Evolution from Creation to New Creation: Conflict, Conversation, and Convergence

Rating:
Summary: useful but.....
Review: Although this book has much useful information, and is clearly supportive of ID, as a whole I was disappointed in the section on creationism. To keep this short I will cover just one point. Peter and Hewlett imply that creationists do not see much need to produce new scientific data. First of all, this common claim is not true. Unfortunately, almost all research they do must be financed out of their own pocket, so it is limited. Secondly, they have tried to get grants but, as far as I am aware, have consistently failed whereas Darwinists get multibillions of dollars in grants each year world wide. There is as much chance of an out of the closet creationist getting a grant as a open rabbi holding a high level government post in Nazi Germany. Furthermore, since many creationists are denied doctorates many will never be in a position to do science. And those that have Ph.D.s are almost without exception denied tenure if they are out of the closet. Those in the closet stay there if they want to advance in their career. About 20 percent of all scientists are conservative creationists, but one would never know this because they wisely stay in the closet. I believe that at some point it will be time for all closet advocates of creationism, and even ID, to band together and join the relative few who have gone public. The more targets there are, the softer the collective blow. Frankly, I think it is past time. Darwinists will continue to get away with firing isolated Darwin doubters of all stripes until the numbers become too high. But few creationists will risk their career to come out of the closet now. Lastly, of the research creations do, if the implications are obvious, there is no way that it will be published, and if published the journal will retract the paper as poorly done or worse. Since the "goo to you by way of the zoo" is true, contradictory data cannot exist, therefore all research that proves otherwise must be wrong.



Rating:
Summary: Use(ful) with Caution
Review: Over the years I have accumulated a lot of material on the intersection of religion and science, but no good way to file and retrieve the stuff. I needed a typology to develop a "filing system," not only to organize the papers, but my thoughts. This work, as a survey, proved to be extremely helpful in laying out ways to view the various schools of thought, relationships, and their chief adherents into some pattern, as well as good definitions. In fact, one can play with iterative bubble-charts and arrows, and really get somewhere in sorting out this fascinating, but intricate, field.

On the other hand, I found that the authors' own convictions appear to be agenda-driven, as is so aften the case. They seem to "cherry pick" their way through the mine-field of alternative arguments in order to lay the "best" groundwork for mankind's excursion into genetic engineering--which they view as integral to Divine Redemption--whereas others plainly see the old, sad hubris of "playing God."

Rating:
Summary: a must read on the topic of Theistic Evolution
Review: This book is one of those extraordinary reads. I bought it simply because i had Martinez Hewlett along with Thomas Lindell and William Stoeger as team teachers for an unusual and very interesting seminar class at the U of Arizona, theology and biology. It was a continuation of Dr. Lindell's interests in bioethics and exactly how to relate science to theology in a constructive and useful, to both parties, manner. A truely unique experience for which i am again thankful. But if buying this book because of the author was the reason for opening it and reading the first few chapters, i would have stopped there, for the book itself must carry my interest from that point. This one did. Very much so, engaging, informative, interesting, clever, structured wisely- just a few of my comments. I seldom thoroughly enjoy a book as much as i did this one, i even wrote WOW on the last page in my yellow highlighter, it is good.

Why?
First, it represents the culmination of two really interesting people's work. Dr. Hewlett is a clever, talented, thoughtful and spiritually aware man. He is a poet, a novelist, a viral researcher, but most appropriately to this book- a good teacher. There is something special about a talented teacher who can unfold a topic IN ORDER, with a structure that shows the neophyte how the pieces fit together. And gives us the pieces in an order that helps us see the big picture that the author's themselves grasp. Hey readers, this is RARE. More often you hit things in a logical or chronological order, pieces are thrown at you without reference to the big picture. So you often are lost as a student in a new field in the forest, concentrating on the trees and never ever able to understand why anyone would actually come to this forest. A good teacher, or a good writer, never lets the structure interfere with your reason for being there, for your motivation to read the next page. But they have you anticipate and salivate for the next chapter or the next idea.

Second, it represents distilled knowledge, carefully written to teach the essentials of the debate so that you can be lead to understand their big point. There is lots of background information here, people, spectrums, differentiations between close ideas, that are the meat and potatoes of this feast. Yet the point they want you to understand is available in just a few pages- chapter 7 Theistic Evolution: A Constructive Proposal, but you must read the book pretty much in straight order to get there. This is because of the culmulativeness of the material, the distinctions that they make, and the specialized vocabulary you need to understand. So pick it up and read front to back, with a pen in hand to markup and take notes, this is not a walk in the park book, but a serious analysis, worthy of your best efforts.

Third, i am impressed at the carefulness of the structure. Intro, Darwin, Social Darwinism, Creationism, ID, TE then their proposal.
It is certainly the result of Dr. Hewlett's teaching of the topics to seniors at university, first they are looking outside of school perhaps for the first time in their lives, and second they are self-absorbed and desireous of internal consistency and coherence, those early adulthood dilemmas and opportunities. By presenting it this way, the interactions between people and ideas is so obvious that it is extremely natural to be drawn into the discussion and look inward. nice.
I appreciate the talent and insight, for instance, "science must first be extracted from it's ideological wrapping" pg. 19, but a constant and important theme throughout.

Hey, it is just such an awesome book, if you have any interest in the topic, just get it and don't waste time reading more reviews but get onto reading it.