The Genesis Enigma

An acclaimed, paradigm-shifting evolutionary biologist shows how the biblical story of Genesis uncannily reflects recent scientific discoveries-and finds room for divine inspiration within. Consider this: Genesis recounts the story of creation, step-by-step: "Let there be light"; "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear"; "Let the earth bring forth [vegetation]"; "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life"; "God created the whales"; "And God created . . . every winged fowl." For thousands of years, Judeo-Christian belief has accepted this progression as truth. And now, thanks to recent scientific discoveries, the scientific community does, too (though without the mention of "God"). In The Genesis Enigma, respected evolutionary biologist Andrew Parker explains each parallel between Genesis and science in detail-and the closer he looks, the more amazing the parallels become. But the Genesis account has no right to be correct. The author or authors could not have known these things happened in this order, and with the highlights science has come to recognize. Ultimately, Parker argues, it must be divine inspiration that guided the writing of the Bible. This startling conclusion will make The Genesis Enigma a must-read for believers and scientists alike.

'Why is the Bible's creation story written as it is?' The first page of Genesis features no humans at all. The substance of heaven and earth - and Earth's earliest creatures - arise spontaneously at God's command. Light is mentioned twice, once in 'let there be light' and secondly in 'let there be lights . . . to divide the day from night'. Whales appear before birds. Vegetation appears after 'let there be light', but before day is separated from night. Any study of the Bible will show that the rest of the Bible is written with exacting care, through prolonged, meticulous narratives of human adventure. Yet the description of the creation as it appears in the Bible makes no sense. Could it be that the creation story in Genesis was written as it was, complete with its seemingly odd order, because that is in fact the correct order of events at the beginning of the world? Modern science has more than ever before revealed, in stunning detail, how the world and all of the life on it came into being. Does modern science - while agreeing with Darwinian evolution, the big bang theory and the complexity and deep age of the universe - prove the order of events as described in the Bible to be true? In engrossing detail, respected scientist Andrew Parker brings the latest discoveries of science to bear on this controversial and contentious question.

In recent years, few topics have generated more interest and prompted more debate across the broad spectrum of Christian denominations, than that of the Biblical creation texts. And in particular, the text of Genesis 1 has played a controversial role. So then, the goal of this work is only to encourage a deeper and more sensitive approach to the creation text of Genesis 1. This approach must necessarily incorporate the ancient perspectives of the original, Biblical audience, as well as the spiritual aspects of the text which are explicitly revealed to us.

The first chapters of Genesis continue to be a great enigma to the modern world. However, scientific evidence can place real constraints on what these stories originally meant, both as the inspired word of God and a record of the real experiences of ancient peoples. Geological, archaeological and literary evidence shows that the biblical account is consistent with a setting in the earliest history of Mesopotamian civilization. Starting from a scientific viewpoint, this commentary provides a systematic analysis of the meaning of the first eleven chapters of Genesis in a Mesopotamian context.

Now revised and updated--John Lennox's acclaimed method of reading and interpreting the first chapters of Genesis without discounting either science or Scripture. What did the writer of Genesis mean by "the first day?" Are the seven days in Genesis 1 a literal week or a series of time periods? If I believe that the earth is 4.5 billion years old as cosmologists believe, am I denying the authority of Scripture? With examples from history, a brief but thorough exploration of the major interpretations, and a look into the particular significance of the creation of human beings, Lennox suggests that Christians can heed modern scientific knowledge while staying faithful to the biblical narrative. He moves beyond a simple response to the controversy, insisting that Genesis teaches us far more about the God of Jesus Christ and about God's intention for creation than it does about the age of the earth. With this book, Lennox offers a careful and accessible introduction to a scientifically-savvy, theologically-astute, and Scripturally faithful interpretation of Genesis. Since its publication in 2011, this book has enabled many readers to see that the major controversy with which it engages can be resolved without compromising commitment to the authority of Scripture. In this newly revised and expanded edition, John clarifies his arguments, responds to comments and critiques of the past decade since its first publication. In particular, he describes some of the history up to modern times of Jewish scholarly interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative as well as spelling out in more detail the breadth of views in the Great Tradition of interpretation due to the early Church Fathers. He shows that, contrary to what many people think, much of the difficulty with understanding the biblical texts does not arise from modern science but from attempting to elucidate the texts in their own right.

Globalization is theorized in this book as an emerging new stage of capitalism. Robert Went takes us on a journey from the historical roots of globalization through to its relevance in the modern day. The Enigma of Globalization is a timely addition to an important debate and covers such themes as: * International trade * Free trade and international movement of capital * The role of the world economy This accessible and intriguing book is a must, not only for students and academics working in the field, but will also prove an interesting read for all those with a general interest in the modern global political economy.

There has never been a more important time for a study of the social, economic and political origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, three important world religions which share a common root. This book takes as its starting point the idea that gods, angels, miracles and other supernatural phenomena do not exist in the real world and therefore cannot explain the origins of these faiths. It looks instead at the material conditions at appropriate periods in antiquity and the social and economic forces at work, and it examines the historicity of key figures like Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. This is a unique book which draws on the research, knowledge and expertise of hundreds of historians, archaeologists and scholars, to create a synthesis that is completely coherent and at the same time is based on real-world social conditions. It is a book by a non-believer for other non-believers, and it will be a revelatory read, even to those already of an atheist, agnostic or secularist persuasion.