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Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose? | 
| Author: Denis Alexander
Publisher: Monarch Books
Category: Book
List Price: £10.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 7353
Media: Paperback
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9
ISBN: 1854247468
EAN: 9781854247469
ASIN: 1854247468
Publication Date: July 18, 2008
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 Mostly for Evangelicals! September 28, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a curious book. On the positive side, Alexander provides a lucid and mostly persuasive account of the evidence for 'descent with modification', and a vigorous statement of the compatibility of science and Christian belief. Atheists like Dawkins, he repeatedly insists, are simply reading their own ideological convictions into the evidence. Scientists who are theists are engaged in exploring the glorious complexity of the created universe, and nothing in their discoveries is any evidence that Christian theism is incorrect. He draws on the evidence of convergence to suggest that evolutionary history is not as much of a 'drunkard's walk' as Gould supposed. And he also notices, as too many critics of 'creation science' have not, that it was Social Darwinism (and American eugenics) that gave evolutionary theory an appallingly bad name last century.
On the more negative side, although he laudably declares the importance of reading and understanding one's opponents' case before seeking to criticise it, he's actually rather cavalier in his account of what, for example, pagan philosophers, Philip Gosse, 'ID theorists', and even Richard Dawkins actually say and argue. Pagan philosophers were not 'deists' (most of them were more likely to be accused of being pantheists). Gosse did not suppose that God was seeking to deceive us by planting fossils(on the contrary: he thought that God had alerted us to the simple truth that we are living, as it were, in a story with a 'back-history' that no-one ever experienced). ID theorists don't deny that the cases of 'irreducible complexity' they identify are composed of lesser bits (what else could they be composed of?): the point is that getting all these working together for the task they accomplish remains bafflingly difficult unless there is some guiding principle at work (which Alexander himself comes close to suggesting in other contexts). And Richard Dawkins, annoyingly ignorant and abusive as he is, at least has some reasons for doubting that evolutionary history need have been as brutal as it is if there really were a benevolent creative intelligence at work. Alexander himself seems to veer between supposing that God is perennially active in all that happens and that 'natural evil' is a necessary part of the plan, for reasons we can't really guess, and that God never intervenes in any special way (except, somehow, by the occasional inspiration only of human beings). So maybe it's Alexander who is still a deist at heart.
It's important to Alexander, for some reason, to believe that human evolution has halted, because 'modern medical care' keeps variants alive for longer: the real implication is that evolution will speed up, since those variants will be kept alive to breed! 'Natural selection' isn't a source of novelty: it's what keeps novelties on track!
The most baffling and to my eye most unconvincing section of the book is his attempt to suggest that Adam and Eve were really and truly Neolithic farmers, the very first of our species to be spiritually awakened, and a little later, the very first to get it all wrong.
So: quite a good book, and one that probably speaks more clearly and more comfortingly to Evangelical Christians perturbed by the atheistical versions of evolutionary theory. I doubt if it will convince anyone else.
A very helpful contribution to the debate September 1, 2008
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book is written from the perspective of a Christian geneticist. His writing is informed by his knowledge of this fast moving field.
Like the majority of Christians who are professional scientists, he is willing to be tentative in his conclusions. Believing that there is much we don't yet (and may never) understand about how God chose to create mankind.
He points out the danger of poor theology and poor science creating stumbling blocks. Such stumbling blocks can stop the good news of Christ Jesus being heard, so we should choose our words carefully when we discuss such a hot subject, otherwise we may create more heat than light.
Denis Alexander believes God is the creator, and created in a way consistent with him being the God of truth (as do I). He presents a little of the enormous range of evidence pointing to the age of our planet (as being circa 4.5 Billion years old) and comes at the subject of evolution from "an old earth creationist" position. He goes into considerable depth explaining in lay terms some of the recent discoveries at the genetic level that point to the very close linkage between mankind and the animals. From these he comes to a position of saying that Adam and Eve were Neolithic farmers in the near east who he chose to reveal himself in a special way ("Homo divinus"). In the region of 6,000 - 8,000 years ago.
To quote page 243 of the book he says, "I do not know if model C is correct. But for myself I am happy to use it as a working model, and if a better model comes along I will readily discard C and adopt the new one."
In later chapters he also draws out some of the flaws that he sees in both "ID" (Intelligent Design) and the young earth viewpoints.
I, for one, found it a very helpful book. Denis put into words many of the ideas that I had personally held, but not known how to voice. (And not wanted to unsettle fellow believers by voicing). I therefore give it 4 stars.
I give it 4 stars and not 5, only because at one or two points I feel he is overly harsh in his comments about named Christians who hold different viewpoints to him. Particularly the tone of his comments about John Lennox (page 334) stick in my mind.
The science covered, although written for a layman, could be a hard read for those who disliked science at GCSE. An A level or two, or even a science / engineering degree is needed to get the most from some of his more complex asides.
But overall a very good book, and a good grounding in this important subject.
