Redeeming Science: A God-Centered Approach | 
 enlarge | Author: Vern Sheridan Poythress
Publisher: Crossway Books
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
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Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 238833
Media: Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1
ISBN: 1581347316
Dewey Decimal Number: 261.55
EAN: 9781581347319
Publication Date: October 13, 2006
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Product Description
Many people think science is antagonistic to Christian belief. Science, it is said, shows that the universe is billions of years old, while the Bible says it is only thousands of years old. And some claim that science shows supernatural miracles are impossible. These and other points of contention cause some Christians to view science as a threat to their beliefs. Redeeming Science attempts to kindle our appreciation for science as it ought to be?science that could serve as a path for praising God and serving fellow human beings. Through examining the wonderfully complex and immutable laws of nature, author Vern Poythress explains, we ought to recognize the wisdom, care, and beauty of God. A Christian worldview restores a true response to science, where we praise the God who created nature and cares for it. “Poythress shows how a proper understanding of biblical theology makes possible not just one but many credible harmonizations of biblical and scientific truth. Along the way, he provides an insightful defense of the theory of intelligent design as a viable scientific research program. His examination of the mathematical beauty inherent in the universe gives yet another compelling reason to acknowledge the wisdom and design that lie behind physical reality.”
Stephen C. Meyer, Director, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute “With doctorates in both New Testament and mathematics, and with a solid commitment to orthodox Reformed theology, Vern Poythress is uniquely qualified to write on the theology of science. This is by far the most important book you can read on this subject. I recommend it without reservation.”
John Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Orlando “Poythress demonstrates just how natural the partnership is between science and Christianity. Using examples from a variety of scientific disciplines, he gives a prescription for how science and the Christian faith can interact in a way that mutually benefits both.”
Fazale Rana, Vice President of Science Apologetics, Reasons to Believe “Not only does this book offer a theological perspective rooted in the historic Reformation, it also attends to strategies of interpretation of Bible texts concerning nature and history that underwrite doctrine but are often left out of the dialogue.”
Jitse van der Meer, Professor of Biology and History and Philosophy of Science, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario “Sound theology meets sound science in this book as Vern Poythress shows us how to see the beauty of God’s character revealed in everything that scientists study in the created universe.”
Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Theology and Bible, Phoenix Seminary, Scottsdale, Arizona “Poythress’s analysis of the relationship between science and faith proceeds from an unapologetic, undisguised confession of belief in Christ, clear-minded evaluation of the nature of science, careful analysis of Scripture, and honest reflection on the present state of this debate.”
T. M. Moore, Pastor of Teaching Ministries, Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, Tennessee; author, Consider the Lilies: A Plea for Creational Theology
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 I want to study at Westminster just for this guy! December 24, 2006
Samuel Garcia (Los Angeles, CA USA)
16 out of 20 found this review helpful
I have only read chapter 10 of this book so far, in dealing with the framework view and the analogical day theory view (and have skimmed through other chapters as well) and so far I believe it to be an excellent and deeply insightful book.
In response to the above review, I have to say that the whoever wrote that review seems to have read the book with in unchangeable bias. I can almost guarantee that he is a young-earther and maybe even believes that Scripture "always trumps" our understanding of general revelation (whatever that means).
But what Poythress tries to do is challenge our assumptions. In the case of Noah's flood, he asks why we assume that "water" has a liquid form. "But how does one know this?" says Poythress, "Is it not possible that, on the mountains we might find snow, sleet, and ice? The water might cover this area, and snuff out the life of animals, whether it took liquid or solid form. The later receding of the waters (Gen. 8:3) might include melting." His point is that grant that the flood was a supernatural act of the Triune God, how are we so sure that it all took place exactly how we imagine it?
I believe that Vern is correct in pointing out that our modern glasses cloud the way we view Scripture. We might quickly assume that Genesis 1:1 is talking about the globe we live on when it speaks of God creating the "heavens and the earth." But the Hebrew is literally land, and Moses and his audience may have merely understood "God created everything" rather than "space, clouds, and this globe I am currently standing on." It is a faulty assumption to say that the ancient peoples understood things in this vein, and it is an illegitimate expectation to have God speak to his people through terms and imagery that they wouldn't understand. In theology, this is called phenomological language; the sun rises, the sun sets, the waters covered the land. All within their understanding.
I know this is a bit long-winded, but I just get steamed having to read bad reviews about excellent authors/theologians written by those who do not care to sift through the facts with an open mind. Though you may not agree with Poythress, he will challenge your assumptions to their core.
