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Summary: Hank should stick to circular logic biblical interpretation
Review: As many other posters have remarked, this book is a sad example of a dogmatic Christian trying desperately to discredit observable scientific facts.His fallacies and intellectual dishonesties are too numerous to list, but I'd like to simply and clearly refute one of them: Hank incorrectly states that there are no transitional fossils. Just to give two examples, there are Probelesodon and Massetognathus, with both reptilian features (lower jaw comprises several bones, jaw joint formed between articular and quadrate bones) and mammalian features (teeth specialized for different functions, lower jaw with prominent coronoid process, double condyle at back of skull for neck articulation) Another tough one to argue away is the incredibly detailed, 50 million year record of evolution of the family of the Equidae (Horse)...
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Summary: UnGodly nonsense
Review: I have served on a couple of Juries and I have seen lawyers defend criminals. When the case against the criminal on trial is strong what they do is to chip around the edge of a case to try to create confusion in the juries mind. They can't shake the basis of the case so they try to create as much confusion as possible. This book is a bit like that. The book is short less than 200 pages. When you read it you get the feeling that the author is just chiseling around the edges of a big theory saying there is a bit wrong here and there. He doesn't look at the whole thing. My husband although he just works in a hardware store likes to read the National Geographic. He has told me about the theory of continental drift and about the big ban theory. I reckon that all those theories together represent a bit of a problem to the bible literalism mob. You see I belong to the local church. It is an Episcopalian Church and our minister reckons that he can trace the churches history back to when God walked on earth and taught his disciples the truth. The bible came along when the church was up and going. The author of this book thinks that he doesn't need to know about those things he can read the bible and he can tell us what God meant. That's the reason he is attacking evolution. He wants to be able to reject God's church and to say that he alone is the interpreter of the word of God. The book is no good. You know in your heart its true.
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Summary: Despite endorsements, bad even by creationist standards
Review: In the chapter on "Chance," Hanegraaff quotes a well-known passage in _Origin of Species_ in which Darwin admits to shuddering every time he contemplates the eye. He omits, or is ignorant of, the following paragraph, in which Darwin argues that the various intermediate grades of eye which exist in nature, from a simple eye spot to the most complex box camera eye, show that a complex eye can develop from a very simple one by small steps. This seems pretty typical of Hanegraaff's method, with arguments that sound good if you don't know what he's leaving out -- whether he's giving facts, or quotes, out of context. Of course, his discussion of chance includes no discussion -- not even a bad one -- of natural selection. Nor does it include any recognition that the origin of life and the subsequent evolution of life are separate problems. Indeed, this confusion among the origin of the universe, the origin of life, and the evolution of life once it existed, are a central feature of the book's "Empirical Science" chapter, and well as the one on "Chance." Hanegraaff evidently does not think his subject -- or his readers -- worthy of clear and careful thought. A chapter on "Fossil Follies" misrepresents _Archaeopteryx_, ignores the vast array of mammal-like reptiles, and cannot even be bothered to consider the renowned (or notorious) horse series. It regurgitates earlier creationist misunderstandings of Punctuated Equilibrium without bothering to find out the differenced between Eldridge and Gould's theory and Goldberg's saltational notions. It does not note, of course, that any evolutionist would tell you that the fossil record has never, in any case, been the main support of evolutionary theories. Instead, the "nested hierarchy" (the way organisms fit neatly into groups which fit into larger groups, which fit into still larger groups), the use of similar designs for dissimilar ends (e.g. the greater similarity between the bones of bat wings and whale flippers than between bat and bird wings) and dissimilar designs for similar ends (e.g. bat wings and bird wings, or the primate thumb and the panda's thumb), and biogeography are the main pillars of the theory. In the chapter on "Ape-man Frauds," Hanegraaff discusses Peking man and Java man, and is either unaware, or thinks the reader should be, that both are now classified as _Homo erectus_. He finds ample space to discuss Piltdown man, not used as evidence for human evolution for decades, and Nebraska man, which was show not to be a hominid five years after its discovery and was never used as evidence for human evolution, but finds no space to mention a single African fossil. Australopithecines like Lucy? Habilenes? The Turkana boy? Hanegraaff seems too busy with 80-year-old confusions about pig teeth to worry about fossil finds in the last 50 years. Much of the book's material is devoted to showing the bad moral effects of evolutionary theory. Again, quotes out of context are a major factor (Hanegraaff quotes several unfortunate -- but very typical of his time -- passages from Darwin on race, but ignores well-known quotes from Darwin showing his abhorrence of slavery). Hanegraaff argues that consistently following Darwin leads to racism and slavery, while consistently following the Bible leads to the abolition of both -- but it is the Bible, not the _Origin_, that contains many passages authorizing slavery) and racism. On the basis of Hanegraaff's mere assertion, we are to accept that every evil done in Darwin's name (including those which Hanegraaff merely says were done in Darwin's name) were the true and inevitable consequences of Darwinism, but every evil done in the Bible's name was a perversion or misinterpretation of the Bible. Nothing that could be confused with argument is presented to support either assertion. A chapter of "Recapitulation" is dedicated to a hypothesis of no importance to Darwin himself and rejected by all modern Darwinists. Because recapitulationism -- the idea that an organism, in the course of its development, retraces its entire evolutionary history -- was important to many racists who accepted evolution, Hanegraaff gives it much attention despite its unimportance to the actual theory. Here, as in much of the book, the fallacies of guilt by association and argument from bad consequences form the backbone of his case; a valid argument is nowhere in sight. A chapter on "Empirical Science" argues against a theory in biology by noting that it cannot explain the origin of the universe. It also shows that Hanegraaff knows less about entropy than one would need to learn to pass a freshman chemistry class -- or perhaps, since on this subject he is aware of arguments against his position, he is merely feigning such ignorance. Many natural processes, not involving life, increase order if energy can enter a system and waste heat leave it -- if Oparin's famous experiment assembling biochemicals from simple inorganic chemicals proved nothing else, it proved this. The argument, "entropy prevents increases in complexity," is simply and utterly false. There is more to the book than this -- as even a couple of mainly favorable reviews have noted, the author has trouble staying on topic. But overall the book is very bad, derivitive, illogical, and either unscrupulous or incompetent in its arguments. As an appendix to the book, the author warns creationists against relying on bad arguments; this is the best advice in the book, and if the author had taken it, he wouldn't have written the chapters preceding this appendix.
