Product Description

In this groundbreaking book, physicist Gerald Schroeder takes on skeptics from both sides of the cosmological debate, arguing that science and the Bible are not at odds concerning the origin of the universe. Line drawings.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66158 in Books
• Published on: 1991-12-01
• Released on: 1991-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553354133
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

Simple and straightforward
I will not attempt to add fuel to the debate as to whether or not Dr. Schroeder has a valid arguement by reason of proofs. He has done that quite well himself. This was one of the best books I have read in recent years and having read it after "The Science of God" I found it to be much more basic. In fact, I feel this work to be a wonderful starting point for the layperson being introduced to the possible truth that 6 days and 15 billion years are both the correct timing for the creation of the universe.

One great aspect of Dr. Schroeder's works is his "silent encouragement" for readers to seek out the truth. The fact that he doesn't just pick up any Bible and attempt to glean his hypothesis from present translations but rather has a deep understanding of the Hebrew and Greek languages it was written in is refreshing. One thing science tends to do is dismiss religion in general and Christianity in particular without studying it as deeply as it would, for example a rock formation or new bacteria. This is rather hypocritical. Religion on the same token is no better. I often hear educated men with doctorates stand behind a pulpit and chop science to bits without any real knowledge of what they are discussing. Religious leaders who dismiss science away as God's way of sending confusion into the world, but at the same time find it easy to believe the words of their doctor (medicine is a science) or their computer technician (computer science) are rather hypocritical themselves. People from all walks of life and with all types of beliefs tend to "pick and choose" their own version of the truth and perpetuate it as long as possible. Until everyone puts down their stereotypes and digs deeper into the "truth" as a whole, we will forever wage this complex if not childish battle between science and religion.

Finally, an approach in the right direction!
Schroeder's insight helps to bridge the gap between science and the bible (particularly Genesis). After the first days of creation, the bible very much follows the geological and historical record, so why is Genesis so seemingly out of alignment? (for me, this has always been a tough nut to crack) This book presents a viable explanation of the reconciliation of the two opposing viewpoints, utilizing astrophysics, the Theory of Relativity, and the theory of the Big Bang to hypothesize a secular model that might overlay on the traditional theistic belief of the six days of creation. I urge people to weigh the reviews here carefully because there are several negative reviews here that might have caused me to skip over this book. Some seem to suggest incompetence on the part of the author and/or mistakes, but none offers any substantial explanation. I am not a Ph.D., but I have a decent background in physics and while this book may be based on principals and equations that are not for the layman, Schroeder does an excellent job of presenting the case for a marriage of the secular and theistic viewpoints that anyone can easily grasp. He is also an unquestionable authority in his field, with an impeccable reputation.

Science and the Bible not at odds.
When Torah and natural science seem to conflict, one or the other is being incorrectly interpreted. That's the principle Gerald Schroeder propounds and defends in this remarkable volume. And I can only think that Moses Maimonides would have been delighted.

What Schroeder argues, basically, is that the biblical account of creation in six days can be read as taking place over six _literal_ days -- and that not only does this reading fail to conflict with modern science, indeed science itself supports that reading. The solution? The six days are "God's time," reckoned from within one frame of reference, and the millions of years with which science deals are "earth time," reckoned from within another. The two are reconciled by the theory of relativity. Moreover, this reading is firmly grounded in traditional Jewish texts that predated the theory of relativity by one or two thousand years.

I'll let Schroeder fill you in on the details. But whether those details are sound or not, his _approach_ is refreshingly sane.

On the one hand, we have various sorts of Bible-thumper insisting that all our knowledge must come from the Word of God and nothing else -- an insistence that turns easily into anti-intellectual ranting against science. On the other, we have various sorts of scientistic yahoo insisting that religion is bunk and science is the royal road to truth.

Rubbish, on both counts. The Torah does indeed bear signs that it is a Divine communication, and people who believe this are being entirely reasonable. (See, e.g., Lawrence Kelemen's _Permission To Receive_ for a defense of this view.) However, the Bible itself insists that human beings are made in the Divine image, that rationality is that very image, and that the "natural" universe provides abundant evidence of the workings of the Divine. And it is _this_ view, in one form or another, which -- as a matter of history and logic -- gave rise to modern science in the first place; without the "substrate" of rationalism implied by the view that the entire universe is the creation of a single rational Mind, "empirical" science can't even get started. There's no need to decide between the Bible and science; they can't really be separated anyway.

So it may be that some of Schroeder's details require revision (and I understand that some of them are in fact revised in his next book, _The Science of God_). Nevertheless the lesson to learn from this book is still sound: that whenever science and Torah seem to be at odds with one another, the proper procedure is to suspend final judgment, think, and wait. Further information may provide unexpected resolutions.

(And by the way, the review below picks on Schroeder for an absolutely ridiculous "error." The big, round figures used in those calculations aren't anywhere near precise enough to locate us in the "middle of the fifth day" as opposed to the sixth, and Schroeder doesn't say they are.)