Refreshing humility in a polarised debate October 17, 2007
Ian Brace (Melbourne, Australia)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is the first time I have read Vern Poythress and he is delightful. His style is measured and I have enjoyed the humility with which he approaches this sometimes volatile topic. He stresses that we are sinful humans with our own predjudice and bias and we need to recognise that before we start. Then he stresses his view of the inerrancy of scripture from the one true God who has revealed himself to mankind.
In introducing science Poythress appeals to the reader to recognise that the pursuit of science assumes an underlying belief in order and systematic development, which the Christian recognises as the creative hand of God. Where science and the bible appear to contradict one another he asks us to ask ourselves:
a. is the scientific evidence credible?
b. have we created the contradiction by mis-interpreting the scientific evidence?
c. have we created the contradiction by mis-interpreting the bible?
I notice some reviewers object to this, preferring their own dogmatic views (I'm being volatile ;-) ), but this sounds like a pretty sensible approach to me. Vern Poythress believes the bible to be the true Word of God, but he suggests that we must read it within its own literary context....poems were never meant to textbooks.
There are extensive footnotes to the text which will point the interested reader off to deeper discussions of various issues. It is a pleasure to read a well thought out conservative evangelical theologian who can engage deeply with modern science.
A good Biblical philosophy of science August 14, 2008
Jason A. Greer (Greenville, SC USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Some would say that science and theology are antagonistic to each other, especially since the 19th century's movements of higher criticism in theology and naturalism in science. To some degree, this reflects a larger issue in Western Civilization, that of a loss of unifying purposes that has been lost. Some would prefer to ignore any relation between science and theology, saying they take up such completely different spheres, you cannot even speak of them at the same time, one belongs in the classroom and laboratory, the other belongs in the sanctuary. Dr. Vern Poythress has taken what can be called a more traditional approach to understanding the role of science as a way to understand God, take care of creation and help man, almost hearkening back to the scientific revolution of the late 17th century.
Poythress has math degrees from Cal. Tech and Harvard, and college teaching experience; and for the last 25 years he has been a New Testament professor at Westminster Seminary, so he brings a unique perspective in how he understands scientific thought and theology, at a high level. His goal in Redeeming Science is two fold. He wants the reader to understand scientific philosophy and inquiry as a good thing, that as a Christian he wants the reader to embrace science as a way to adventure, govern and take care of a creation that God is actively cultivating. He also wants to call for a higher, unifying element in how we understand knowledge and inquiry, that individuals would see all true knowledge as God's knowledge.
Poythress begins his book with a clear worldview statement, that all scientists, whether proclaimed atheists or traditional Christians, believe in God, because he says you have to operate with certain assumptions in how the universe works and how you perceive it to work, that flow out worldview consistent with how God describes himself in the pages of the Bible. So he says there is no such thing as neutrality, no position that allows the observer of nature to stand apart and make statements.
Due to its large importance, especially since the rise of scientific naturalism in the 19th century, Poythress spends several chapters discussing different theories for understanding creation, and with a sound attempt at a hermeneutical analysis of Genesis 1 and 2. Poythress takes an analogical view of understanding creation. He does a fine job of pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of various understandings of how we understand creation, but is most of all concerned with not making the Bible say things it does not say, nor making our understanding of creation inconsistent with what we know about God.
Where the book is its strongest, is Poythress' explanation of why science should have the influence of the redeeming effect of Christ. He takes a traditional understanding of the effects of sin, and points to how that distortion makes knowledge murky and hard to comprehend. Poythress makes the case that Christ came to fulfill the creation mandate - to restore the natural world, the cultural mandate - to redeem human relations and how people understand the world and he calls Christ the "final scientist", that is the goal of science is to understand creation with wisdom and dominion, and since Christ has achieved final rule over wisdom and over creation, he is the final archetype of what true science should pursue, on principle and philosophy especially.
Poythress is a fair writer about his subject, and towards other views other than his own. He has written, in about 350 pages, a good overview of a philosophy of science, based on Biblical theology, that he argues should drive everyone's understanding, manipulation and exploration of the world around them. Some of the subjects that he attempts to overview, such as theological approaches to physics and chemistry are probably a bit too scientifically complex for the general reader, years removed from their secondary science classes. Yet, anyone with a solid foundation in science and a desire to understand an overarching Christian theological framework, based on first principles, should find Redeeming Science a welcome addition. He is not adding to an inter or intra religious and scientific debate per se, but is simply describing, exegeting and developing conclusions based on applied theology. What he most wants the informed reader to take away is that God's calls people to explore and rule over his creation, largely for the sense of discovering how big and great God is as a part of the divinely given privilege.
