Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Zondervan (2021)
Description
What did the writer of Genesis mean by "the first day"? Is it a literal week or a series of time periods? If I believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old, am I denying the authority of Scripture? In response to the continuing controversy over the interpretation of the creation narrative in Genesis, John Lennox proposes a succinct method of reading and interpreting the first chapters of Genesis without discounting either science or Scripture. With examples from history, a brief but thorough exploration of the major interpretations, and a look into the particular significance of the creation of human beings, Lennox suggests that Christians can heed modern scientific knowledge while staying faithful to the biblical narrative. He moves beyond a simple response to the controversy, insisting that Genesis teaches us far more about the God of Jesus Christ and about God's intention for creation than it does about the age of the earth. With this book, Lennox offers a careful yet accessible introduction to a scientifically-savvy, theologically-astute, and Scripturally faithful interpretation of Genesis.… (more)
Media reviews
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
While it is safe to say this book added little to the discussion on creation, it is, perhaps, unfair to expect such a book to move the debate largely forward. Rather, Lennox does what he sets out to do: he asks scientists to reconsider the Christian faith by showing them that there are plausible
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answers to how the Bible and science might comfortably coexist. And he asks young earth Christians to recognize that those who conclude, with science, that the universe is quite old, may have legitimate grounds from Scripture to do so. While biblical theologians will not find this book very helpful, Lennox's chosen audience will find it immensely so and for this his contribution is to be commended. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member wbc3
As a serious student of both technology and the Bible, I am always looking for good books that attempt to understand the connections and apparent contradictions between the two. In this book, Lennox looks at the issues of creation as outlined in Genesis versus science. People like Stephen Jay Gould
He raises a number of good questions and brings up some excellent points about how at different periods in time people have fervently believed the Bible stated something regarding science that we no longer think it does. He talks about how passages in the Bible refer to the earth as unmoving (such as 1 Chronicles 16:30 and Psalms 93:1) and others that the sun did move (such as Ecclesiastes). These verses and others were used to refute Copernicus’s heliocentric view that the earth revolves around the sun. Luther and Calvin both disagreed with this view. Of course, we now view those passages as being poetic or metaphoric, not literal. It is an important cautionary tale for how we should approach the creation account in Genesis.
Although I found the book very interesting and well worth reading, it was difficult to tell where the author was going. He raises many good points, but did not actually resolve them. He does, however, a decent job of pointing out what is essential, such as that fact that God was in control of creation, not random chance. I actually found the appendices, especially the final one, as interesting as the rest of book to me. I consider this book well worth the time it took to read for anyone interested in a Biblical perspective on creation and science.
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argued (in Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life) that religion and the Bible are non-overlapping magisteria and as such have nothing to do with each other and no attempt should be made to reconcile them. Lennox in this book does not agree with that and does a generally good job at looking at the Bible and creation. He raises a number of good questions and brings up some excellent points about how at different periods in time people have fervently believed the Bible stated something regarding science that we no longer think it does. He talks about how passages in the Bible refer to the earth as unmoving (such as 1 Chronicles 16:30 and Psalms 93:1) and others that the sun did move (such as Ecclesiastes). These verses and others were used to refute Copernicus’s heliocentric view that the earth revolves around the sun. Luther and Calvin both disagreed with this view. Of course, we now view those passages as being poetic or metaphoric, not literal. It is an important cautionary tale for how we should approach the creation account in Genesis.
Although I found the book very interesting and well worth reading, it was difficult to tell where the author was going. He raises many good points, but did not actually resolve them. He does, however, a decent job of pointing out what is essential, such as that fact that God was in control of creation, not random chance. I actually found the appendices, especially the final one, as interesting as the rest of book to me. I consider this book well worth the time it took to read for anyone interested in a Biblical perspective on creation and science.
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LibraryThing member pgchuis
This was lent me by a friend, but turned out not to address with any clarity the issues I thought it was going to be about. (I had never even heard of "the Cosmic Temple View" and, as I skipped that Appendix, I am still blissfully unaware of that theory). I am confused as to how the author does
I started skimming from chapter 3 onwards, but for me this book raised questions and then shot them down if they did not agree with a fairly literal reading of Genesis chapters 1-3. As another reviewer has pointed out, an Appendix describes the language of Genesis 1 as "exalted, semi-poetical" language, but the author chooses to regard the text as poetry (or perhaps semi-poetry) describing "nonpoetic factual statements about the creation and organization of the physical universe itself". He says this is "clear". The author also uses far too many exclamation marks.
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indeed square his beliefs with scientific discoveries to date: if Adam and Eve were two actual people, made from dust, from whom the whole human race is descended, what are we to make of the existence of other "Neolithic farmers" alive around them? (I should say that I know very little about the currently theorized timeline of evolution, but I did not trust the author to present it fairly by the time I got to chapter 4). I started skimming from chapter 3 onwards, but for me this book raised questions and then shot them down if they did not agree with a fairly literal reading of Genesis chapters 1-3. As another reviewer has pointed out, an Appendix describes the language of Genesis 1 as "exalted, semi-poetical" language, but the author chooses to regard the text as poetry (or perhaps semi-poetry) describing "nonpoetic factual statements about the creation and organization of the physical universe itself". He says this is "clear". The author also uses far too many exclamation marks.
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LibraryThing member gottfried_leibniz
Great book, I loved his explanation on interpretation.
LibraryThing member gottfried_leibniz
Great book, I loved his explanation on interpretation.
LibraryThing member highlander6022
A tough book to get through. I plan to read it again.
Language
Original language
English