BIG BANG, SMALL VOICE
Reconciling Genesis and modern science;
2nd edition
By P. G. Nelson.
Botanic Christian Books. 181 pages. £5.50
ISBN 978 0 992 825 607
It is a brave man or woman who takes on a task such as that of this book: to try and bring two apparently opposite views of the Creation account together. But such a person is our author. I’m sure all would wish his mission well, as it would be good to remove the fundamental divide.
Mr Nelson has taken a unique approach, trying to give a fair voice to each side of the argument, but also tackling what he considers to be the perceived weaknesses of each case. The basic structure of the book is to describe and evaluate the scientific account of origins and then the biblical account.
I won’t attempt to describe the details of his arguments, but both parties (are there only two?) would do well to read his rea-sonings. Ultimately, he attempts to bring the two sides together by presenting his reconciliation.
Frustrating
One of the aggravating aspects of the layout is that Mr Nelson attempts to bring his work up to date (his first edition was in 1999), by adding an additional chapter to the main text. It is frustrating to read his main account and then have to look at the end of the book to see if he has any amendments to his facts or arguments. It would have been far better to integrate them into the main text and amend that accordingly.
One can pick on individual points throughout and argue with them, but that is not my task. The author works on the basis that the current scientific consensus is broadly correct. Science is not an absolute body of knowledge and its content does change with time, in contrast to our understanding of the nature of the Word of God. The former position is based on the authority of fallible men and women, whereas the biblical position is that of an unchanging and truly authoritative God. Perhaps unwittingly, Mr Nelson ignores the fact that biblical creationists are often well-qualified scientists themselves who seek to use principles to establish a better correlation.
Neither as a scientist nor as a creationist am I at ease with this reconciliation attempt. But I think there is an underlying call in the work for a respect for each other which is appropriate.