Wow. February 25, 2008
dmm
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I'm 2/3 through this book, and it is wonderful. Poythress makes so many great points. I just keep saying "Amen!" It is extremely heartening to have a book out there written by someone who not only loves both science and the Bible, but who also trusts both and understands both. BTW, I am not Reformed, and I have a PhD in Physics. I wish I could get every Christian and every scientist (Christian or not) to read this book.
 A valuable contribution to the Reformed tradition December 29, 2006
B. C. Richards (Tucson, AZ, USA)
34 out of 35 found this review helpful
I am very pleased with this book. The first thing to know is that while Dr. Poythress is a seminary professor, he also holds a PhD in mathematics from Harvard University in addition to his PhD in New Testament. He has a sophisticated grasp of the ideas behind science and mathematics, as well as theology. Being a scientist myself, I sometimes get nervous when non-scientists draw philosophical or theological conclusions from things they don't understand, for instance Heisenberg's uncertainty relation, but we do not have this problem with Dr. Poythress. Nevertheless, he has aimed this book at laymen, and I believe that the majority of the material should be easily accessible to most readers.
The book seeks to develop a self-consciously Biblical view of science. In the opening chapters he discusses the divine attributes of scientific law, such as omnipresence and immutability, and the questions of the Bible and authority in their relation to the scientific enterprise. It is in these opening chapters that he develops the Van Tillian epistemological framework for understanding science, and shows the radical contrast between this and atheistic worldviews. He shows that all scientists must operate under the assumptions of a Biblical worldview, (rational order to the universe, reliability of physical law, etc.) even though the worldviews they profess to believe may not be able to justify such assumptions.
Chapters four through ten tackle the issues surrounding the interpretation of the early chapters of Genesis. Here I think Poythress has done a masterful job of attempting to maintain the absolute authority of the Bible as divine revelation, while helping us, who read the Bible with a modern scientific mindset, to really get to the bottom of what God's Word is and is not asserting. This subtlety is what seems to have eluded a previous reviewer.
Chapters eleven through thirteen deal with some of the more specifically theological issues, the role of man (such as image of God and cultural mandate), the role of Christ (perfectly fulfilling cultural mandate), and the role of God's Word (scientific law as God's Word ruling the physical universe).
Chapters fourteen through seventeen consider some of the more epistemological and philosophical questions involved in science, such as the nature of truth, reality, scientific knowledge, and ordinary experience. Here, as throughout the book, the idea of the unity between different aspects of reality as well as the different ways we can look at reality in terms of the being of God is especially helpful. I also appreciated his discussion of miracles, in terms of primary and secondary causes, and in terms of the rationality of both miracles and physical laws as equally reflecting God's sovereign rule of the universe.
Chapters eighteen and nineteen deal with the questions of life, evolution, and intelligent design, and I think give a very nice overview of some of the issues that are involved in these discussions, as well as the ideological problems that will almost always completely overwhelm the actual scientific evidence. The final four chapters conclude appropriately with some specific examples of seeing the beauty and majesty of our God revealed in the physical and mathematical reality that we encounter.
As you can see, Dr. Poythress covers an ambitious amount of ground in this book. As you may imagine, in a 350 page book, several of the discussions are somewhat limited in terms of their depth, but there are certainly plenty of references for further study if you have the interest. Incidentally, the extensive bibliography at the end is alone worth the price of the book. It is unlikely that anyone will agree with all of Dr. Poythress' conclusions; I did not, but he certainly is making a serious attempt to deal with the issues, and the obvious humility and tentativeness he exhibits on matters that may admit more than one interpretation is an attitude that I wish was more characteristic of people who claim to stand in the Reformed tradition.
Perhaps in a later edition we may hope for a chapter on quantum mechanics, which in my opinion must surely reveal some interesting things about God that were perhaps not so obvious in the years, following Newton, of seemingly total physical determinism. Additionally, I would have liked to have seen a chapter outlining how the historical rise of science was squarely grounded in the specifically Biblical worldview of the reformation, as well as the contemporary near-infinite ideological chasm existing between the (unbelieving) practitioners of physical science (the only truth is scientific truth) and the other academic disciplines (there is no truth) as a result of the abandonment of a Christian consensus. But you can't do everything at once. The book is an enjoyable and edifying read, and with so much breadth of subject matter, there's never a dull moment. Dr. Poythress has given us a valuable contribution to developing a specifically reformed view of faith and science, and I certainly hope that his book will receive the attention and the consideration that it deserves.
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