The Nature of Creation: Examining the Bible and Science (Biblical Challenges in the Contemporary World) - Hardcover

Harris, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1844657248 ISBN 13: 9781844657247

Publisher: Routledge, 2013

Synopsis

It is generally assumed that science and religion are at war. Many now claim that science has made religious belief redundant; others have turned to a literalist interpretation of biblical creation to reject or revise science; others try to resolve Darwin with Genesis. "The Nature of Creation" addresses this complex debate by engaging with both modern science and biblical scholarship together. Creation is central to Christian theology and the Bible, and has become the chosen battleground for scientists, atheists and creationists alike. "The Nature of Creation" presents a sustained historical investigation of what the creation texts of the Bible have to say and how this relates to modern scientific ideas of beginnings. The book aims to demonstrate what science and religion can share, and how they differ and ought to differ.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Harris is Lecturer in Science and Religion at the University of Edinburgh.

Review

"Hardly anyone is qualified, as Mark Harris is, to write professionally about both the biblical sources and the science involved in thinking about creation, so this book is a unique contribution to current debates. It is lucid and accessible, and should refresh and illuminate discussions that sometimes seem to have become tired and stale. A major contribution to the study of science and religion." --John Barton, University of Oxford

"Harris carefully examines the thorny theological issues that are raised when biblical creation accounts are read alongside contemporary evolutionary science. Although the idea of God as Creator suffuses the whole Bible, it is best to read the Bible in conjunction with, and not in opposition to, scientific understandings of the world. Harris's book raises the level of discussion far past arguments about the age of the earth and the provability of intelligent design and shows how scientific developments can sharpen our reading of scriptural cosmologies." - Christian Century

"This careful analysis of biblical materials regarding creation in relationship to the view of modern science should be of great interest and value to anyone concerned with this topic. Highly recommended." - Choice

"Harris's engagement with biblical criticism, informed interaction with philosophical and theological issues, and firm grasp of the current scientific consensus allow him to make a seasoned and carefully nuanced argument that will satisfy scientists, theologians, and biblical scholars and make this book stand out from others in the field." - John Walton, Marginalia Review of Books

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1844657248
• ISBN 13: 9781844657247
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224