Product Description

As debates within the Church over the scientific details of creation become more frequent, the experts seem to grow more entrenched while the rest of us only become more confused. Somewhere between the endless arguments over distant starlight and Carbon-14 dating, calculating the mathematical improbabilities of things that already exist, and parsing ancient Hebrew and Greek, somebody needs to ask the simple question, If 3,500 years of scientific progress can t help modern Christians figure out Genesis, then how could the ancient Israelites possibly have understood it so well? What secret did this newly liberated gaggle of Hebrew nomads take with them out of Egypt that holds the key to understanding God s telling of His own creation story? Beyond the Firmament challenges all creationist camps whether Young-Earth, Old-Earth, or Theistic Evolutionist to step outside of traditional paradigms and recognize how our modern, Western, post-Enlightenment scientific worldview actually blinds us from seeing the simple truth of Creation as it was originally intended; and how our failure to grasp the theological significance of the biblical creation model puts science and faith on a collision course.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #227551 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Perfect Paperback
• 228 pages

Review
Gordon J. Glover takes seriously the claims not only of Biblical revelation but also of natural revelation (creation), and he deftly navigates the frontier between the scientific investigation of the universe's origins and the theological investigation of Holy Scripture. As an advocate of Biblical infallibility, he asks us to stay tune to ancient Near Eastern world-views and to exercise hermeneutical sensitivity in inquiring what the book of Genesis is actually attempting to say. While not endorsing all of Glover s conclusions, I commend this work as a thoughtful treatment of the issues surrounding origins as seen from an intentionally and distinctly Christian perspective. -- P. Andrew Sandlin, President, Center for Cultural Leadership

Gordon J. Glover takes seriously the claims not only of Biblical revelation but also of natural revelation (creation), and he deftly navigates the frontier between the scientific investigation of the universe's origins and the theological investigation of Holy Scripture. As an advocate of Biblical infallibility, he asks us to stay tune to ancient Near Eastern world-views and to exercise hermeneutical sensitivity in inquiring what the book of Genesis is actually attempting to say. While not endorsing all of Glover s conclusions, I commend this work as a thoughtful treatment of the issues surrounding origins as seen from an intentionally and distinctly Christian perspective. --P. Andrew Sandlin, President, Center for Cultural Leadership (christianculture.com)

Gordon J. Glover's new book will be important for several groups of people: thoughtful Christians troubled by culture wars and seeking a way beyond them, people engaged in the science-religion debate that seems to have heated up (on both sides) in recent years, and those interested in how world-views (ancient, medieval, modern, or whatever) resource and limit the ways we read sacred texts and apply them today. I found it energetic, well-researched, and constructive. -- Brian McLaren, author/activist

Gordon J. Glover's new book will be important for several groups of people: thoughtful Christians troubled by culture wars and seeking a way beyond them, people engaged in the science-religion debate that seems to have heated up (on both sides) in recent years, and those interested in how world-views (ancient, medieval, modern, or whatever) resource and limit the ways we read sacred texts and apply them today. I found it energetic, well-researched, and constructive. --Brian McLaren, author/activist (brianmclaren.net)

I have carefully read Beyond the Firmamentand I am once again rethinking my previously held positions. I have been a card-carrying `young earth' adherent for most of my 73 years. Can old dogs learn new tricks? I certainly hope so. Gordon, in his book, has clearly and with great good will, challenged all in my camp to rethink our handling of Scripture, our hermeneutics, and perhaps even a strong bias against modern science. I am in the process of doing just that and I sincerely thank Gordon for his book. Thank you Gordon, for calling us all to greater humility and faith. -- Rev. Jack Carter, Senior Pastor, Church of the King, Corpus Christi, TX

In clear, everyday language, Gordon Glover shows that thoughtful Christians need not choose between God's world and God's word. Glover's approach will be appreciated by anyone who wishes to better understand, and more fully rejoice in, the fact that the maker of heaven and earth graciously allows us to understand something of Himself as we study both his Creation and the Bible. Glover shows how science and scripture are complementary - not competing, nor co-extensive - means of approaching truth, and instills a new appreciation for the ways in which God accommodates his revelation to our limited, broken, and frail human circumstances. -- David W. Opderbeck, Associate Professor of Law, Seton Hall University Law School

Many times I have heard conservative Christians complain that the Big Bang removes God from the picture, so it must be an atheistic theory But science can only examine the physical universe in terms of material cause and effect, and is not equipped to address transcendent meaning or purpose, and as described in this book, the interpretation of the physical aspects of nature cannot be held hostage to particular philosophies of either Christians or atheists. I would strongly recommend this book as a valuable addition to a church library and bookstore, and it should pique some Christians, agnostics, and atheists into thinking about what they believe, or what they do not believe. -- Dr. Christopher M. Sharp, Research astrophysicist and educator

Many times I have heard conservative Christians complain that the Big Bang removes God from the picture, so it must be an atheistic theory… But science can only examine the physical universe in terms of material cause and effect, and is not equipped to address transcendent meaning or purpose, and as described in this book, the interpretation of the physical aspects of nature cannot be held hostage to particular philosophies of either Christians or atheists. I would strongly recommend this book as a valuable addition to a church library and bookstore, and it should pique some Christians, agnostics, and atheists into thinking about what they believe, or what they do not believe. --Dr. Christopher M. Sharp, Research astrophysicist and educator (csharp.com/creationism.html)

