Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Whew!!! What a workout!, July 8, 2008
I naively thought that this book was going to be an expansion of the author's paper "Evolutionary Creation" (available on the Internet), but it turned out to be much more than that.
Denis Lamoureux is Associate Professor of Science and Religion at St. Joseph's College, University of Alberta, has doctoral degrees in dentistry, theology and biology, and is an evangelical Christian.
He has written one of the best (and probably the most provocative) books yet on the compatibility of science and the Bible. He starts by clearly, completely and biblically demolishing scientific and historical concordism as a viable approach to interpreting Genesis 1-11 by making a very strong biblical case for God having accommodated His message to His chosen people in the science of the time (a flat, circular, immovable earth with ends, foundations, an underside, a solid firmament overhead with the sun, moon, and stars set in it, and a sea of water held up by the firmament) and in the approach to history of the time (stylistic). We now know from archaeology, etc. that this was the status of science and history in the Ancient Near East but is not an accurate description of the cosmos and human history as we currently understand it. Therefore, it is clear that the creation story in Genesis should not be taken literally. "In the same way that [God] took on fallible human flesh in the person of Jesus to reveal His love for us, the Creator employed imperfect human ideas about nature to disclose in Scripture that He ordained and sustains the world" (p. 175). Lamoureux summarizes the points he has made in two tables of the failures of scientific and historical concordism (pp. 150 & 242).
He then builds on this foundation to make the case that "most of the events in Genesis 1-11 never literally happened, but that this is not a problem whatsoever to the Christian faith if believers recognize that the attribution of divine and human action is accommodated through ancient categories in order to reveal, as effectively as possible, Holy Spirit messages of faith" (p. 312). "Just as sin was never literally taken away through animal sacrifice, one could argue that sin never literally entered into the world through the first man mentioned in Scripture" (p. 313). "The Church is built upon no one other than Jesus Christ. Adam never died for our sins, but the Lord did. Believers are Christ-ians and not Adam-ites. The Cross should never be conflated with the historicity of Adam, his sin, and judgment" (p. 331).
New Testament references to Adam and Noah are shown to be the same accommodation to the understanding of science and history of the time. In addition, Lamoureux points out that the New Testament references were making theological, not historical, points. Having said that, he clearly defends the historicity of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. No slippery slope for him!
Lamoureux's approach paves the way for acceptance of biological evolution by evangelical Christians by solving a lot of biblical interpretation problems, but it creates some theological problems. In order for his view of evolutionary creation to become accepted in the Christian churches, theologians and pastors are going to be very busy for a long time.
Throughout the book, Lamoureux compares and contrasts five basic positions on origins: Young Earth Creationism (Creation Science), Progressive (Old Earth, Day-Age) Creationism, Evolutionary Creationism (Theistic Evolution), Deistic Evolution, and Dysteleological (Atheistic) Evolution. He also discusses divine action, intelligent design, and the anthropic principle.
The penultimate chapter is the author's very detailed account of his personal struggle in coming to terms with evolution, from childhood Catholicism to atheism to Young Earth Creationism to Evolutionary Creationism, a struggle which formed the common thread throughout his professional career.
The book has ten appendices, including Sumarian King Lists, Jahwish and Priestly Sources of the Biblical Flood Account (Genesis 6-9), Fossil Pattern Predictions of the Christian Origins Positions, Age of Earth, Carbon-14 Dating and the Archaeological Record, and Human Evolution. It also includes extensive Notes, a brief Glossary, a Subject Index, and a Scripture Index.
I highly recommend this book to any Christian interested in the compatibility of modern science and the Bible, and to any agnostic or atheist interested in an approach to Christianity that does not conflict with modern science.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazing work! Had to be written! Has to be read!, July 30, 2008
This is an amazing work by Denis Lamoureux. With a resume which includes having been an atheist, a young-earth creationist, a dentist, and now a biologist, theologian, and North American evangelical, Dr. Lamoureux is uniquely qualified to address this important Christian topic. This book had to be written, and Dr. Lamoureux was up to the task.