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Summary: Falls Short of Author's Potential
Review: I have read two other works by Hank Hanegraaff, 'Christainity in Crisis' and 'Counterfeit Revival', both were excellent. However, this book does not live up to the author's potential. In the books mentioned previously he was carefull to throughly document his statements, but he does not do so in this book. Instead, he jumps onto the very popular bandwagon of Creationism without knowing anything of science. This one fact causes the book to be ladden with assumptions that are never throughly researched or documented, which leaves much of the book giving opinion, but no strong evidence for the case of creation. Unfortunately, I was disappointed that in writing this book he choose to leave his objective mind at home.
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Summary: A Mixed Bag: Clever Writing, No Detial
Review: Hank Hanegraaff's book is easy to read. This is its strength and flaw. If one picks up this book, and has already studied subjects like biology, physic, and astronomy in college, you will probably find yourself a little "ripped off." The book isn't detialed in anyway and resorts to many already known failures of evolution. These failures are taught by most open minded instructors (I say most because there are some who avoid the issues altogether). The book, however, is useful for two groups of people: (1) Chrsitian who want to learn more about this controversial subject from a Christian perspective, but, have very little knowledge in science or (2) Teenagers who are entering high school and need some preparation to become equiped when evolution is taught. This book, hopefully will lay some ground work and inspire the reader to study more difficult works such as "Show Me God" by Hereen and "Drawin's Black Box" by Behe. With this said, Hank ventures into other catagory's that should be left for another book. He has a appendix section on issues such as the resurrection of Christ (later to become a book)and abortion. These topics should have been left out and dealt with in another book devoted to there topic or a book of various eassy. Hank's writing style is very effective and candid. This book is a mixed bag. It is no more than 3 stars and could possible be rated as two. To see other, better written works by Hank, please see "Christianity In Crisis" and Counter Revival."
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Summary: It is just stoopid
Review: Oh yeah, and I suppose when God created man he also created the miniature poodle for man's wife to hold, and the Black Angus beef for his supper, too. ZAP.
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Summary: As Good as the Book
Review: Having already reviewed the book I would like to go on and add a couple of comments on the audio version. While the material was well presented and Hanegraaff has a clear speaking voice, there were times that the background score began to drown him out. The music could have been better chosen and more subdued. The majority of the important text from the book is presented however, and listeners will not be disappointed.
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Summary: Logical and Well Written
Review: "The Face" does a great job of laying out the "facts" of evolution. Some of the areas covered are the survival of the fittest, Pseudosaurs, Punctuated Equilibrium, the eye, the egg, entropy (my favorite), and recapitulation. Also tackled are such subjects as Theological Evolution, empirical science, and the fossil "evidence." The appendices include information on Bible origins, human cloning, and refuting abortion arguments. Hanegraaff's writing style is succinct and to the point, being enjoyable without boring (a must when presenting what could be extremely dry material). A very useful and interesting book.
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Summary: Very well thought out
Review: When I first read this book, I was a evolutionary creationist. I believed that the earth was created by an omnipotent God, yet that the six days described were either found in geological epochs spanning millions of years, or simply a metaphor for the evolution of human from ape-like creatures. When I read this book, I was blown away. My whole world was turned upside down, and as I did more research into true creationism, I found that it wasn't simply a myth created by my church. This book is a good starting point. It has wonderful points, is clear, and concise. I would recommend it, however, I would suggest that whoever reads it does more research also. And lest anyone think that I simply blow from one side of the fence to the other--I do not. I took a semester class focussing on evolution in college and was ASTOUNDED at how correct this book was. My professor "accidentally" glossed over any "proof" of evolution ... and simply delved into what she claimed to be the truth, with no proof at all ... Maybe she should read this book.
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Summary: Good info but left me wanting more......
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book and was impressed that evolution isn't as strong in theory as we are led to believe. The book left me convinced that creation theory is not even close to dead. I was a bit disappointed that the last 1/4 of the material concerned evangelization. I wish the author would have used the space for more debunking! I highly recommend this audio for people who may be wondering if we are being brainwashed about evolution by the media.
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