The Genesis Enigma
Why the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate
- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
September 15, 2009
An introduction to natural history with a hint of Genesis thrown in.
Oxford evolutionary biologist Parker does not profess to be a particularly religious man, but he is intrigued by a simple question. How did the writer of the first chapter of Genesis—the biblical creation story—basically get it scientifically correct? Never mind the seven-day part, which the author easily dismisses. Parker is astounded that the order of creation described in Genesis follows the order of geologic and life evolution as science understands it."Either the writer of the creation account of Genesis 1 was directed by divine intervention," he writes,"or he made a lucky guess." This mystery is the Genesis enigma. Parker believes a lucky guess to be all but out of the question, and he views the accuracy of the creation account to be a proof of the existence of God, or at least a higher being of some kind. The author takes the reader step by step through the creation story, explaining how each segment aligns with an era in the evolution of the earth and the life inhabiting it. The creation of the sun is followed by the creation of the earth, with its oceans and land masses, followed by the earliest life forms, etc. Eventually Genesis tells us that lights divide day and night, a step which Parker ties to the development of eyesight in life forms and the evolutionary revolution that ensued. Aquatic life came before land life, though the writer of Genesis had no scientific way of knowing this; birds have their own special mention in the story, and they are indeed evolutionarily distinct. Parker raises plenty of interesting questions, but he focuses almost exclusively on natural history, barely scratching the surface of the background of the text he is highlighting. Only in an appendix does he begin to delve into the rich textual and historical research about the creation story in Genesis.
Intriguing concept, incomplete execution.
(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
Starred review from October 15, 2009
Raised without religion, biologist Parker had his curiosity piqued by responses to his book, In the Blink of an Eye (2003), about his major scientific contribution, the light switch theory, which contends that the evolution of vision spurred the explosion of life-forms in the Cambrian period, 520 million years ago. His correspondents suggested that his theory put the final link in place between the account contemporary science gives of the worlds development and that related by the the first chapter of Genesis. This book is considered his response to that suggestion. Chapter by chapter, he relates the stages of cosmological development and evolution to the seven stages of Creation in Genesis 1, from Let there be lightthe concretion of the sunto the debut of birds, which defied the rule (i.e., the reign) of vision over the cycle of predation on which all life depends (birds are uniquely able to flee predators). Read metaphorically, Genesis 1 is a scientifically sound outline. Each of Parkers chapters, though sprung from a biblical statement, proceeds to chronicle two processes, that of how science thinks the earth and life developed and that of the scientists who forged the theories and obtained the facts that enable and confirm sciences account of creation and evolution. Parker, a popular science writer second to none in clarity and congeniality, has given us the single Darwinian bicentenary publication most liable to reconcile religion and science.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)
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