Book Review: A New Look At An Old Earth

Author: Don Stoner
Spiritual Bias: Christian
Origins Bias: Old Earth Creationist
Rating: Top Shelf
Level: Intermediate

Comments: This is an excellent book to read if you are interested in the creation date controversy. It is short, clear, and concise. The author provides scientific evidence for the antiquity of the earth and demonstrates why several commonly cited young earth arguments are false. Amongst the topics covered are radiometric dating, the Earth's magnetic field, the Paluxy River tracks, the "shrinking" Sun, sediment layering, tree rings, and moon dust. Stoner also does a good job explaining the history of the young earth creationist perspective. Note that he does not focus much on evolution but does scratch the surface of the subject by noting several gaps in the fossil record left unexplained by evolution. He closes the book by providing a potential set of old earth interpretations for Genesis 1. You will find that the mapping that Stoner documents between modern scientific facts and the creation days of Genesis 1 is very convincing. Overall, this is a very good book and I highly recommend it

Summary Quote: "Christians are often inclined to take the young-earth position simply because it appears to be the plainest reading of the Bible. In the first chapter, we learned why we should be more careful than this: Ancient writings, like Genesis, can be difficult to understand; the plainest reading may not necessarily be the correct one. God may actually have intended a meaning in Genesis which is different from the plain reading."