Lamoureux
has brought a very valuable addition to the creation evolution
discussion. He calls for the end of the dichotomy of evolution or
creation. We don't have to choose. We can have both.
He
shares his own story of becoming an atheist after studying evolution.
He later found that faith in a creator God is very possible while
still maintaining belief in evolution. He has written this book to
help students and others who struggle with their Christian faith when
confronted with modern science.
He
takes readers through the fossil evidence. “Every year there are
thousands of new fossils found,” he writes, “and they always show
up exactly where scientists expect them to be in the fossil record.”
(455/2478) The evidence for evolution is overwhelming, he says.
Lamoureux
is an evolutionary creationist. “God with only one creative act set
up the laws of nature for everything in the entire world to
self-assemble through evolution.” (571/2478) “Beginning with the
Big Bang, God put in motion extremely well-designed natural processes
which he used to self-assemble the entire world, including us.”
(610/2478) “Evolutionary creationists believe the Creator ordains
and sustains all natural processes in the world, including the
evolutionary process.” (1465/2478)
He
argues that the early chapters in Genesis are ones in which God
accommodated humans “and allowed writers to use the
science-of-the-day.” (706/2478) He proposes the Message-Incident
Principle where Bible statements about nature are to be read through
the understanding of ancients. Evolutionary creationists believe real
historical events in Scripture begin roughly around Genesis 12 and
Abraham. Jesus' statements, such as God creating male and female
(Matt. 19:4) are also accommodations to the understanding of the day,
Lamoureux claims.
Lamoureux
is not a deist, however. He believes God miraculously works in the
lives of men and women. It is possible to reject God intervening “in
origins and operations of the world but then fully embrace personal
miracles as well as the miracles of Jesus and his bodily resurrection
from the grave.” (743/2478)
He
points out that in light of Romans 1:21-23, it “is evident” that
“human sinfulness leads to intellectual dysfunction.” (830/2478)
“In other words, sin impacts our ability to think clearly and
rationally.” (830/2478) Also, “...sinfulness twists our
thought processes into believing falsehoods.” (837/2478)
Unfortunately, he fails to explore how this might impair the work of
scientists and the conclusions they draw.
Difficulties
for Christians believing in evolution include man being created in
the image of God and man falling into sin. Lamoureux brushes off
these issues by writing that understanding how the Image of God and
sinfulness arose in humanity is “ultimately a mystery and beyond
our comprehension.” (1478/2478) Not understanding how it came about
“has no impact whatsoever” on his belief that we bear the Image
of God and are sinners. (1478/2478) The evolutionary issue of how
humans became conscious and spiritual beings is one Lamoureux does
not tackle, even though I think it is a very important problem.
While
this book is a good addition to the discussion on evolution and
creation, there is much that yet needs to be covered. One is the area
of miracles. Lamoureux says “it is perfectly reasonable” to
reject God working in nature in the development of animals and humans
yet accept “personal divine action.” (1996/2478) We already saw
where Lamoureux accepts personal miracles. But personal miracles are
God working in nature, healing, calming the storm, etc. Why should we
reject God working in nature in one area (origins) but accept His
working in nature in other areas?
Another
topic needing further discussion is creation initially being good but
then being tainted by sin. Paul says in Romans 5:12 that sin entered
by one man and death through sin. How do Christian evolutionists
explain that? Paul continues his argument by relating the sin of the
one man (Adam) to God's saving grace through the one man, Jesus.
(Rom. 5:15) If Paul was wrong about Adam how do we know he was right
about Jesus?
And
what about when Jesus mentioned the days of Noah and said it will be
like that when He returns? (Matt. 24:7) Christian evolutionists do
not accept the story of Noah as history so what do we do with Jesus'
statement? And what about Peter when he writes about the world being
deluged? (2 Peter 3:6) Peter relates that event to the future coming
of the Lord and the earth being destroyed by fire. If we think Peter did
not get the flood right, how can we trust he gets the coming of the
Lord right? And John mentions Cain in I John 3:12. If John wrongly
believed Cain was a real person how can we trust the rest he writes?
There
are parts of this book I really appreciate. I appreciate Lamoureux's
proposal of a fruitful relationship between the Bible and God's work
revealed in science. I appreciate his discussion of metaphysics and
physics and how one must take a leap from physics to metaphysics and
belief in design and a Designer. I think he does an excellent job in
discussing when evolution has an end in mind (determined by God) or
is blind, as atheists claim. He presents very good arguments
discounting atheism.
But
there are also issues that still need to be discussed. This book is a
good beginning to the topic but may not satisfy all readers, as it
did not satisfy me. There still needs to be a great deal more work
done on the views of Christian evolutionists and how they maintain
the integrity of the Bible as revealing spiritual truths.
I
recommend this book to those interested in the creation evolution
discussion. Lamoureux clearly identifies how making people choose
between science and faith has been detrimental. Many will find within
these pages reasons to believe God created through the evolutionary
process. I also recommend this book to those who are willing to work
through the ideas of Christian evolutionary thought and clear up some
of the remaining questions regarding the integrity of the Bible.
And
just one more thought, this one regarding the title of the book. The
title indicates that Scriptures in some way inform readers that
evolution occurred. Lamoureux does not show that in this book. The
best that can be said is that Scriptures do not say evolution did not
happen – if you look at it through the eyes of Christian
evolutionary thought. I personally think the title is misleading.
Lamoureux
teaches a class on science and faith at the University of Alberta.
Readers interested in pursuing this topic can access that class at
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/350homepage.html.
My
rating: 4/5 stars.
Denis O. Lamoureux is Associate Professor of Science and Religion at St.
Joseph's College in the University of Alberta, the first tenure-track
position in Canada dedicated to teaching and research on the
relationship between scientific discovery and Christian faith. He is
the author of Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to
Evolution; I Love Jesus and I Accept Evolution; and
Darwinism Defeated? The Johnson-Lamoureux Debate on Biological
Origins. You can find out more at
https://sites.ualberta.ca/~dlamoure/.
Zondervan,
208 pages. (Instead of giving page numbers for quotes, I have given the location in my Kindle edition.)
I
received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My
comments are an independent and honest review.
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