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

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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.

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)

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.

Harrell discusses the issues in a down-to-earth, pastoral way, and manages to address some of the thorny theological questions straightforwardly, graciously, and hopefully. I don't necessarily agree with every approach Harrell takes (a little too much Moltmann, maybe?), but I found this book enormously encouraging because it engages Truth from a broadly evangelical perspective without fear or defensiveness.

Daniel Harrow, a pastor at Park Street Church, in Boston, accepts biological evolution as God's means of creating life on Earth, then examines the theological implications in layman's language. As you accept the reality of genetic variation and natural selection, you can either "watch your faith crumble as God is moved to the periphery" or you can "praise God for his ingenuity and creativity - even when that creativity runs counter to your expectations" (p. 133). "Natural selection need not imply godless selection . . . [It] is no more godless than gravity." (p. 78). He asks more questions than he answers, but does have many helpful insights. He is not dogmatic about his views, leaving open the issue of exactly how Adam and Eve came to be, for example. The book is an easy read and includes numerous notes and an excellent bibliography.

I recommend this book for Christians who are struggling with how to integrate biological evolution into their evangelical Christian worldview

In the realm of those who have heard about Christianity, there are not many things worse than people lacking the physical necessities for a sustainable life--coming close, however, is the disheartened individual who walks out of a church because they cannot reconcile what they heard inside of it with what they see outside of it. Harrell casually approaches the fairly 'untreaded' gap between those with Darwin bumper stickers and those with "Father God created Mother Earth" bumper stickers by providing well-informed, easy to understand and theologically sound reasons why both sides should help rebuild the unnecessarily destroyed bridge. This book was very honest and transparent and on my recommendation, any Christian struggling with the belief in evolution as a means for God's creating, I would recommend the section: Image of God on p.52 to get things percolating; and to any person struggling with the belief of God behind evolution as a means for creating, I would recommend the opening joke in the chapter that only Harrell could have titled: Believolution.

Enjoyed this book immensely. The book's style is very much a reflection of its author - 75% thesis (and 25% sidebar). I am sure it will have a significant impact in the world of faith (and science).

When I first came to faith and starting reading "in the beginning" of Genesis in the King James Version (shows you how long ago I got started), I noted:

v. 20-21a: And God said, "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created ...."

v. 24-25a: And God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made ...."

... it seemed to be describing evolution through the use of the language, coupling the acts of the creation (the waters & the earth bringing things forth) with the acts of the Creator (God created/made). So when I starting hearing all the antagonistic hoopla pitting evolution against faith, it struck me as odd. So, touché to Daniel Harrell for doing something about it!

I found the book to be extremely engaging and informative. As a Christian who does not take the Bible literally, I am encouraged to hear from a member of the clergy an affirmation that we need to take the Bible within its historical and cultural context, not as a literal history. I also enjoyed learning more about evolution (which I already believed to be true). A very good read.

I have some family members who are about 6,000 years behind the times when it comes to science and theology, so I bought this for them in a vain attempt to spare them from ignorance and poor theology. I hope that they read it, in which case I hear this book is quite effective. But then again, Christianity has made a name for itself in terms of being about to deal with cognitive dissonance.

To be able to deal with the Issue of Origins, one must have a well-founded epistemology. Dr. Harrell's book is replete with errors in several critical and foundational areas. The following quotations can help the reader to decide whether this writer or any writer has a valid understanding of the nature of Knowledge.

"Though supported by most scientists today, the incredible theory of ever-higher cosmic evolution ... is not the product of scientific investigation but a restatement of the Serpent's seductive offer of godhood in modern, scientific terms. Those who accept and promote this theory do so on the basis of a religious faith that has gained acceptance as the latest science ... In such forms Christians encounter and absorb Satan's lie without even knowing it." Dave Hunt & T.A. McMahon; The Seduction of Christianity; p95;1986

1- The relationship of faith to knowledge.
Before science can proceed to investigate a single question, she must make a number of pure acts of faith.
a- Faith in the trustworthiness of human reason.
b- Faith in the trustworthiness of human memory.
c- Faith in the trustworthiness of the senses.
d- Faith in the unprovable principles on which all science is founded.
All these propositions are assented to by acts of faith of the most absolute kind. They are not only not proven by science, but can never be proved. Possibly there would be less of a tendency to set religion over against science, or vice versa, if it were more generally recognized that ... faith is indispensable to both. Science & religion, both ultimately rest on faith- both of them are forced back upon convictions which are beyond the possibility of further analysis or proof.-- Wernecke- Faith in the NT

... religious belief is no more of a faith than is the belief that nature is uniform. They are both acts of faith.-- Raphael Demos- Academic Freedom, Logic & Religion


2- The nature of science.
The history of science is a road strewn with the decaying bones of assumptions which were once considered self-evident and later found to be false.-- Moses Richardson, Mathematics and Intellectual Honesty

Laws of science are not laws at all. . . . Laws of science state tendencies we have recently observed in our corner of the universe.--Bart Kosko - Fuzzy Thinking


3- The nature of reason.
Faith is not the antithesis to knowledge nor to reason.
The opposite of Knowledge is Ignorance.
The opposite of Reason is Irrationality.
The opposite of Faith is Doubt.-- Wernecke- Faith in the NT

The Christian takes belief seriously; the rationalist tries to dispense with it. The Christian says that without believing there is no knowledge; the rationalist says that when there is believing there cannot be knowledge. Reason does not precede faith, but faith precedes reason. The uselessness of saying that reason has merely to follow the laws of its own nature in order to arrive at truth is that this is precisely what it cannot do; its own nature has been corrupted by sin. The whole of us, including our reason, must be justified by faith.-- Alan Richardson- Christian Apologetics

Mankind would remain in the deepest darkness of ignorance if the path of reason were the only available way to the knowledge of God.-- Aquinas- Contra Gentiles

Philosophy seldom suspects that reason itself is incapable of knowing the truth.-- D. R. Davies


4- The nature of logical fallacies.


5- The nature of truth.
Please visit www.truth-defined.com for a clear exposition of the nature of truth.


6- The nature of scripture.
[We] compare scripture with scripture until [we] have discovered the true meaning of the text. But right there [our] authority ends. [We] must never sit in judgment upon what is written. [We] dare not bring the meaning of the Word before the bar of reason. [We] dare not commend or condemn the Word as reasonable or unreasonable, scientific or unscientific. After the meaning is discovered, that meaning judges [us]; never do we judge it.-- A. W. Tozer-The knowledge of the Holy

... the word of God judges us, not we the Word of God. Either we accept by faith the divine truth of the Bible or by unfaith we reject it.-- Alan Richardson- Christian Apologetics

7- The nature of evolution.
Evolution...is therefore a theory about unique events that are, by definition, not part of science, for they are unrepeatable and not subject to test.-- Colin Patterson- Evolution

Belief in modern evolution makes atheists of people. One can have a religious view that is compatible with evolution only if that religious view is indistinguishable from atheism.-- Prof. Will Provine

But by far the most potent single factor to undermine popular belief in the existence of God in modern times is the evolution theory of Charles Darwin.-- Philos. & Christian Faith- Colin Brown