What do you think?
God and evolution
Book by Berry, R. J.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
R.J. Berry
47 books3 followersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert James "Sam" Berry FRSE FSB is a British geneticist, naturalist and Christian. He was professor of genetics at University College London between 1974-2000. He was president from 1983 to 1986 of the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society and the European Ecological Federation. A Christian, Berry has spoken out in favour of evolutionary creationism, and served as a lay member of the Church of England's General Synod and president of Christians in Science. He gave the 1997–98 Glasgow Gifford Lectures entitled Gods, Genes, Greens and Everything.
Robert James "Sam" Berry FRSE FSB is a British geneticist, naturalist and Christian. He was professor of genetics at University College London between 1974-2000. He was president from 1983 to 1986 of the Linnean Society, the British Ecological Society and the European Ecological Federation. A Christian, Berry has spoken out in favour of evolutionary creationism, and served as a lay member of the Church of England's General Synod and president of Christians in Science. He gave the 1997–98 Glasgow Gifford Lectures entitled Gods, Genes, Greens and Everything.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
March 5, 2015
Although this book is somewhat dated (first published in 1988 and reprinted with a new forward in 2001), the author, who was Professor of Genetics at University College London, makes a number of good points in a relatively short book.
R. J. Berry’s theme is that the whole creation debate is worthwhile if it leads us to a more reverent and scriptural idea of God than that of a cosmic mechanic or a blind watchmaker.
Berry states that there are only three points where scientific knowledge and method contents of the Bible, namely: origins, man, and miracles, and that evolution is involved in all three.
Berry discusses the history of the idea of evolution, the biblical account of creation, the post-Darwin history of our understanding of the mechanisms of evolution and their relative importance, and creationism.
The author also discusses seven criticisms of the neo-Darwinian synthesis: (1) Evolution is “only” a theory, (2) Evolution is survival of the fittest, which is tautologous, (3) Evolution is non-falsifiable and therefore not a true science, (4) Punctuated equilibria, (5) Cladism, (6) Development, and (7) Neo-Lamarckism.
Berry concludes by affirming some basic premises: (1) God created the world and everything in it, (2) Genesis is little concerned with how God carried out his mighty works, (3) The scientific description of events is complementary and NOT contradictory to the Bible or teleological explanation, (4) There is no scriptural reason for disbelieving that God worked through biologically-understood mechanisms of evolution by natural selection to produce the world as we see it today, (5) Humans are distinguished from the animals only in their spiritual qualities. Consequently it is reasonable to suppose (and Genesis 2:7 suggests it) that God placed His image in an already existing animal.
I recommend this book for anyone who is pondering the compatibility of Christianity and biological evolution.
R. J. Berry’s theme is that the whole creation debate is worthwhile if it leads us to a more reverent and scriptural idea of God than that of a cosmic mechanic or a blind watchmaker.
Berry states that there are only three points where scientific knowledge and method contents of the Bible, namely: origins, man, and miracles, and that evolution is involved in all three.
Berry discusses the history of the idea of evolution, the biblical account of creation, the post-Darwin history of our understanding of the mechanisms of evolution and their relative importance, and creationism.
The author also discusses seven criticisms of the neo-Darwinian synthesis: (1) Evolution is “only” a theory, (2) Evolution is survival of the fittest, which is tautologous, (3) Evolution is non-falsifiable and therefore not a true science, (4) Punctuated equilibria, (5) Cladism, (6) Development, and (7) Neo-Lamarckism.
Berry concludes by affirming some basic premises: (1) God created the world and everything in it, (2) Genesis is little concerned with how God carried out his mighty works, (3) The scientific description of events is complementary and NOT contradictory to the Bible or teleological explanation, (4) There is no scriptural reason for disbelieving that God worked through biologically-understood mechanisms of evolution by natural selection to produce the world as we see it today, (5) Humans are distinguished from the animals only in their spiritual qualities. Consequently it is reasonable to suppose (and Genesis 2:7 suggests it) that God placed His image in an already existing animal.
I recommend this book for anyone who is pondering the compatibility of Christianity and biological evolution.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review