Author: Philip Bruce Heywood
Spiritual Bias: Christian
Origins Bias: Creationist
Rating: Middle of the Road
Level: Intermediate
Comments: This book is really two books in one. Part I contains a walk-through of the first nine chapters in the Bible from a scientific perspective and part II is more or less a typical origins book covering topics such as Darwinism and the Genesis Flood. I honestly struggled with the style of part I. Some sections are written in speech-like text and at times reads almost like a sermon. Part II however was rather enjoyable reading. I must note though that the key redeeming value of this book falls in the fairly original interpretation of Genesis. In particular, the author posits two interesting ideas. First, Heywood believes that God created the blueprints of vegetation before they grew and existed on the Earth. This is to reconcile the oft cited supposed contradiction between Genesis 1 and 2 with respect to plant creation and existence on the Earth. Second, the author interprets the context of Genesis 1:6 "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters..." as that of the early Universe after the Big Bang instead of the Earth. Whilst I don't necessarily agree with many of the ideas in this book I'll give it a rating of Middle of the Road because of the original ideas and the author's comprehensiveness in covering so much ground in the field of origins.
Sample Quotes:
(from Part I)
"How can creatures be "created" on the fifth day, and be "formed out of the ground" on the sixth day? In a way analogous to the manufacture of "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew" Gen. 2:5. The processes were necessarily more complex and sophisticated where animals were involved, but the precedent had been set with the plants, and simply carried over to the higher forms. Genetic codes or "blueprints" were made/created, stored, and automatically signaled to living cells on the earth at pre-arranged times.
(from Part II)
"The family tree of the horse has been put together from three distinct parts, of which only the last can be regarded as including horses. Many bridging forms have been claimed to exist in the fossil record; but such so-called species links are merely a reflective of the development of races. In reality, the very definition of a species excludes intermediate, bridging types. They do not have a place; they are a nonentity: for, were they able to reproduce with a member of any other species, they would be of that species. By definition, they do not exist. And the fossils themselves bear this out, for there are no clear gradations between one type of organism and another."
