A beautifully balanced and comprehensive history of ``scientific creationism.'' Although Numbers (History of Science and Medicine/Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison; Prophetess of Health, 1976) is a staunch evolutionist, he professes sympathy for creationists, a product of his Seventh-Day Adventist childhood. The result is a book of crisp, cool intelligence that avoids polemic as it untangles the colorful ideas and personalities that shaped creationism. Modern Americans- -47% of whom embrace creationism, according to a Gallup poll, and 86% of whom favor teaching it alongside Darwinism in the public schools—may be surprised to learn that until a few decades ago, creationists accepted the antiquity of the earth and the validity of fossils, holding to either the ``day-age'' theory (each biblical day of creation was eons long) or the ``gap'' theory (after the initial creation, millennia passed before God made Eden). All changed with George MacCready Price, an armchair scientist and occasional construction worker whose 726-page textbook, The New Geology, dated the earth at less than 10,000 years and claimed that a massive flood (the one Noah survived) gave birth to the fossil record. This ``flood geology'' rules creationism today, which has received a remarkable boost through bestselling books, the support of scores of scientists, and massive publicity from the ``creation trials'' of the 1980's. Numbers notes that creationism is now a self-critical field with strict ethical standards, while orthodox science too often bashes the opposition through blatant prejudice and arrogance. Creationism is in its heyday, he says, with its ``shocking success'' most marked among Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and evangelical Protestants. Numbers's objectivity, eye for anecdote, and knack for deciphering the enigmas of science and pseudoscience make this the best history of creationism to date—a landmark work in the field. (Twenty-four b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Sept. 2, 1992
ISBN: 0-679-40104-0
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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