About the Author
A native of Texas, Gordon J. Glover currently lives and works in the Baltimore-Washington area with his wife Kathryn, and their three children: Dabney, Truitt and Bryn. Gordon has always had an insatiable interest in the natural sciences; specifically how they relate to Christian theology and the Bible. Sacrificing the romantic idea of a scientific career on the alters of pragmatism, he studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas and Ocean Engineering at Texas A&M University. He then served 10 years in the U.S. Navy as a Deep Sea Diver and Ocean Engineer before settling down in the suburbs of southern Maryland. In his ongoing quest to integrate science with Christian orthodoxy, Gordon has probably held just about every conceivable position on Creation. He now spends most of his free time studying, discussing, speaking and writing about the challenging philosophical issues that arise from the scientific investigation of natural history - and doing backyard astronomy with his kids.

Customer Reviews

The Bible does not teach Young Earth Creationism
How different would Christian evangelism be if all of the Young Earth Creationists (YECs) gradually folded their tents and gave up their sincere but misguided fight that is so detrimental to Christian evangelism, especially toward the scientific community. Since YECs believe that the Bible trumps science every time, no argument from science is ever going to make this happen. This book, written by an evangelical Christian layman for conservative evangelical Christian adherents of Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism (OEC) and Intelligent Design, takes a giant step toward achieving the above goal.

Gordon J. Glover maintains that YECs and OECs are equally wrong in their approach to interpreting Genesis 1 & 2 (and other references to creation in the Bible). His main theme is that Genesis 1 & 2 are not scientific accounts of the origin of the universe and that both YECs and OECs err in trying to interpret it that way. He makes a very good case from the Bible itself that God accommodated his message to what the Israelites of that time could understand, and that God's message was theological, not scientific.

This approach is not new. It has been well developed in a number of commentaries on Genesis, including but not limited to John H. Walton's "The NIV Application Commentary-Genesis," C. John Collins' "Genesis 1-4," and Henri Blocher's "In the Beginning." What is new here is a discussion of the issues in a form much more accessable to Christian laymen. The author is neither a scientist nor a theologian, and, while his writing style is a bit flippant at times, he makes his points well, forcefully and understandably. He also acknowledges that it is going to take a lot of time for YECs to make the transition to a different way of understanding God's message in Genesis.

The author describes his reluctant acceptance of evolution as just another natural process through which God has been operating in his providental governance of the universe. In that vein, he expresses his dislike of the term "theistic evolution" as not making any more sense than "theistic meteorology." He cites a number of clearly stated, understandable reasons why biological evolution is currently the most reasonable explanation of the facts that scientists are observing in nature.

The author goes on to very clearly demonstrate that "creation science" is not science, that science is not the enemy of Christianity, and that science does not lie. He summarizes his position on "creation science" in four bullet points on page 105 as follows:
(1) Creaton science removes the Bible out from under the protection of the ancient Near-Eastern worldview - where truth did not always have to be expressed in scientific terms, and subjects it to the rigors of the modern materialists' worldview - which requires truth to always be precisely communicated in scientific terms.
(2) Creation science marginalizes the timeless theological realities of the creation story by exposing the timely physical details to scientific ridicule.
(3) Creation science hands the secular world a Biblical straw-man that can be easily torn down, along with the entire Christian faith.
(4) Since all scientific propositions are subject to falsification, creation science puts the Lord our God to the test!

I only wish that there were some way that Young Earth Creationists (and a few Old Earth Creationists) could be exposed to this book. I highly recommend it.

Challenging
Reading Beyond the Firmament challenged me to think more deeply about how I view science in light of my faith. It challenged me to think more deeply than I ever have before about the things of creation and what might science have to say in regard to the details of how it came about. It challenged my mind and enlarged my view of God as the Creator. While I can not say that I agree with everything Gordon Glover agrees with, I can say that he opened my eyes to possiblities I might not have before considered. I love that he constantly reminds us throughout the book that "science is tentative" - it is always changing and so therefore so is man's interpretation of the data. I loved Glover's voice throughout the book - it was humble, and intelligent. His faith is evident and steadfast, and his openness to his own continuing education is inspiring. He really balances well science and theology and shows how they are not meant to be combatants.

A convincing and refreshing book on this decades-old subject
Glover has penned a superb treatise on the creation/evolution dilemma. He takes the reader to the true root of the controversy and carefully examines the contributing factors by thoroughly deconstructing and analyzing the current Creationism model. He offers up a model that is theologically sound, while preserving the biblical authority of the divinely inspired text and the validity of science.

The author's communication method is intelligent, yet done in a conversational style with everyday language and concepts. This is refreshing when compared to the overly-academic literary works on the market today.

What made me appreciate this book so much is the target audience the author had in mind, and how he relates to that audience at a very personal level. Glover wants to communicate with Evangelicals, and does so effectively. It is very apparent that the author holds his personal relationship with Christ very dear to his heart.

He recognizes that God divinely inspired the writing of Genesis. From there, Glover guides the reader through the authorial intent of Genesis 1 and evaluates the text as a theological response. His intriguing presentation is persuasive.

While Glover touches on evolutionary science, his primary focus is a treatment of the creation text. This is a must-read for anyone who is researching the never-ending creation/evolution controversy.