As a parent, I can say this work is vital for the faith of our children. One of my children has already asked the question - when scripture and science disagree, which one is right? Much of the North American evangelical community seems to be setting our children up for a great faith collapse when they begin to explore the scientific evidence for the emergent nature of the cosmos, the earth, animals, and humans. Scientific evidence is presented so overwhelmingly by the scientific community that we risk making Scripture irrelevant in the minds of our children if we continue to keep the false dichotomy between science and faith, between creation and evolution. We must teach our children that evolution does not equal atheism. Dr Lamoureux firmly establishes a basis on which to do this.
Others have described the content of the book very well. I will only add that in addition to being a text on Evolutionary Creation, it is also a great reference on "How to read the Bible". Dr. Lamoureux describes the "message-incident" principal, which states that God delivered theological messages of faith encapsulated within the scientific and historical beliefs that were common to the ancient people who received His revelation. Their inspired writings are laced with their views of the world and written using ancient literary styles. As 21st century Christians, we should seek to separate the spiritual messages from the ancient wrapper in which they were originally delivered. He very astutely demonstrates how to make this separation, with thorough exploration of ancient cosmology, geology, biology, history, and literary practices.
For example, how many Bible readers know that Gen 1-11 is a combination of two ancient sources in a single piece of literature? Dr Lamoureux not only makes this statement, but demonstrates how the two sources were redacted by the ancient writer to create a message of faith which separated the God of Israel from her ancient near eastern neighbors.
Has anyone ever considered that in Jesus' parable of the mustard seed, the living word of God states that this seed is the smallest of any seed in the world? In the 21st century we recognize that there are indeed smaller seeds than the mustard seed. Dr. Lamoureux demonstrates how Jesus Himself accommodated to the ancient scientific understanding, further making his case that ancient perspectives on science and history weren't the point of God's revelation.
Finally, as other reviewers have mentioned, Dr. Lamoureux tackles the sin-death problem and natural suffering. These are some of the fundamental issues with resolving biological science and Christian faith. First, suffering and death preceded humans, therefore humans are not the cause of suffering and death. Second, while recognizing that in an evolutionary context, the emergence of the image of God and our sinful nature is a mystery, he softens this mystery through the analogy of embryology and child development. When exactly does do developing children become accountable for their actions, and therefore become responsible for their sin? As a parent, I can appreciate this mystery. There isn't a single point in time, and the emergent process is different for each of my children. This is a very good analogy for the evolutionary emergence of humans and sin. As humans became more "human" and more instilled with God's image - better understanding how God would have them live - they became more and more responsible for their actions and sin gradually became an option. This analogy by Dr. Lamoureux was quite revealing, and quite freeing.
By all means, take the time to read this book. It is not a quick read, so be patient. It will change the way you read Scripture, and change the way you understand God's grace - directed not only at our hearts, but at our minds as well. It will allow you to teach your children that God is the creator, regardless of the process by which he created. It will allow North American evangelicals to preserve our belief in the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture, while accepting that the "Book of God's Works" can also be understood via the scientific method.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Your understanding of genesis will never be the same again!, September 4, 2008
Please excuse my English, I'm just a French guy who tries to express himself in this marvellous language!
What a pertinent and fascinating book! I got clear answers for questions I had for many years!
Even if we don't have all the answers, such a book makes me believe we are not far from understanding the main part of it, and also what we will never be able to understand!
Looking for information about evolution and Christian faith, it's by "chance" I found Denis O. Lamoureux website. Reading his articles, I already had the feeling there was something particularly accurate in his way of reconciling Christian faith and modern evolutionary science. When I read a book written by a scientist on such a subject, it's mostly pertinent on the scientific part, and the reverse with a theological study of Genesis. But such a synthetic book had to be written by someone absolutely aware of the evidence about evolution and the theological problems that are raised for conservative Christians like me. I mostly recommend it for the reader who is already convinced by this evidence, who is not ready to become a "liberal" but who is open minded and who is not afraid to walk where not many have walked before! This book made me realize it is possible to believe in the inspiration of Scripture and not to take the first chapters of Genesis historically. Before reading the book, I admit I thought it was just impossible.
The way Denis O. Lamoureux analyses ancient science in the Bible is really convincing, and his comments with New Testament passages dealing with Genesis 1-11 put a new light on these chapters. This is a book I highly recommend for people who are still looking for arguments reconciling modern science and conservative evangelical faith!
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by Deborah B. Haarsma
