guard, and gently dismantles our faulty preconceived notions without attacking them head-on. It is hard to be defensive and argumentative when we are smiling! Whether Glover is imagining a fleet of levitating snow machines or exposing the folly of a Christian insistence upon "theistic meteorology", even the resistant reader will be disarmed and forced to rethink his cherished assumptions.

Another strength of Glover's is his understanding of ancient Near-Eastern world-views, and how they impacted the writing of the Old Testament. Every believer who struggles with early Genesis and Inspiration should read this book. Glover, a committed Bible believer, makes a strong case that those who would defend the Scriptures must do so with an understanding of the world in which they were written. His approach brings clarity to many of the riddles of Biblical interpretation, especially as they relate to modern science.

Reading Beyond the Firmament was a pleasure for me. I shared most of Glover's views before I read his book, and he introduced little information with which I was not already familiar. Still, his unique and fresh approach captivated me and gave me an enjoyable experience.