Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (Living Theology) [Paperback]

Daniel M. Harrell (Author), Tony Jones (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Living Theology | Publication Date: September 1, 2008

An accessible, thought-provoking exploration of evolutions witness to the God of creation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Some Christians are fighting the wrong battle. Evolution is not the enemy, as Daniel Harrell argues persuasively. With wry, self-deprecating humor, he introduces the basics of evolution and asks big questions about God and God's creation. Harrell is not trying to develop an apologetic for the Christian faith in a scientific world. What he has done is much more demanding. He has written an honest, thoughtful, doubt-filled, faith-filled, searching exploration of foundational reality. This is an important book." --Richard Peace, Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation, Fuller Theological Seminary

"With his peerless ability to turn the familiar inside out and upside down, and to make even the most unfamiliar ideas from both science and theology accessible, Daniel Harrell has given us a gift of a book. It will make you laugh, think, and pray and it is very possible that when you finish it you will believe more deeply in both evolution and creation than ever before." --Andy Crouch, author of Culture Making, and editorial director, The Christian Vision Project

"Daniel Harrell has interesting friends. To argue for Darwinism among evangelicals and for God among empirical scientists takes courage. And unlike many science-and-religion books, which range from dull to daunting, Harrell's gracious opening up of those conversations to the rest of us is not only informative but entertaining. Where's this book been?!" --Jason Byassee, Assistant Editor, Christian Century, and affiliate professor of theology, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

Review

"With his peerless ability to turn the familiar inside out and upside down, and to make even the most unfamiliar ideas from both science and theology accessible, Daniel Harrell has given us a gift of a book. It will make you laugh, think, and pray--and it is very possible that when you finish it you will believe more deeply in both evolution and creation than ever before."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 165 pages
• Publisher: Abingdon Press (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0687642353
• ISBN-13: 978-0687642359
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,043,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel hails from Minneapolis where he works and lives with his lovely wife and daughter. His interest in evolution and Christian faith has nothing to do with his interest in Leviticus. And yet he has published on both. Spent the past 25 years in Boston and is now weathering the Minnesota winters.

Daniel is Senior Minister of the Colonial Church, Edina, Minnesota. He served for 23 years as a preaching minister at Park Street Church, Boston, Massachusetts.

In addition to a career as a congregational minister, he has taught many courses on theology and psychology, has written for Christianity Today and The Christian Century, and appeared on PBS. He holds degrees from Boston College (PhD), the University of North Carolina Chapel-Hill and Gordon-Conwell Seminary.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read for folks on both sides of the debate, November 25, 2008

By 

Debra Veth (Hingham, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (Living Theology) (Paperback)

What a great book. If you're a Christian who breaks into a cold sweat when the topic turns to evolution (you know who you are), this is a great book for you. It will help you remember that God is all about truth--even truth revealed through science.

If you think Christianity is just for uneducated folk who ignore science, this is for you, too. It will challenge some of the assumptions you have about Christians and maybe even some of the conclusions you draw from scientific observations.

Christians may have to re-read some of the science sections, and scientists may need to re-read some of the theology sections, but Nature's Witness really is intellectual, accessible, and funny, too.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Addresses Questions I Didn't Know I Had, November 2, 2008

By 

Kristen Filipic (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (Living Theology) (Paperback)

Harrell answers questions that I didn't realize I needed to be asking. When I was in about third grade in a Catholic elementary school, one of my classmates asked how God could have created the world if evolution is true. Our teacher explained that we shouldn't read the Bible literally, and God did create the world and evolution is how God did it. Third grade was a long time ago, but I never thought about such things on a deeper level, and never understood how intelligent people could be troubled by evolution.

Harrell explains why evolution does indeed pose a significant challenge that deserves sophisticated thought, and then proceeds to show on a much deeper level how the different concepts fit together. I'm not sure that my answers end up being the same as his -- though I'm a middling theologian and an abysmal scientist so take that with a grain of salt -- but this was a tremendously helpful introduction to the issues. It is also packed with footnotes, for those who would like to explore further.

Read it if you are troubled by the intersection by Christian theology and evolution, or if you do not understand why people could be troubled.

Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (Living Theology)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Third Way, January 21, 2009

By 

Paul Oakley (Hingham, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nature's Witness: How Evolution Can Inspire Faith (Living Theology) (Paperback)

With Nature's Witness, Dr. Daniel Harrell gives a gift to those of us who have just known that there had to be a third way in the "science" vs. "faith" debate over evolution. Like a middle school gym teacher, Harrell takes the often truculent and sometimes petulant "science" and "faith" by the scruff of their necks and forces each to look the other in the eye and shake hands. Harrell reminds us that all truth is God's truth, and that viewing creation through this lens not only allows harmony between "science" and "faith," but mandates it. There are a number of good books out there that illuminate the glory of God in science and creation by highlighting -- through the rigor of scientific analysis -- the extraordinary improbability of the existence of the cosmos, or of life, without God. This book is different. It challenges the reader to accept (philosophically) the presupposition of a science/faith harmony and, from that point forward, to thoughtfully consider the meaning and ramifications of this harmony. Nature's Witness takes the reader on a disarmingly joyful and accessible journey, and emboldens the reader to take a new look at these provocative themes.