The Genesis Enigma: Why the First Book of the Bible Is Scientifically Accurate

by Andrew Parker

Book Overview

"The single Darwinian bicentenary publication most liable to reconcile religion and science."
-Booklist (starred review)

Andrew Parker is known within the scientific community as the man who best explained the "big bang" in the diversity of life that occurred over 500 million years ago. Stimulated by that research, he became interested in the biblical account of Genesis. Light is mentioned twice; life first emerged in the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452296552
• ISBN13: 9780452296558
• Release Date: October 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

The Genesis Enigma

Andrew Parker seems to be conversant with the latest thinking on evolution. He proposes that there is room for both evolution and God and that the Bible is not at odds with scientific findings. In the Genesis Enigma, Parker convincingly presents the reader with the conclusion that the Old Testament is true, and that creation corresponds to the current scientific understanding of human evolution and history. He also quotes the French philosopher Rene Descartes, as having made contributions to natural philisophy, now known as (physics). We must however be weary of Descartes, as he in the 16th century made the following erroneous statement. " I perceive it to be possible to arrive at knowledge in life, useful in making us the masters and possesors of nature!" We will never posses nature. Throug careful documentation of various fossil discoveries, combined with modern thoughts on the subject, he points to a link between the creation story in the Bible and new theories on how the universe and life came about. Parker approaches the existence of God with scientific evidence and sujests there is an intelligence behind the Big Bang theory which ceated the universe, and that a higher power must exist because of our sense of beauty and inherent spirituality. This higher power he writes does exist,bu is beyond our present comprehension. This book will not be easily eccepted by believers of the literal creation account in the Bible of 6,000 years. By pointing to differnt sources of the possible origins of life he diversefies the traditionally accepted identiy of God. This book would make a great addition to any serious collector of books on the creation of the universe and life itself, as our limited minds and present understanding are as yet not capable of comprehending the vastles of all of this. Hans Liszikam, author of "The God Code in the Seven"

Evolution AND God?

Evolution AND God? Andrew Parker, a broad-based biological scientist, who is up-to-date on the latest understanding of evolutionary evidence, proposes that yes, there is room for both -evolution and God. Scientists and theologians don't need to fight and argue any longer. The Bible isn't at odds with scientific findings after all, and therefore can be trusted. Some of Parker's professional colleagues, including Professors John Lennox, Alister McGrath, and Alan Millard at Green Templeton College, Oxford University, all well-versed in religion, inspired him to further explore the science versus theology controversy. In the Genesis Enigma, Parker weaves together his insights from Christian art, biblical archaeology, development of the biblical texts, and evolutionary science to arrive at a stunning conclusion: The Old Testament is true, and more specifically, the Genesis 1 creation sequence corresponds to the current scientific understanding of life's evolutionary history. After establishing the validity of the Old Testament through archaeological findings in Chapter 1, Parker devotes each of Chapters 2-8 to the main events of Genesis 1. He carefully documents the history of the various fossil discoveries and the resultant evolutionary thought and conclusions regarding the stages of life on earth. To his own surprise, he discovers a match between the sequence of creation events in Genesis and the modern scientific account of how the universe and life came to be. It needs to be mentioned, however, that in some cases the correspondence between the Genesis creation account and scientific understanding of origins is not as clear cut as Parker tries to convince the reader. In the last chapter, Parker examines the place of God amidst the scientific evidence. In a middle-ground solution, he proposes God to be the entity behind the Big Bang and the creator of the initial energy which gave rise to the material universe. Drawing on the thoughts of C.S. Lewis and others, Parker observes that a universal moral law has existed in the various civilizations throughout human history. In addition, the sense of beauty and spirituality is almost universally integrated into the human psyche. These realities point to the existence of a Higher Power. Another fact that Parker points out is that we live in a virtual reality world - an enormous amount of data about what exists is simply unavailable to us. Furthermore, our sensory system distorts the information that we do collect. Since our senses are extremely limited, we must accept that we'll never fully understand the universe. There are indeed mysterious elements that are outside or even beyond scientific explanation, one of which is the question of origins. Because of the limitations of our senses and brains, it can be concluded that there is the potential for God's existence - the possibility of an intelligent, complex, and to us incomprehensible, Force behind all that exist is very real. C.S. Lewis, and be

Worth Pondering

I'm going to echo some of the other reviewers' sentiments - Parker is a gifted scientist and communicator, so I learned a lot about biological history. I suppose this is especially valuable to me since I never received a basic education in evolution, growing up under young-earth creationist teachings. His discussion of the development of the first eye was inspiring! What a dramatic moment in the history of life, and in my mind a very plausible explanation for the pre-Cambrian explosion. Like the other reviewers,though, I find his attempt to equate the development of the eye with "lights" in the Genesis account to feel strained a bit beyond belief. Still, there are enough other odd components to the Genesis creation account to make his basic idea worth considering. God told the earth to "bring forth life"? Focus on life in the sea by a landlocked ancient writer? Interesting. Parker's discussion of whether religion and science need conflict was also very interesting to me, as was the appendix,a study of the authorship of the Pentateuch. If you're intrigued by the basic thesis of the book, I don't think you'll be disappointed by reading it.

And there was light

Anyone who has an appreciation for what science has learned about our world and a suspicion that Somebody Up There might have had a hand in all of it will enjoy exploring the parallels Doctor Parker perceives between the order of events in the Biblical creation story and accepted scientific knowledge about how the world was created. I must admit, I've been waiting for books on this subject to appear ever since my own mind began plaguing me with the thought: what if, when God said, "Let there be light", he meant not just light, but the entire electromagnetic spectrum? Where does that lead in the interpretation of God's remaining six days' work? Please let the speculation continue. We are far from a complete or certain understanding either of science or of the Bible. Both require our most open-minded contemplation. This book is a step in the right direction.