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Overview
Evolution Is Not the Bible's Enemy
Saving Darwin explores the history of the controversy that swirls around evolution science, from Darwin to current challenges, and shows why—and how—it is possible to believe in God and evolution at the same time.
Synopsis
Evolution Is Not the Bible's Enemy
Saving Darwin explores the history of the controversy that swirls around evolution science, from Darwin to current challenges, and shows why—and how—it is possible to believe in God and evolution at the same time.
The Washington Post - Amy E. Schwartz
Giberson, a physics professor at Eastern Nazarene College, a historically Christian school, attacks the conundrum with eloquence and clarity. Saving Darwin offers readers two gifts: a cultural history of the anti-Darwin movement that details how its tenets, far from being the traditional doctrine of any church, were developed by a few cranks and fueled by larger, populist fears of secular culture; and an empathetic, comprehensible account of how the world looks if you believe in scientific creationism, as he once did.
Editorials
The Washington Post Book World
"One of the best books of 2008"John Polkinghorne
"Karl Giberson skillfully unravels the tangled skein of argument about creation and evolution, showing that there need be no incompatibility between Christianity and Darwinism. His writing is lively, in a style that is both informal and informed. This is a book that many will find helpful."Ronald L. Numbers
"Karl Giberson skillfully unravels the tangled skein of argument about creation and evolution, showing that there need be no incompatibility between Christianity and Darwinism. His writing is lively, in a style that is both informal and informed. This is a book that many will find helpful."Francis S. Collins
"A much-needed book . . . a powerful contribution."Edward J. Larson
"An intensely personal account of [Giberson’s] intellectual journey from creationism to the acceptance of evolution . . . By situating his own story in the context of larger social and scientific developments, Giberson’s book can serve as a guide for other Christians on a similar trek."Kenneth R. Miller
"A poignant account of [Giberson’s] Christian pilgrimage from Creationist to Evolutionist. He offers a sympathetic historical analysis laced with trenchant criticism of both misguided intelligent design advocates and hard core atheists."John Wilson
"Giberson makes the case, persuasively and with considerable wit, that there’s no irreconcilable conflict between robust Christian faith and evolutionary biology, rightly understood. This is a wonderfully readable book: humane, modest, and wise."Owen Gingerich
"Karl Giberson here presents a poignant account of his Christian pilgrimage from Creationist to Evolutionist. He offers a sympathetic historical analysis laced with trenchant criticism of both misguided intelligent design advocates and hard core atheists."New Republic
“Giberson . . . provides an edifying summary of the tenets and the flaws of modern creationism . . . and raises a valuable alarm about the dangers facing American science and culture.”New Republic
"Giberson . . . provides an edifying summary of the tenets and the flaws of modern creationism . . . and raises a valuable alarm about the dangers facing American science and culture."Washington Post
Giberson attacks the conundrum [of evolution] with eloquence and clarity.Salon.com
Giberson posesses a boundless inquisitiveness typical of many scientiests, but also displays the wry wit of a seasoned polemicist. He seems to know how to counteract your best arguments before you have even made them.Amy E. Schwartz
Giberson, a physics professor at Eastern Nazarene College, a historically Christian school, attacks the conundrum with eloquence and clarity. Saving Darwin offers readers two gifts: a cultural history of the anti-Darwin movement that details how its tenets, far from being the traditional doctrine of any church, were developed by a few cranks and fueled by larger, populist fears of secular culture; and an empathetic, comprehensible account of how the world looks if you believe in scientific creationism, as he once did.—The Washington Post
Publishers Weekly
Drawing on his fundamentalist upbringing and experience teaching physics at an evangelical college, Giberson has a native understanding of how conservative Christians feel and think about evolution. As a Christian evolutionist, he finds himself occupying a frequently misunderstood middle ground in the midst of "a culture war, fought with culture-war weapons by culture warriors." Behind the culture war, Giberson sketches an engaging historical narrative including Darwin's background in intelligent design, what really happened at the Scopes "monkey trial" and how catastrophist geology derived from Seventh Day Adventism found an audience among the evangelical mainstream in the post-Sputnik era. By tackling the debate in cultural as well as scientific terms, Giberson does greater justice to the motivations of Christians who reject evolution. Yet he does not conceal his frustration-on theological as well as scientific grounds-with the "rubbish" of scientific creationism, which "has climbed onto the radar screens of American intellectual culture only as a bad joke." Giberson's sarcasm, however honestly come by, may cause the book to alienate an evangelical audience it might otherwise engage. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.School Library Journal
This sensitively written and convincingly argued book succeeds in respecting both religious beliefs and scientific facts in discussing theories surrounding the creation of the world. Giberson (physics, Eastern Nazarene Coll., MA) is an outstanding scientist and scholar who tries to unite the uncompromising correctness of creationism and intelligent design with proven scientific knowledge, thereby saving Darwin's evolution theory and re-examining its basic tenets from a Christian worldview. Giberson is passionate in his research, and he makes every effort to narrow the chasm that exists between fundamentalism and science. In this truly courageous work meant to liberate narrow worldviews with the light emanating from profound Christian faith and indisputable reason, he does not posit theology over science or fact over belief but instead celebrates the values intrinsic to both. Reason, philosophy, science, history, and faith all provide the balance for a correct understanding of creation and evolution in this text, complete with references. Recommended for larger public libraries.
—John-Leonard Berg
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.