Re: New Book on Science as a Christian Vocation

To answer Michael's question: geology doesn't feature much (if it all) in
the book. This is the first time I've seen the other essays--contributors
did not comment on each other's essays--and the book does not have an index,
so I might be missing something. But I am very enthusiastic about the
essays I have read thus far; I've started with my fellow historians Peter
Barker and Peter Harrison, and they have not disappointed me. Kurt
Marquart's essay on philosophy of science also looks quite interesting,
though I haven't started to read it yet. And Nancy Pearcey will be giving a
version of her essay on my campus in the spring.

As for geology, I do understand your concerns about what might be in the
book, and what might not. As a MSL press, Concordia does exert strong
editorial guidance on what they publish, and I imagine that anything
explicitly contrary to a YE position would not pass muster. Boyle was of
course a YEC, although (as we both know) that has no significance
historically since virtually every Christian in the 17th century thought of
the earth as either 6000 years old or pretty close to that (I include Newton
here, despite his allowance that some Genesis "days" were somewhat longer
than 24 hours). (Michael thinks there were quite a few "gap" theory people
in the 17th century, and perhaps he's right, but I will bracket that here.
Nearly all natural philosophers I've seen thought the creation was very
recent.) But I say nothing about Boyle's view of the earth's age, it just
wasn't relevant to the subject. Although I do not agree with all aspects of
Concordia's policies, they have every right to determine what is suitable
for their audience. Just as I wish they were more open to modern natural
history, so I wish that Scientific American were more open to Christian
perspectives. But pigs don't fly.

As for Hitchcock, I've written on him in the past and might write very
extensively on him in the future (I've been collecting his books and other
writings for several years with an eye on that). A study of Hitchcock would
be fascinating, but I agree that Concordia might have reservations about
publishing it--so I'll look elsewhere if/when the time comes. In the
meantime, I'll give Concordia credit for publishing an interesting book on
an important, often overlooked subject; and a book that lots of ordinary
Christians will read. It has some ideas I don't agree with, but no one will
attribute to me anything I didn't say myself.

Finally, I've asked Concordia to send a review copy to PSCF and also to
Science & Christian Belief. If you're interested in reviewing it, Michael,
you might look into it...

Merry Christmas to all,

ted
Received on Wed Dec 8 08:36:45 2004