 Alexander the Great! August 26, 2008
15 out of 19 found this review helpful
Dr Denis Alexander has written this book to expose the false dichotomy being presented to the British public by creationist and neo-atheist alike and sets out to present a clear, rational and passionately argued defence of 'Christian Darwinism' that is both faithful to orthodox Christianity and to 'orthodox' Science.
In Chapters 1 ("What Do We Mean By Creation?")& 2 ("The Biblical Doctrine of Creation"). The author starts by defining what the Bible means by creation and the principles of biblical interpretation with a detailed discussion of the original Hebrew terms for creation: bara, 'asah and yatsar. DA also explains how the bible relates to science, tracing the lineage of 'Accommodationism' from Augustine through Calvin to Kepler to the modern era and how modernist assumptions shape our cultural attitude towards the biblical text.In these chapters DA also successfully debunks creationist arguments .
Chapters 3 ("What Do We Mean By Evolution? Dating, DNA and Genes") & 4 ("What do We Mean By Evolution? Natural Selection and Reproductive Success"). DA summarises for the non-specialist the current understanding of biological evolution and covers such areas as: dating methods, radioscopes, Milankovitch cycles, ice-core drilling, magnetic field polarity reversals, genetics, DNA & RNA. Ch 4 covers the core concepts of evolutionary theory, such as 'Natural Selection'.
Chapter 5 ("W.D.M.B.E? Speciation ,Fossils and the Question of Information"). Covers speciation and the fossil record, both genetic and "traditional".
Chapter 6 ("Ojections to Evolution"). Answers common fundamentalist/ literalist objections to evolution.
Chapter 7 ("What about Genesis?"). Discusses the meaning of Genesis in light of historic church teaching from the church fathers onward, with specific reference to the original cultural context in which the book was written especially in relation to Mesopotamian creation myths.This section should prove enlightening to anyone who wonders why the Bible says that light was created before the Sun!
Chapter 8 ("Evolutionary Creationism").Discuses how the theory of evolution has been abused to legitemise various (and often mutually contradictory) political, economic and racialist theories, ideologies and psuedo-sciences, such as eugenics. DA also takes on the neo-atheists, to quote (p182): " ...there is nothing that I can see in evolutionary theory that supports atheism. Of course if we view evolution through an atheistic lens, we shall inevitably interprete it within an atheistic framework, as [Richard] Dawkins does when he writes that in evolution he sees 'no design, no purpose, no evil and no good, nothing but blind pitiless indifference'. How could it be otherwise? - the conclusions are built into the starting proposition. This is what the the atheistic world-view delivers, it is not what evolution itself delivers". The atheist can of course at this point make the inverse argument - that christians are interpreting the raw scientific data in line with our beliefs, but as DA makes clear throughout the book, the crucial difference is that we christians are aware it, we are thinking about evolution in a christian way. We are doing theology.And we are aware of the difference between scientific explainations and personal ones in a way that neo-atheists appear not to be. This is Dawkins real blind-spot.
Chapters 9 ("Who were Adam and Eve? The Background")& 10 ("W.W.A.E? Genesis and Science in Conversation"). Covers the subject of "Adam and Eve" and how the biblical narrative can be squared rationally with the scientific 'narrative' of Darwinism. In this chapter DA introduces for the first time his five interpretive 'models' for understanding the creation narrative of Genesis ranging from 'A': existential myth (using the term myth in its true, technical sense; to 'E': "Young Earth" creationism.The first three being rational the last two being irrational.
Chapter 11 ("Evolution and the biblical understanding of death").
The chapters title says it all! Covers the biblical meanings of physical, spiritual and "The Second Death". This short chapter is a preparatory discussion for the next chapter.
Chapter 12 ("Evolution and the Fall"). Using the Five models of biblical interpretation introduced in chapter Ten, this chapter discusses the doctrine of the Fall within the particular context of the evolutionary history of mankind with special reference to the writings of St Paul; Romans and 1 Corinthians.
Chapter 13 ("Evolution, natural evil and the Theodicy question"). How the science informs theological reflection on the nature of suffering and evil in relation to the existence and nature of a 'good' God. As DA says Darwinism gifts the church a "strong theodicy". As evolution is the only biological process through which intelligent self-concious beings such as Homo Sapiens may emerge, then pain, suffering and 'natural evil' are unaviodable consequences of the act of creation, and God has no choice in the matter, natural evil exists because we exist! The only choice is whether to create or not in the full knowledge that natural evil will be brought into existence with, what may be termed 'natural good'. The ultimate question is of course; is it, or will it be, worth it? Which of course only God; the omniscient being, can answer.As He states " I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end."
