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Beyond Creation Science
527 pages, Perfect Paperback
First published December 24, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 19, 2017
It's a rare book that aims to confront its readers thinking and challenge their deep set assumptions and beliefs on an important topic. In Beyond Creation Science, Timothy Martin and Jeffrey Vaughn attempt to do this on two fronts, with the young-earth / old-earth creationism debate and end-times theology (eschatology). With such a daunting aim, it would be surprising if the book succeeded in both goals with every reader.
While the book did not overturn my thinking completely on both ends of the Bible, it did stretch my mind and give me cause to evaluate what I believe in light of the Bible's entire teaching. The authors present their case well in a coherent manner, and they deserve a hearing.
The work is subtitled "New covenant creation from Genesis to Revelation", and the authors do succeed in convincing the reader that Genesis and Revelation are inextricably linked. How one thinks and interprets Genesis directly impacts how he thinks of eschatology and Revelation.
A strength of the book is its stress on biblical theology--seeing all of Scripture in light of the redemptive story. I also share a suspicion of dispensationalism with its authors. I found their claim--that the same scientifically literal approach, championed by dispensationalists, which results in a full-fledged futuristic approach to Revelation (pre-trib, premillennialism) also leads them to subscribe to young-earth creationism--convincing.
While I am not completely convinced of old-earth creationism, this book certainly gave me more respect for that view. The authors show how young-earth creationism, was in large part advanced after the threat of Darwinism surfaced, and with the benefit of dispensational hermeneutics. I was shocked to learn that the hugely influential book The Genesis Flood (by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris), was based to a large degree on an earlier work by a Seventh Day Adventist (who would certainly be biased toward a literal 24-hour day view of the creation week), one George McCready Price who wrote The New Geology in 1923.
What was especially fascinating for me was the authors defense of a local flood view. I've always just assumed the flood was global. The evidence does seem quite compelling when you examine the terminology used and some of the Biblical and scientific questions which arise when one holds to a global flood. In our scientific age we are biased to see global-sounding terms as unequivocally global. In days gone by, that is not how such terms were understood, and this book explains why.
Another interesting element in the book was the discussion of the antediluvian lifespans. The book shows how it was only Seth's descendants who were said to have long ages. It also points to millennial lifespans mentioned in Isaiah and Revelation and concludes the biblical ideal life is one thousand years old.
I must admit I was wary of this book's advocacy of full preterism. I had hardly been exposed to partial preterism before reading this, so full preterism was hard to swallow. In one sense I can see the evidence for partial preterism (the view that the Olivet Discourse has largely been fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70). But as the arguments were pressed further for a full preterist view that the resurrection is solely spiritual (i.e. regeneration), and the new heaven and new earth are fulfilled in a Christian's existence today, I had to balk. In Acts, the angels say Jesus will return visibly like the disciples saw him go into heaven, and in John 14, Jesus says he's building a place for us and will come back to bring us to be with him. These are just two passages which in my mind directly contradict a full preterist view.
To be honest, this book is not attempting a full fledged defense of full preterism. The book focuses more on Genesis than Revelation. And it doesn't attempt to answer all the counter arguments for both issues. It aims to show how one's views of prophecy influence one's views of creation and the flood. It succeeds in that respect.
I found the book fascinating but remain unconvinced. Often I thought the argumentation was somewhat weak. Authors were quoted as if simply providing their quote proved the point. When trying to disprove the notion that death could not exist before the Fall, the book did not adequately deal with some of the key theological and exegetical supports for that view. This being said, I can understand many of the Biblical arguments for these views now. I can appreciate the authors' desire to follow Scripture wherever it leads. This is what all of us should aim to do. And to that end, studying out the claims of preterism and evaluating them Biblically is no waste of time.
I would recommend Bible students read this book. But I would caution them against the full preterist view. It runs counter to the historic church creeds and seems to deny some important truths. At the least be wary of it and do more research before adopting that view as your own.
