Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies: Youth Ministry in the Age of Science (Science for Youth Ministry) - Softcover

Root, Andrew

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1506446744 ISBN 13: 9781506446745

Publisher: Fortress Press, 2018

Synopsis

Many things threaten the faith of youth today, but none more than science. The commitments of science and Christianity seem to be at odds science makes truth claims based on experiments and proofs, while religion asks for belief and trust. But Andrew Root demonstrates that, in fact, the two are not incompatible.

Root, a renowned expert on adolescent spirituality, shows how science overstates its claims on truth, while faith often understates its own claims. Both faith and science frame the experience and reality of teenagers, and both have something valuable to offer as adolescents develop.

Drawing on a fictional account of a youth pastor and the various students he encounters, Root paints a compelling picture of how faith can flourish, even in our scientific age.

About this title

About the Author:

Andrew Root is the Olson Baalson Associate Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota. He is the author of several books, including The Relational Pastor andThe Children of Divorce, and coauthor with Kenda Creasy Dean of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry.

Review:

"Thankfully, we can finally kill the false rivalry and instead put faith and science in dialogue. Now, instead of fearing these conversations with young people, I can't wait to start them!"

--Brad M. Griffin, youth pastor, director of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary, and coauthor of Growing Young

"Andy Root tells the truth: you can't keep faith and science apart. Kids in the midst of deep intellectual formation wonder how faith can possibly make sense in light of an evolving, 14-billion-year-old cosmos. To this question Root brings his gift for storytelling, his love of science and philosophy, and his abiding concern for the pragmatics of ministry. The result is a moving, exhaustively researched, and imminently useful guide for youth workers who want to welcome science into their ministry but don't quite know how."

----Paul Wallace, astrophysicist, lecturer in physics and astronomy, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA, author of Stars Beneath Us

"Please see that the youth ministers in your community get a copy of this book."

--Jim Stump, senior editor, BioLogos.org

"Consider this book the youth ministry book on science and theology. Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies is a gamechanger, deserving a place on the bookshelves of not only all youth ministers but anyone seeking an intellectually honest and spiritually sensitive engagement with science and theology."

----Sarah Lane Ritchie, University of St Andrews, Scotland

"Exploding Stars, Dead Dinosaurs, and Zombies helps youth leaders bring science and theology together as conversation partners, not sparring partners. This book will change what you talk about in youth ministry.

----Kenda Creasy Dean, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary, author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church

About this edition

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1506446744
• ISBN 13: 9781506446745
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312