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59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Patristic doctrine of creation confronts neodarwinism, August 2, 2000
This review is from: Genesis, Creation and Early Man (Paperback)
Here is a truly great book presenting the heart and soul of the Orthodox Christian doctrine of creation, the fruit of the research and study on the subject of creation and evolution done by Fr. Seraphim Rose during the last 15 years of his life. Disturbed by the easy if shallow acceptance of evolutionism by many modern Orthodox Christian authorities, Fr. Seraphim researched the subject of creation and evolution in depth in relation to Orthodox theology, and particularly in relation to patristic thought. Since the Orthodox Church considers the Church Fathers to be normative for its theology, Fr. Seraphim did a comparative study of all the available patristic commentaries on the Haexameron (the Six Days of Creation in Genesis): Origen, St.Basil the Great, St. Ambrose, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, Blessed Augustine, and St. Ephrem the Syrian. This seems not to have been done before, at least not to so thorough an extent in modern times. What he found, by a thorough study of these sources, was that, contrary to the efforts of certain theologians to offer a "reading" of the Fathers that would support Darwinism, none of the Great Fathers of the Church can be claimed to support anything like current evolution theory. Even St. Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine, the two names most often mentioned in connection with doctrines that might support some form of evolution theory, are shown by Fr. Seraphim most convincingly to be thoroughly creationist in the Biblical and traditional sense. All of their more ambiguous remarks, when placed in context of their total thought, can in no way be claimed as some kind of ancient prefiguring of evolution. Any "reading" of any of the Fathers named above to support evolutionism is extremely far-fetched, and is the product of wishful thinking on the part of those Orthodox who want their church's theology to be more "up to date" and not at all in accord with the Patristic "phronema" (mind), which is supposed to be the hallmark of the Orthodox Church. The Patristic phronema cannot be said to be specifically anti-evolutionist in the strict sense of directly denying evolution as such, but only because transformism as a way of conceiving the origin of creatures was literally inconceivable, given their theistic and Trinitarian presuppositions and worldview. This remains a fact, claims Fr. Seraphim, whatever one might think about evolutionism as a theory of origins. The heart of the problem for Orthodox Christians, then, given this fact, is how to think about creation, origins, and the seemingly overwhelming unanimity (a false impression, in any case, as is proved by the recent surge of support for intelligent design in science) of scientific thought in support of the doctrine of evolution. Does this mean the Fathers are "creationists", in the currently understood meaning of that term, with its fundamentalist, or at least evangelical Protestant connotation? Not at all. They were creationists, certainly, but in a way that does not conform exactly to any contemporary notion, whether fundamentalist or evangelicalist or theistic-evolutionist. If neo-darwinist evolutionism can be said to be (prescinding from more recent non-gradual tweakings of the theory) horizontal, gradualist, randomly and blindly (unintelligently) caused, linear transformism, the Patristic doctrine of creation is vertically emergent, intelligently designed, hierarchically informed crystallization or condensation--ie, "And God said, let there be..., and it was so." This superb study of the Patristic interpretation of Genesis is accompanied by Fr. Seraphim's acute analysis of the kind of philosophy that underlies evolutionism in all its forms. He finds it to be a set of modernist, relativist, pluralist, secularist, empiricist presuppositions that is essentially incompatible with the true Orthodox ethos. There are a thousand books out there on creation and evolution, but among them, "Genesis, Creation and Early Man" is truly unique. Fr. Damascene Christensen, Fr. Seraphim's editor, contributes a thoughtful introduction and epilogue, and Philip Johnson contributes a forward that brings the creation-evolution debate up to the minute. There is simply nothing like this book elsewhere in the field. If you are interested in what the Fathers of the Church thought about the creation story of Genesis, and how they grappled with the science and philosophy of their time, and how their solution is relevant to us today, do not miss this wonderful and rewarding book.
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thorough and excellent coverage of the topic, June 30, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Genesis, Creation and Early Man (Paperback)
This hefty tome does justice to its subject matter. Although newer material is available to critique the pseudo-science of evolution, that is not specifically the book's focus. Instead, Fr Seraphim looks at the theology regarding creation and the nature of mankind. He does this by examining the Holy Scriptures in great detail through the interpretive lens of the Holy Fathers of the Church. As a result, this work is a great starting point for anyone interested in patristic study of the subject, particularly with respect to the book of Genesis. He also spends time looking at the philosophy behind the evolution movement as well as the implications of evolution with respect to modern society. This is an important topic, as nihilistic philosophies engendered in the 19th century have been used to justify the genocide of 100+ million people in the 20th century! For those new to the evolution "debate", it may be wise to start in Part V (why should we care about evolutionism?) and then return to the beginning of the book. Also, I strongly recommend Johnson's book, Darwin on Trial, and similar works, which debunk the "science" behind evolutionists' claims.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Back to the Future, March 28, 2004
This review is from: Genesis, Creation and Early Man (Paperback)
_Genesis, Creation and Early Man_ by Father Seraphim Rose is a sizable tome which containing his studies on the Patristic writings on the creation of the world. This book was compiled and edited from among Fr. Seraphim's many papers, articles and letters that he had written on the subject, much of it in response to questions concerning the place of the evolutionary origins of humanity in Orthodox teaching. The primary sources Fr. Seraphim uses are from the ancient Fathers St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, St. Ambrose and St. Ephraim. The basic patristic doctrine concerning the creation of the world is that it was originally a Paradise, totally different from the fallen, disunited world of today. The Genesis record (according to tradition revealed by God to Moses) is a divine revelation; the true origins of the world cannot be fathomed and totally explained by rational science. Human reason alone cannot give us a glimpse into our primordial origin because disobedience and sin have clouded the eyes of man. The species of animals and plants were created all at once, in different varieties, and the Genesis record notes that the plants were created before the sun was formed. The meaning of this is that since the plants grew without the sun, then God, not the sun, is the true origin of Life. God also created humans into male and female, itself in anticipation of the fall. Fr. Seraphim quotes the writings of the Fathers stating that before the fall from Paradise, mankind would have been able to reproduce itself without sexual intercourse. Thus, differences between male and female will exist, along with the sacrament of marriage until the resurrection. Death was also unknown to primordial man, and physical decay is also a result of sin. After the fall, the entire world was radically changed. As man became more and more corrupt, life spans decreased and the world was transformed again by the waters of the great Flood. At the tower of Babel, man also became disparate in all parts of the world, members of different races, nationalities and languages. In this scheme, Fr. Seraphim brings into question many presuppositions of modern science. Evolutionism holds that the various species of life, plants and animals, evolved from a common source hundreds of millions of years ago. Therefore, man apparently evolved from form of ape in the past couple hundred thousands of years. The fossil record and similar genetics and traits are touted as evidence of evolutionary origins. However, the question is not settled as to where this primordial ooze that we evolved came from. There can be variations within different species and different "breeds" like cats and dogs as well as different human races. Also, Fr. Seraphim demonstrates how fossil dating techniques are arbitrary and designed by the scientists who support evolutionary theory in the first place. Current rock formations may indeed be the work of a cataclysm like the Flood, an event that Genesis describes as having radical environmental consequences (the rainbow). _Genesis, Creation and Early Man_ is an excellent resource for an introduction to the philosophy of the more predominant Fathers of the Church and a critique of popular scientific beliefs. Fr. Seraphim demonstrates that there is no real conflict between objective science and religion as long as the science is not used to answer fundamental questions of human existence.
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