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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Are science and Scripture partners in the search for origins? For Leonard Brand the answer is a confident yes— although the partnership may be a little strained from time to time.
This understanding flies in the face of Gould’s Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life.
Gould doesn’t recognise any conflict between science and religion by asserting that science and religion are separate “domains” and thus do not address each other’s concerns.
Brand, on the other hand, argues that science and religion do interact and that although conflicts may arise as a result, this conflict is healthy as it may “force us to dig deeper in both as we seek for genuine resolution that does not relegate either to a secondary role” (page 7). It is from this premise that Brand candidly outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments surrounding geological and biological origins.
Beginnings is well written, with a natural flow of thought and appropriate references. To get the most out of his work, Brand evinces that the reader must have a basic knowledge of biology but not necessarily geology. The reader who knew nothing of geology prior to reading Beginnings would afterwards be much more informed and able to comfortably read geological journals and geological– creation literature. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Christian high schools may well use this book as a textbook in the study of these sciences.
There is an honest feel to Beginnings that is not always found in either Christian or “natural” science literature on the subject of origins. For example, in reference to continental glaciers, Brand states that “some modern observations suggest that icepacks can grow or melt quite rapidly under the right conditions. But we don’t know how to explain other lines of evidence, especially studies of samples from polar ice and deep-sea sediments containing thousands of fine laminae that scientists interpret as annual layers.” Brand’s acknowledgement of the challenges with all models will gain him credibility particularly with Christian university students, who may find their faith challenged if they were raised with oversimplified answers to complex problems.
I am a little disappointed that Brand makes theological statements throughout that assume a knowledge and understanding beyond the scope of the unchurched. For example he says, “He [Jesus] came to earth to live amid conflict and misunderstanding and to endure a cruel death to give us continued life” (pages 31, 32). By making such statements I believe he is limiting his potential audience by attempting too much too quickly. It may be, however, that American readers might be more receptive.
Brand makes a number of good arguments with very interesting outcomes to consider. One of these is his understanding of “suboptimal adaptations.”
That is, micro-adaptations that have occurred through natural selection to create an organism that is less, rather than better, suited to its environment.
Interventionists have been able to explain this theologically; Brand provides a scientific explanation.
Like most people, Brand’s understanding of life’s big questions is quite personal. For example, Brand makes this subjective comment that appears to be his main objection to the separation of science and religion argument: “I propose that a god who doesn’t know how to make a brain capable of exercising free choice, a god who has to depend on chance mutations, is an impotent god who is not worthy of our confidence” (page 141).
An understanding of the polemic surrounding origins is not for everyone— Christian or non-Christian alike.
However, those who have children in the latter years of high school or university would do well to make this book a part of their essential reading.
Leonard Brand (with David C Jarnes) should be congratulated for this credible, thought-provoking work.
Extract from Signs of the Times, July 2007 .
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