A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture: Making Genesis Real

by Carol Hill

Publisher:

Kregel

, 2019

Overview

There are a number of well-known areas of disagreement when it comes to discussions of the relationship between Christianity and science--most relating to the early chapters of Genesis. Observing that the traditional Christian positions, such as Young Earth and Evolutionary Creation, fail to properly account for the relevant theology, science, and history, geologist Carol Hill instead proposes a Worldview Approach. This approach seeks to uphold fundamental Christian doctrines while also taking into account the findings of modern science, and recognizing the prescientific worldview of the biblical authors. Hill argues that numerous apparent conflicts between Scripture and science can be resolved by understanding the ancient worldview of the Scriptural authors and how it differs from our modern, scientific worldview. This framework opens the door to resolving longstanding points of contention including:

• The six days of creation
• The Garden of Eden
• The numbers and chronologies of Genesis
• Noah’s flood
• Evolution
• Adam and Eve

For each of these topics, Hill explains the meaning of the relevant biblical passages, the scientific data, and how the Worldview Approach resolves apparent conflicts. Anyone who has wrestled with these topics will find A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture to be an invaluable resource for truly understanding the biblical texts and scientific findings, as well as discovering new solutions for these controversies.

Key Features

• Seeks to promote harmony between Christianity and science
• Intends to be an apologetics book modeled after Bernard Ramm’s 1954 classic work The Christian View of Science and Scripture
• Approaches the topics through a “Worldview Approach” to science and Scripture in order to reconcile and harmonize these two seemingly opposing subjects

Contents

• A Worldview Approach
• The Six Days of Creation
• The Garden of Eden
• Noah’s Flood: Historical or Mythological?
• Noah’s Flood: Global or Local?
• Flood Geology
• Evolution and the “New” Genetics
• Adam and Eve and Origins
• Putting It All Together

Top Highlights

“ interaction with, and revelation to, their ancestors.” (Page 160)

“Natural selection. Natural selection occurs when the environment acts as the selective agent by which combinations of characteristics best fit that particular environment; that is, it determines the ‘survival of the fittest.’” (Page 110)

“‘How could Noah’s ark have floated up-gradient to the mountains of Ararat if the flood was local?” (Page 82)

“ event is Genesis 41:56: ‘And the famine was over all the face of the earth’” (Page 72)

“A Worldview Approach interprets the Bible as the inspired revelation of God, where the biblical authors were allowed to express their interaction with God from their own literary and pre-scientific knowledge base. Does this make the Bible untrustworthy, in that it has incorporated the naïve views of the ancients? No, because these pre-scientific views are part of real history. If the Bible does not conform to real history, it is not a historical document, and it is then that the stories of Genesis become mythological and thus untrustworthy.” (Page 14)

Praise for A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture

This is one of the best one-volume works on the creation/evolution dialogue in print.

— Kenneth Keathley, Senior Professor of Theology, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

An excellent scientific treatment of the world of Genesis, using full-color illustrations and readily understandable explanations, that will be an essential textbook for any class on creation and an indispensable resource on the subject for lay readers.

— Michael L. Peterson, Professor of Philosophy, Asbury Theological Seminary

This book does a much-needed service for all Christians troubled by the relation of their faith to science. While other writers have also taken the position that Genesis is to be understood from the standpoint of the worldview of its own time, Hill has spelled out just how to do that in nontechnical language and convincing detail.

— Roy Clouser, Professor Emeritus, The College of New Jersey

Product Details

• Title: A Worldview Approach to Science and Scripture
• Author: Carol Hill
• Publisher: Kregel
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2021
• Pages: 225
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subjects: Creation › Biblical teaching; Intelligent design (Teleology); Biblical cosmology
• ISBNs: 9780825446146, 0825446147
• Resource ID: LLS:WRLDVWPPRCHGNRL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T03:54:07Z

About Carol Hill

Carol Hill, PhD, has been featured on NOVA and on National Geographic's Naked Science program.