Customer Reviews

Creation and Evolution: Rethinking the Evidence from Science and the Bible

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The author is a physicist and was a practising scientist, he is British and therefore he writes from a slightly different perspective to the books coming out of the USA. The most significant part of the book is the section on the age of the earth where he looks at the young earth arguments and demolishes them quite effectively. It is also significant that in the same year (1985) another book written in the USA by the physicist Don Stoner also debunked the young earth arguments. Hugh Ross in his 1994 book Creation and Time exposed the same fallacies as well as demonstrating the cosmological arguments for an old universe. All young earthers should read Hayward's book. "Claiming that the Bible teaches a young universe only adds an unnecessary stumbling block to those who are sceptical about the faith." - Matt Perman.

Hayward is a respected British scientist, who also happens to be an apparently very committed Christian. His main aguments are aimed, ironically, not at the Evolutionists, but rather against the Young Earth Creationists. Nevertheless, in the first part of the book he does mention multiple important general problems with evolution (i.e. macroevolution) as the reason for the origin of species. He does a fairly good job at letting the Evolutionists shoot their own theory down. And he is correct that the evidence for design is making a strong comeback (design not only found in living things, but also design seen in the universe as a whole). But the best part of this book is Hayward's pointing out the grave problems that well meaning Christian Young Earth Creationists have with the scientific evidence today. I should know, because I used to be one of them! But that does not mean that modern science is in conflict with the Bible. Because there is another group of Christians called Old Earth Creationists. Evolutionists conviently paint all Christians as Young Earth Creationists. But the strongest arguments against Evolution (both prebiotic and postbiotic) come form the Old Earth Christian Creationists. And Hayward's concise little book hits the nail on the head in a very easy to read manner that is geared for the average person who is interested in these matters. For a good discussion on the theological basis for an Old Earth vs Young Earth Biblical point of view, I would suggest the book "The Genesis Debate".

I have always wanted to find a book that would present clear arguments for Creationism that explained recent scientific understandings in astronomy, geology and biology. Dr. Hayward addresses every argument in the Creation vs. Evolution debate and suggests a position that is harmonious with recent science and a respect for the authority of the Bible. I could not put the book down!

Hayward argues that the case for a very old earth is overwhelming, but the case for the evolution of species is weak and unproven. He attempts to quote evolutionists in context, which has not always been the case. He presents a history of Christian thinking on science and the Bible, and shows that there were many prominent scientists who were Christians and believed the above 2 theses prior to the 1950s. Hayward argues that the Creation Science movement is not staffed by scientists recognised as experts in the fields in which they do battle with the scientific world.

The book is well worth reading, whatever your convictions about the creation-evolution debate. It is one of the very best books available on the subject.

Hayward provides an unbiased evaluation of evidence for and against an ancient creation of the universe, directed primarily at a Christian readership. This is a much-needed book in a time when many Christians confuse tradition with actual biblical truth. Arguments for a recent creation are gently dispelled and many examples (primarily from earth sciences) are given to demonstrate that the earth must be much older than "young earth" creation theory teaches. It is clearly emphasized that one can accept the scientific evidence for an ancient earth and still be a sincere believer in special creation.

This book does an excellent job of presenting an overview of the different veiws from both sides of this debate. Hayward's science and his reasoning are as clear as any I have read on this subject. It was very refreshing to me to read an author on this topic whom I trusted was not projecting a bias. If you are a well educated scientist, you will appreciate the depth of Hayward's arguements, and if you are not, you will appreciate how accessible his reasoning is to you as well.

With the psuedoscience and poor biblical interpretations of young-earth creationists dominating the world's view of Christians, Hayward's rational and biblical discussion shows how Earth is ancient and darwinism is false. While young-earthers resort to emotionalism (i.e. the no death before Adam tautology, which violates common sense and physics), Hayward is reasonable and scholarly, yet easy to understand.

This is an excellent book by a respected scientist. It does not claim to include new work but is a review and summary of evidence. Alan Hayward includes an excellent section on New Earth Creationism, in which he gives many basic scientific reasons why the 'Flood Geology' arguments are fundamentally flawed. His examples are clear and understandable illustrations of the weaknesses of Young Earth hypothesis. The section covering problems in evolutionary theory is now somewhat dated and has been overtaken by more recent books, but it is still an excellent introduction for a non-scientist.

An interesting possibility for understanding the Bible text about creation, in the light of the almost overwhelming evidence for an 'old' earth, is given.

The first part of the book provides a nice critique of many young earth arguments. For the second part of the book, Hayward says that the fact of common descent falls apart unless a mechanism for evolution is provided. He then says that natural selection is the only candidate explanation, and that many biologists reject natural selection as a mechanism for evolution.

He considers Francis Hitching to be a credible source on evolutionary biology, so right away you can see that the author is way out of his field of astronomy. His main thesis is faulty. Common descent can be inferred without reference to a mechanism. Natural selection is hardly the only candidate mechanism.

He advances the usual creationist argument that transitional forms could not make a living because they would be stuck between two worlds. He uses the whale as example, which is pretty ironic given the recent series of whale fossils which shows the transition he claims is not possible.

Hayward argues against both recent creationism and evolutionism in making the case for ancient creationism. The book contains some interesting ideas and should be read by any recent creationist. While his arguments against recent creationism are quite solid he fails somewhat in his arguments against evolution. Many of his purported "problems" with evolution have quite simple explanations that have been tested and hold up to the scrutiny of scientific testing. Overall, this may be a good introductory book but it is somewhat dated.