Chapter 14 ("Intelligent design and creations order"). A full and thorough scientific critique of (so-called) 'Intelligent Design' exposing it for what it is, a transparent and disinginuous attempt to get around the American constitional principle of seperation of church and state and introduce religion into the science classroom. It is clear
that 'Intelligent Design' is being used as a Trojan horse for creationism. The fact that one of ID's main advocates in the U.S.A is a trained 'minister' in the Unification 'church' (thats the 'Moonies') should give any orthodox christian pause for thought! As for the content of ID itself it is little more than a new version of the 'God-of-the-Gaps' argument, which is an argument from ignorance as it seeks to exploite gaps in current scientific knowledge. As DA demonstrates Micheal Behes examples of "irreducible complexity" (found in his book 'Darwins Black Box')have proven to be particular hostages to fortune with neo-Darwinists taking great delight in knocking each "example" over!
Chapter 15 ("Evolution - intelligent and designed?"). Part two of DA's
full and thorough critique of ID, this time from the theological and philosophical perspectives.This chapter also ellucidates a christian understanding of Darwinian Evolution.As DA states (p320) "As we have been at pains to emphasis, in biblical creation theology, the natural order is seen as a seamless web of Gods creative activity. All scientists can do is to describe God's creative activity to the best of their ability.Often their theories will be wrong and will need to be modified or dicarded. But within this framework of a robust biblical theism, there is nothing in the created order without exeption that is not created and sustained by God.Science is definitly not a naturalistic enterprise for the Christian who is a scientist."
Chapter 16 ("The Origin of Life"). In which DA gives a full account of origin of life science ("Biogenesis") that ranges across such subjects as: Carbon and the building blocks of life, RNA and the origins of the genetic code, macromolecules and the 'Krebs cycle'.
Postscript. The authors concluding thoughts. And in which Dr Alexander delivers a stinging rebuke to creationists for wasting money, time, talent and resources attacking legitimate scientific research instead of promoting the gospel of grace! As Galileo said:"The Bible teaches us how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go".
This is an important and timely book, 2009 will be a double Darwin anniversary (birth 1809; 'On the Origin of Species'.1859) So you can expect to see a lot of neo-atheist activity in the media in this year as it is exploited for its full propaganda purposes. This book is the perfect antidote to such malarky,it provides a wealth of counter arguments and should be on every Christians book-shelf. A must read for the anniversary year and beyond.
Possible further reading:
'The Language of God' by Francis S.Collins.
'Lifes Solution' by Simon Conway Morris.
'Why there almost certainly is a God' by Keith Ward.
Alexander "de-bate" August 12, 2008
22 out of 30 found this review helpful
In honesty, I marked this book down, not becasue it was poorly written or researched, but because I disagreed with so much of the 'naturalistic' emphasis that comes across in the overall story - even though this would be denied.
From the outset, the writer states that all Christians are by defintion 'creationists' - I agree. But I couldn't find much in the book that would differ from "The Blind Watchmaker" and a host of other similar books - albeit that DA believes that God brought the universe into existence and sustains it. Everything else differs little from 'almost' deistic beliefs (even though this too would be denied). I'm itching to know "What exactly did God do then?" Not an unreasonable question (to which I searched in vain for a coherent theistic answer), bearing in mind that biblically He raised people from the dead - which can have no naturalistic/scientific explanation!
DA doesn't deny miracles (even though the scientific community generally does) and is cautious to point out that the Genesis account does not indicate that miracles actually occured. This is quite true, but it's almost illogical. If He is capable of miracles at all (and He is) I would expect God to have acted miraculously in the Created order at certain key stages, perhaps in his direct creation of information to produce man (without common ancestry), thereby demonstrating His power, so that we are without excuse in providing fully naturalistic Just-So stories that exclude any acknowledgement of His Being.
In the Postscript, DA implies that scientists "investigate and seek to understand the works of God." That may be true of some, but not the majority, that are either atheistic or agnostic. They do what they do because they love the science and get paid for it.
As pointed out by ID theorists, such scientists are also committed to the reigning philosophical paradigm of naturalism. Awkward 'design' evidence is simply malleable enough to fit the a priori naturalistic conclusions (i.e. there can be no Divine Foot in the Door) - even if the evidence is crying out to the contrary.
DA is very critical of ID in the book, even though the motive for it is not to 'close down' scientific discovery, but point towards actions of 'intelligent agency' - which is surely what a creationist would predict to be the case....
I'm not a 'head in the sand' Creationist who believes in the God-of-the-Gaps. Far from it. Scientists need to be free to investigate everything as if the full workings of any material or biological scenario etc.., can be established in a fully plausible way - but where there does appear to be evidence for very specific design (say, in the genetic code), this should also be freely debated openly, rather than hear yet more story-telling in popular science literature!
Part of the difficulty of being a Christian within our world, is admitting, without embarrasment or shame, that we believe things, such as miraculous stories in the New Testament, that have no scientific explanation - and we should be content to accept that this is so and give God the glory for it.
This is a book that I would still recommend to all Christians to read, for the simple reason that within it there is a challenge to get to grips with the science (and theology) that is covered - and applauded by highly respected people such as Dr Francis Collins and Professor J I Packer. It can then be discussed further, particularly within a Christian context.
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