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Is God a Creationist?
Book Reviewed by Henry E. Neufeld
Roland Mushat Frye, (Editor)
Paperback:Is
God a Creationist?
Published 1983
(Hard to Find)
Hardcover:Is
God a Creationist? : The Religious Case Against
Creation-Science
Roland Mushat Frye (Editor) / Published 1983 (Hard to Find)
Frye, Roland Mushat Is God a Creationist?
The Religious Case Against Creation-Science New York:
Charles Scribner's Sons, 1983.
This book provides an excellent source of balance in the
debate over creation and evolution. The debate is not only
acrimonious, it is also often confusing and confused. The recent
Firing Line debate over "acknowledging" creation
science illustrated this point well. Throughout much of the
debate arguments applicable to the general design argument,
theistic evolution, atheistic evolution, old earth creationism
and young earth creationism were confused and woven together.
In this book various people of faith, including Roman
Catholic, Protestant and Jewish scholars, present their views on
evolution and origins. It is a real treasure. It's a pity it's
hard to find! In the following table I list the essays in this
book, along with notes about authors and content. A few of the
essays I found exceptionally helpful, and their title entries are
bolded.
Chapter |
Author |
Title and Note |
1 |
Edwin A. Olson |
Hidden Agenda Behind the Evolutionist/Creationist
Debate Why is this debate so heated? Olson suggests
that there are major agendas involved which do not appear
at the surface. Folks are not really arguing about what
they say they are.
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2 |
Richard W. Berry |
The Beginning The argument of this
chapter is similar to that of the first, and is
complimentary. I think Berry did a better job of making
it very clear.
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3 |
Langdon Gilkey |
Creationism: The Roots of the Conflict |
4 |
Bruce Vawter |
Creationism: Creative Misuse of the Bible |
5 |
Davis A. Young Professor of Geology at Calvin
College
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Christianity and the Age of the Earth Dr.
Young is an evangelical Christian and does an excellent
job of dealing with the issues related to the age of the
earth. This is a must read essay for the Christian who
believes in evolution or who is considering his or her
beliefs.
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6 |
Conrad Hyers |
Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic
Dance This is simply a tremendous essay on
understanding the Biblical literature as what it is. Much
of the statement is itself poetic!
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7 |
Asa Gray |
Natural Science and Religion |
8 |
Owen Gingerich |
Let There Be Light: Modern Cosmogony and Biblical
Creation |
9 |
Pope John Paul II |
Science and Christianity
While this essay has
obvious importance to Christians due to its author, I
found it one of the least clear statements. This was
perhaps intentional.
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10 |
Nahum M. Sarna An outstanding Jewish scholar and
commentator
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Understanding Creation in Genesis |
11 |
Bernhard W. Anderson |
The Earth is the Lord's: An Essay on the
Biblical Doctrine of Creation An excellent
essay from a top scholar of the Hebrew scriptures. Dr.
Anderson is the author of many books and articles, and is
a contributing editor to Bible Review.
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