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A beginner's guide to creation

Biblical creation sustainable

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CREATION
By Chris Pegington
Bryntirion Press. 84 pages. £4.95
ISBN 978-1-85049-229-0

‘The conclusions we arrive at, and the interpretation of the evidence available to us to study, will be different depending on the prior assumptions we bring to the study’ (italics mine).

In this concluding remark at the end of chapter one, Chris Pegington sums up for the reader the main thrust of his short book, namely that the evolutionary model for the existence of the universe is based on a tripartite a priori assumption: a) the involvement of a divine being in the existence of the universe ‘cannot be regarded as science at all’; b) naturalism — that all of the universe, including the origin and development of life, can be explained by natural processes; c) uniformitarianism — that we can explain what has happened in the past on the basis of what is happening in the present.

Thus, having exposed this bias in evolutionary research, Pegington then goes on, in the nine chapters that follow (A waste of space: vestigial organs, Intelligent design or blind chance, Genesis and genes, Fossils: what are they saying, Fossils: a testimony to catastrophe, What about radioactive dating? Where do humans come from? How did life start?) to dismantle each thesis in support of evolution and present an alternative reading of the data based on an a priori conclusion that the Bible really is God’s Word, and thus can be trusted. Understanding where evolutionists are ‘coming from’ and investigating the data in this manner, the reader is left with a powerful impression that the Genesis account is, indeed, literal, plausible, accurate and scientifically sustainable!

My conclusion is that this is a fantastic introductory book to the creation/evolution debate, easy to read, yet academically compelling and one that could be given to unbelievers. My only criticism is that it is a little too brief.

Montaz Ali,
pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Tenterden, Kent
http://www.whatslifeabout.com