Creation or Evolution

Last Christmas twelve-month I was given (because I'd asked for it) a book entitled Creation or Evolution - Do we have to Choose? by Denis Alexander. It seemed a positive response to the problem Christians have about this subject. I blogged that I would let you know how I got on reading it. But I didn't! That was because I was disappointed. It answered questions I wasn't asking and didn't answer the questions I was asking!

Another book, Rescuing Darwin, subtitled God and evolution in Britain today, co-written by Denis Alexander and Nick Spencer was widely distributed - I received two free copies! But again, I was disappointed. For instance, they charicatured and then dismissed Intelligent Design, without really justifying their position.

Then, last year, another book came out, Should Christians Embrace Evolution? and subtitled, Biblical and scientific responses, edited by Norman C. Nevin. First of all, I don't think it's that well written. It consists of different people writing each chapter and I get the impression they scraped around a little to find people and articles to fill the book.

However, having said that, I found it much more satisfying than the earlier two books I mentioned. In fact, they hammer Denis Alexander's book from both scientific AND theological perspectives.

My favourite chapter is by RT Kendall, a study of the debate from the perspective of Hebrews 11:3, which says, "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things that do appear." (NIV)

The answer Should Christians Embrace Evolution? gives to its title question is, 'No!' If you do, you compromise your theology and you put your 'faith' in a theory that has many unanswered questions to it. The book concludes, "No coherent, cohesive theology has yet been offered that would allow Christians to embrace evolution with integrity. Science has uncovered a great deal of empirical evidence that is challenging the Darwinian paradigm."

Put simply, if you don't want to accept evolution as the answer to the way we came to be here, then you are not necessarily putting yourself into an extreme fundamentalist camp which ignores or derides science. Rather, you are sitting alongside many scientists who are also Christians, and even some scientists who do not profess any faith!