Re: request for good library books

YEC's don't mind the "warfare" view b/c they accept it in one of its obvious
forms (namely, accepting modern science *does* necessitate abandoning
Christian theology). Here is a very short list of books I strongly
recommend, in descending order of my recommndation for your school library.
My list is very, very short on purpose, so I'm leaving out zillions of
excellent books and thus slighting none of them; and it's done with
secondary school students in mind, and with their Christian convictions in
mind.

Ted

****

Michael Poole, Beliefs and Values in Science Education. By far my highest
recommendation, and ditto for home schoolers. Goes far beyond origins
issues, and makes extensive use of HPS as well as basic science. Very
readable too.

Ronald Numbers, The Creationists. Extraordinarily accurate and well
written history. The personal stories are revealing and often not told--but
they should be.

Davis Young, Christianity and the Age of the Earth. Required reading for
YEC teachers and students alike.

Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards, The Privileged Planet. The DVD
version gives viewers no clue that the earth and universe are old (this was
a deliberate strategy when the DVD was produced), and the DVD is popular
with YECs. Having the book available to consult--and it might attract
viewers if it's available--will dispell any misimpressions. Since the
authors are linked with ID and the "creation-friendly" DVD, readers might be
more open to accepting the possibility of an old earth if espoused by these
particular authors. And no one who reads the book will conclude that the
authors believe in a young earth/universe. Thus I recommend it for your
library.

David Hagopian, ed., The G3N3S1S Debate. A collection of three long
essays, each defending a different hermeneutical approach to Genesis 1-3.
Negatives: All authors are very conservative Calvinists (and remember, I am
sympathetic to much of Calvinism myself, so this is a friendly criticism),
so the book does not provide much theological scope; all authors reject
evolution, so students have the impression that TE is beyond the pale; and
authors of the YEC section (who actually have the gall to deny that they are
YECs, saying only that a literal 24-hour view is required by Scripture) do
not even try to engage science at all. Positives: the second of the 3
negatives I just listed is a positive, for this particular school's teachers
and students, allowing them perhaps more readily to consider alternatives to
the "literal" view. That's really a huge positive, in this context. And
the fact that the reasons given for the 24-hour view are just so weak, in
the opinion of this historian (they are mainly arguments from history and
tradiition, and the same arguments would readily lead one to reject
heliocentrism along with evolution and an old earth), that they leave the
door wide open for the more reasonable (IMO) literary arguments of the
"Framework" advocates in the third section. Hugh Ross co-authored the
second section on the "day age" view, and there's a lot of good astronomy in
that part though the biology/anthropology isn't very good. Stick to the
physical sciences, leave biology out of this, and many YECs can be convinced
that OECs are also good Christian believers.

I'll limit myself to these five, or I'll be typing all week.

Ted
Received on Wed Apr 26 13:42:42 2006