Is God a Creationist?: The Religious Case Against Creation-Science

By Roland Mushat Frye

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684179938
• ISBN13: 9780684179933
• Release Date: September 1983
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.

Customer Reviews

It's depressing that this book is even more relevant a quarter-century after its publication

Roland Mushat Frye (ed.), Is God a Creationist?: The Religious Case Against Creation Science (Scribner, 1983) Had enough of scientists trying to debunk creation science and religionists laughing at them? This is a refreshing change of pace: a collection of essays written by various religious scholars and leaders debunking creation science. Frye collects eleven essays by Christians (both Catholic and Protestant) and Jews that provide alternate explanations of Genesis that don't contradict the scientific evidence at all. Most of them castigate the creationists, at least in passing, for attempting to make the Bible do something it wasn't meant to do. This is an absolute must for anyone who finds him or herself getting into arguments with young-earth creationists on a regular basis, for any ammo you can add to your quill is valuable, and ammo that works on their level is doubly so. It's also a good one if you're just interested in the subject in general; the writing, as it is in most anthology-style books, is inconsistent (interestingly, the driest and toughest of these essays comes from Pope John Paul II), but when it's readable, it's perfect: couched in layman's terms but without talking down to the reader. A fine book for rounding out your arguments. ****

Christians are not restricted to literalism with Gen. 1

While most experts in the area of Creation/Evolution debate have their audience believing the entire dilemma revolves around scientific method and accompanying extremist propaganda, there are some biblical scholars who want people to understand that the issue should never have progressed to the scientific level. We need to take a step back and examine the traditional hermeneutical method applied to the Genesis creation accounts, and do so in light of the ancient Hebrews' neighboring cosmologies. Frye has edited a book of contributions from scholars who herald this message: the issue exists today because of neglect of authorial intent in Genesis, invalid criticism hurled at the scientific community, and because some literalists want to attribute motives of anti-theism and anti-morality to scientists. While I favored Conrad Hyers' contribution entitled, "Biblical Literalism: Constricting the Cosmic Dance," all contributions are intelligently well versed. I especially appreciated Hyers' article because he identifies how our literalistic present day culture forces a shade over our eyes as we read ancient literature, which is part of the crux of the issue. People fail to recognize that the literalists have misidentified the literary genre of the Genesis creation accounts. The credibility of Christianity as being an intellectual faith is at risk because of the Creation biblical literalists, and by publishing this book, Frye acknowledged that he refuses to standby and watch. It is September 2001 as I write this. Many new books on the Creation/Evolution controversy have hit the market the past few years. It is my hope that Frye's book will be reprinted in light of the recent surge in interest of this dilemma.