While the book did not overturn my thinking completely on both ends of the Bible, it did stretch my mind and give me cause to evaluate what I believe in light of the Bible's entire teaching. The authors present their case well in a coherent manner, and they deserve a hearing.
The work is subtitled "New covenant creation from Genesis to Revelation", and the authors do succeed in convincing the reader that Genesis and Revelation are inextricably linked. How one thinks and interprets Genesis directly impacts how he thinks of eschatology and Revelation.
A strength of the book is its stress on biblical theology--seeing all of Scripture in light of the redemptive story. I also share a suspicion of dispensationalism with its authors. I found their claim--that the same scientifically literal approach, championed by dispensationalists, which results in a full-fledged futuristic approach to Revelation (pre-trib, premillennialism) also leads them to subscribe to young-earth creationism--convincing.
While I am not completely convinced of old-earth creationism, this book certainly gave me more respect for that view. The authors show how young-earth creationism, was in large part advanced after the threat of Darwinism surfaced, and with the benefit of dispensational hermeneutics. I was shocked to learn that the hugely influential book The Genesis Flood (by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris), was based to a large degree on an earlier work by a Seventh Day Adventist (who would certainly be biased toward a literal 24-hour day view of the creation week), one George McCready Price who wrote The New Geology in 1923.
What was especially fascinating for me was the authors defense of a local flood view. I've always just assumed the flood was global. The evidence does seem quite compelling when you examine the terminology used and some of the Biblical and scientific questions which arise when one holds to a global flood. In our scientific age we are biased to see global-sounding terms as unequivocally global. In days gone by, that is not how such terms were understood, and this book explains why.
Another interesting element in the book was the discussion of the antediluvian lifespans. The book shows how it was only Seth's descendants who were said to have long ages. It also points to millennial lifespans mentioned in Isaiah and Revelation and concludes the biblical ideal life is one thousand years old.
I must admit I was wary of this book's advocacy of full preterism. I had hardly been exposed to partial preterism before reading this, so full preterism was hard to swallow. In one sense I can see the evidence for partial preterism (the view that the Olivet Discourse has largely been fulfilled in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70). But as the arguments were pressed further for a full preterist view that the resurrection is solely spiritual (i.e. regeneration), and the new heaven and new earth are fulfilled in a Christian's existence today, I had to balk. In Acts, the angels say Jesus will return visibly like the disciples saw him go into heaven, and in John 14, Jesus says he's building a place for us and will come back to bring us to be with him. These are just two passages which in my mind directly contradict a full preterist view.
To be honest, this book is not attempting a full fledged defense of full preterism. The book focuses more on Genesis than Revelation. And it doesn't attempt to answer all the counter arguments for both issues. It aims to show how one's views of prophecy influence one's views of creation and the flood. It succeeds in that respect.
I found the book fascinating but remain unconvinced. Often I thought the argumentation was somewhat weak. Authors were quoted as if simply providing their quote proved the point. When trying to disprove the notion that death could not exist before the Fall, the book did not adequately deal with some of the key theological and exegetical supports for that view. This being said, I can understand many of the Biblical arguments for these views now. I can appreciate the authors' desire to follow Scripture wherever it leads. This is what all of us should aim to do. And to that end, studying out the claims of preterism and evaluating them Biblically is no waste of time.
I would recommend Bible students read this book. But I would caution them against the full preterist view. It runs counter to the historic church creeds and seems to deny some important truths. At the least be wary of it and do more research before adopting that view as your own.
August 2, 2023
Well worth reading. If you are "in to" creation science research this is a must read and eye opening. It is written from a full preterist perspective which reveals many hidden insights in the plain sight of scripture. The authors are well read so expect a fun journey with many references to other great thinkers in this field. It is easy to read and follow for anyone.
October 4, 2024
A worthwhile paradigm shifting read!
July 2, 2011
The book is very mixed. There are sections that are brilliant and other sections that are extremely poor. There are some special lines of argument which make the book worth reading in spite of the poor sections.
