July, 1998

    For the reader interested in the religion/science issue, I can recommend two other books that I've recently read:

"The Science of God", by Gerald Schroeder, (The Free Press, New York, 1998), where the author does a fairly good job of presenting a compelling, rational argument for his case.  I think that Schroeder is much more humble in his presentation than Behe.  However, I DID find it a bit odd that Schroeder is quite opposed to Darwinian evolution, although he readily admits the existence of fossilized bacteria 3,500,000,000 years ago, that the first photosynthesis started about 2,200,000,000 years ago, the first multi-cellular cells were about 1,000,000,000 years ago, and the Cambrian explosion about 500,000,000 years ago.  He readily claims that he doesn't know much about biology (since he is a physicist), and he cites (and unfortunately relies on) Darwin's Black Box as evidence against evolution!   Also I'm not so sure about Schroeder's calculations of "6-days", but I still think the general tone and quality this book is much better than Behe's.

 

"Summer for the Gods - The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion", by Edward Larson,  (Basic Books, New York, 1997).  This book won the Pulitzer prize in history (spring, 1998).  I found it quite interesting to read, since I grew up in Arkansas, and was attending college when the state government passed a law requiring "equal time" for teaching evolution and creationism.  I think Larson has done a good job of evenly describing the philosophy and background of the two different sides for the Scopes Trial in 1925.

Both of these books look at the issues without having to invoke conspiracy theories about scientists trying to deceive the public.  I can also recommend Arthur Peacocke's "Creation and the World of Science" - this is from the perspective of an Anglican priest who was trained as a biochemist.  He has also written a very nice essay on chaos and complexity theory and biology, from a Christian theological perspective, in  Chaos and Complexity : Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action (Scientific Perspectives on Divine Action, Vol 2).   Also, any book by John Polkinghorne is probably quite good, in my opinion.
 
 

Link to my "journal" which includes an extensive discussion about the six different views of creationism.