May 19, 2024
This book was recommended to me by someone from a Facebook preterist group. For some reason I thought it would be a scholarly study of early views of Genesis. By the time I realized it was in fact a preterist screed I was in too deep to put it down. That's ok: CML here in Columbus OH had this shipped here all the way from California, so the least I could do is read the darn thing.
To be clear, I am not in this book's target audience. I lost faith in Jesus about 15 years ago. Since that time I have continued to study that fascinating collection of books known as the Bible, and I have made Revelation (and hence all eschatological theories) an area of special study. The present book is a critique of creationism, particularly young-earth but also old-earth, and of futurist eschatological schemes, especially premillennial dispensationalism. What is distinctive about this book was that it attacked young earth theories on the basis of scripture, shying away from scientific arguments.
I found the biblical arguments for a local Noah's flood interesting, and many points were brought up militating against a global flood. I still think the bulk of the evidence points to a global flood. The biblical arguments brought to bear against it only show that the Bible isn’t particularly consistent.
The other area that interested me was the discussion of heaven and earth as covenant rather than physical creation. There is a branch of preterism known as Israel Only that goes so far as to say Genesis 1 is not about the creation of the cosmos at all! These authors do not go to that extreme, but they lean very heavily towards the idea that heaven and earth refer to God's covenant with Israel. They cite a number of passages in support of their contention. In fact, there is no reason to make such a fine distinction between heaven and earth as covenant and as physical creation. As John H Walton demonstrates in his fine book Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology, in the ANE ancient temples and their associated cultuses were considered microcosms of the universe. He quotes Josephus to show that this was also true in the 1st century Jewish world.
I don’t know whether I would recommend this book to a non-Christian. The middle section was interesting enough, but I found the first and last 80 pages mind-numbing. (Ok I admit it, I skipped the last 20 pages. Enough was enough!"
To be clear, I am not in this book's target audience. I lost faith in Jesus about 15 years ago. Since that time I have continued to study that fascinating collection of books known as the Bible, and I have made Revelation (and hence all eschatological theories) an area of special study. The present book is a critique of creationism, particularly young-earth but also old-earth, and of futurist eschatological schemes, especially premillennial dispensationalism. What is distinctive about this book was that it attacked young earth theories on the basis of scripture, shying away from scientific arguments.
I found the biblical arguments for a local Noah's flood interesting, and many points were brought up militating against a global flood. I still think the bulk of the evidence points to a global flood. The biblical arguments brought to bear against it only show that the Bible isn’t particularly consistent.
The other area that interested me was the discussion of heaven and earth as covenant rather than physical creation. There is a branch of preterism known as Israel Only that goes so far as to say Genesis 1 is not about the creation of the cosmos at all! These authors do not go to that extreme, but they lean very heavily towards the idea that heaven and earth refer to God's covenant with Israel. They cite a number of passages in support of their contention. In fact, there is no reason to make such a fine distinction between heaven and earth as covenant and as physical creation. As John H Walton demonstrates in his fine book Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology, in the ANE ancient temples and their associated cultuses were considered microcosms of the universe. He quotes Josephus to show that this was also true in the 1st century Jewish world.
I don’t know whether I would recommend this book to a non-Christian. The middle section was interesting enough, but I found the first and last 80 pages mind-numbing. (Ok I admit it, I skipped the last 20 pages. Enough was enough!"
July 24, 2023
I have been reading this one off and on for years and will continue to do so. I helps me understand Genesis more, which, ironically, helps me understand Revelation better.. ya don't know what ya don't know, and then when your blinders are opened by more learned, insightful scholars like the authors of this book, the Bible make so much more sense. Mental gymnastics to make things fit disappears. Especially, for Christians to want to understand Genesis better, to understand the dramatic shift in old earth creationism to new earth in the last 100-200 years, and especially, eschatology (end times), I highly recommend this book!
June 25, 2019
There was a lot I liked about this book. I liked how the authors connect creation to end times in writing style. I liked the way they showed how the audience of scripture is the Hebrew/covenant people. But I reject full preterism. (I do hold to partial preterism).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews