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Taking Back Astronomy: The Heavens Declare Creation and Science Confirms It
With a doctorate in astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Dr. Jason Lisle is your guide to the universe beyond our world in this remarkable book. Step out among the stars and experience the truly awesome power of God through this glimpse of His vast creation.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2006
38 people are currently reading
285 people want to read
About the author
Jason Lisle
36 books117 followersDr. Jason Lisle is an astrophysicist who formerly worked for the creationist organization Answers in Genesis as both a speaker and researcher, but is now Director of Research at the Institute for Creation Research.
Dr. Lisle is a creationist who has a PhD in Astrophysics, which he obtained through the University of Colorado in Boulder. His postgraduate research concentrated on solar dynamics, utilizing NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to monitor the surface of the sun. His PhD dissertation "Probing the Dynamics of Solar Supergranulation and its Interaction with Magnetism." is available from the University of Colorado and he has also published numerous papers in scientific literature concerning convection cells in the sun.
Although some creationists claim, as in the film Expelled, that holding to creationist beliefs while pursing a degree at an accredited University will get you kicked out, Dr. Jason Lisle recieved his undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University summa cum laude with a double-major in physics and astronomy and a minor in mathematics. For his thesis and dissertation, (Master's and Ph.D accordingly,) though members of his Peer-Review Panel might have been aware of his young Earth beliefs - their evaluation of his work was based on his actual research and not his personal beliefs.
Dr. Lisle is a creationist who has a PhD in Astrophysics, which he obtained through the University of Colorado in Boulder. His postgraduate research concentrated on solar dynamics, utilizing NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to monitor the surface of the sun. His PhD dissertation "Probing the Dynamics of Solar Supergranulation and its Interaction with Magnetism." is available from the University of Colorado and he has also published numerous papers in scientific literature concerning convection cells in the sun.
Although some creationists claim, as in the film Expelled, that holding to creationist beliefs while pursing a degree at an accredited University will get you kicked out, Dr. Jason Lisle recieved his undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University summa cum laude with a double-major in physics and astronomy and a minor in mathematics. For his thesis and dissertation, (Master's and Ph.D accordingly,) though members of his Peer-Review Panel might have been aware of his young Earth beliefs - their evaluation of his work was based on his actual research and not his personal beliefs.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
November 8, 2018
I did truly enjoy this book. It has some amazing colour photos of various things in the universe and gives a clear defense of the Biblical view of the creation of the universe. It shows the many problems of the evolutionary view that the universe was formed by a big bang and is very old.
It is well worth reading for anyone willing to honestly consider the evidence for the recent creation of the universe.
It is well worth reading for anyone willing to honestly consider the evidence for the recent creation of the universe.
March 3, 2021
This book is meant to be an introduction to the idea that the universe was created exactly as described in the book of Genesis roughly 6000 years ago in the span of six days. It goes through and explains to a small degree the secular notion of the Big Bang and some of the problems with that.
I'm not sure if this was meant to be a book for children, or adults. It's short, and filled with lots of photos. But it's a bit more complex than simply telling kids that the universe is 6000-ish years old.
The Bible itself doesn't really deal with astronomy all that much. Outside of the creation story, there really isn't a lot said. I'm reasonable certain the author has included nearly every mention in the Bible in order to support his argument.
The problems in the book are, I feel, numerous. In the introduction, the author is describing a world view, a way of thinking about the world, and how that world view tends to cause us to interpret information in different ways. In this book, the two world views are naturalism, or a secular belief that nothing exists outside of nature; and a religious world view, specifically that of the Christian Bible. It's important to note that it's specifically the Christian Bible the author uses in his arguments, and not other religious writings from Abrahamic faiths. There's no argument from the author that the Bible is not what it claims to be -- the authoritative Word of God. That's the world view that we're getting from Jason Lisle (who holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado). But I think it's prudent to point out that there are several claims about the accuracy of the Bible that are not substantiated. Page 8 says "...the Bible is a history book which has demonstrated its accuracy time and time again." But the Bible has also shown to have inaccuracies. One of the biggest is to first deal with which version you're talking about. If the Bible was in fact the authoritative Word of God, why are there so many versions? How do we know that there aren't errors in translating from ancient or even dead languages? How do we know that our understanding of the meanings of words hasn't changed in 3500 years (since Genesis was written around 1500 BCE). Or that all of that stuff that happened from 4000 BCE to 1500 BCE was accurately recorded? Even if we decide that God wouldn't allow errors to creep in, we have to balance that with the idea that God is the one who created multiple languages at Babel and created issues with translations. That God may have told the complete knowledge to humans, but humans have fault and may have made errors or omissions. Or that some of that knowledge has been lost to time, or lost because the church chose some books to include in the Bible and not others. Or even just factual errors, like the Gospel of Luke saying the birth of Christ happened during the Census of Quirinius, but the Gospel of Mark placing the birth during the reign of Herod the Great, who was dead for nine years when the census occurred. The Bible has inaccuracies, but Lisle's world view doesn't allow for that.
Okay, on to the science. If it can be called that. The basic premise here is that creation was a supernatural process, and we can't ever really understand the details of how God created the universe. If that's the case, then a very large portion of astronomy is pretty much worthless. Lisle's own particular field seems to be study of the sun. Not in how it was created (God) or how it will some day die (Jesus will return and create a new Heaven and Earth, lasting forever), but in how it functions day to day. A relatively safe area of study for a creationist astronomer. Unwritten, but implied, is the idea that astronomers studying other things, like the origins of the universe, or how stars are created, or planets form, are just wasting their time. Because creation was a supernatural process, and we can't ever hope to understand how God did what he did.
Then there's a discussion about some of the problems with current theories about the creation of the universe. Issues with the cosmic microwave background radiation, matter/anti-matter imbalance, etc. All real problems with the current secular understanding of the universe. But here's something that doesn't get stated in the book. Science (I feel like I shouldn't have to preface that with secular science all the time, because creationist "science" isn't really about trying to learn anything new...it's just about accepting what we've already been told) is about asking questions and trying to find the answers. And yes, sometimes those answers aren't correct. Ptolomy thought that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Copernicus figured out that we actually revolve around the sun. Newton figured out why, Kepler figured out that meant that our orbits were not perfect circles but rather elliptical, and Einstein fixed some problems with Newton's view of gravity. Science is about taking what we're told and questioning it, which is direct opposition to creationism and faith. Faith is acceptance, science is skepticism. So it seems like the only reason for a creationist "scientist" to exist is to cast doubts on science and defend their faith. The good news is that science itself includes a method of casting doubts on it. It's that whole skepticism bit. We don't accept someone's word just because they say they're correct. We have to go over it and over it and over it again to verify that it's correct. And we know that even though we think it might be correct for what we can observe today, there may be something in the future that challenges our understanding and causes us to to develop new theories.
Creationist astronomy doesn't do that. It's all "God did it all!" or it's nothing. For example, the author says that the notion of extraterrestrial life does not "square well with Scripture". We haven't found any extraterrestrial life, so there's nothing wrong with creationist astronomy there. But what if we did? There's nowhere for a creationist "scientist" to go with that, because it's not included in the Bible.
That my biggest problem with this book. It's supposed to be about bringing a creationist understanding to the science of astronomy, but it's fundamentally opposed to what science actually is. It can't even document in a matter befitting science. On page 47, the author writes "There are actually several different natural mechanisms that God might have used to get the starlight here in thousands of years. These have been published in TJ and other places and so we will not repeat them here." I have no idea what TJ is supposed to be and none of the "other places" are described in detail as well. Science is all about the details! And it's really sad that there are quite a few endnotes, with specific papers and books and pages and quotes. He documents stuff that disproves a naturalistic viewpoint but can't be bothered to document the stuff that supports him. It's just frustrating, and I'm disappointed in myself for bothering to actually finish the book.
I'm not sure if this was meant to be a book for children, or adults. It's short, and filled with lots of photos. But it's a bit more complex than simply telling kids that the universe is 6000-ish years old.
The Bible itself doesn't really deal with astronomy all that much. Outside of the creation story, there really isn't a lot said. I'm reasonable certain the author has included nearly every mention in the Bible in order to support his argument.
The problems in the book are, I feel, numerous. In the introduction, the author is describing a world view, a way of thinking about the world, and how that world view tends to cause us to interpret information in different ways. In this book, the two world views are naturalism, or a secular belief that nothing exists outside of nature; and a religious world view, specifically that of the Christian Bible. It's important to note that it's specifically the Christian Bible the author uses in his arguments, and not other religious writings from Abrahamic faiths. There's no argument from the author that the Bible is not what it claims to be -- the authoritative Word of God. That's the world view that we're getting from Jason Lisle (who holds a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado). But I think it's prudent to point out that there are several claims about the accuracy of the Bible that are not substantiated. Page 8 says "...the Bible is a history book which has demonstrated its accuracy time and time again." But the Bible has also shown to have inaccuracies. One of the biggest is to first deal with which version you're talking about. If the Bible was in fact the authoritative Word of God, why are there so many versions? How do we know that there aren't errors in translating from ancient or even dead languages? How do we know that our understanding of the meanings of words hasn't changed in 3500 years (since Genesis was written around 1500 BCE). Or that all of that stuff that happened from 4000 BCE to 1500 BCE was accurately recorded? Even if we decide that God wouldn't allow errors to creep in, we have to balance that with the idea that God is the one who created multiple languages at Babel and created issues with translations. That God may have told the complete knowledge to humans, but humans have fault and may have made errors or omissions. Or that some of that knowledge has been lost to time, or lost because the church chose some books to include in the Bible and not others. Or even just factual errors, like the Gospel of Luke saying the birth of Christ happened during the Census of Quirinius, but the Gospel of Mark placing the birth during the reign of Herod the Great, who was dead for nine years when the census occurred. The Bible has inaccuracies, but Lisle's world view doesn't allow for that.
Okay, on to the science. If it can be called that. The basic premise here is that creation was a supernatural process, and we can't ever really understand the details of how God created the universe. If that's the case, then a very large portion of astronomy is pretty much worthless. Lisle's own particular field seems to be study of the sun. Not in how it was created (God) or how it will some day die (Jesus will return and create a new Heaven and Earth, lasting forever), but in how it functions day to day. A relatively safe area of study for a creationist astronomer. Unwritten, but implied, is the idea that astronomers studying other things, like the origins of the universe, or how stars are created, or planets form, are just wasting their time. Because creation was a supernatural process, and we can't ever hope to understand how God did what he did.
Then there's a discussion about some of the problems with current theories about the creation of the universe. Issues with the cosmic microwave background radiation, matter/anti-matter imbalance, etc. All real problems with the current secular understanding of the universe. But here's something that doesn't get stated in the book. Science (I feel like I shouldn't have to preface that with secular science all the time, because creationist "science" isn't really about trying to learn anything new...it's just about accepting what we've already been told) is about asking questions and trying to find the answers. And yes, sometimes those answers aren't correct. Ptolomy thought that the sun and planets revolved around the Earth. Copernicus figured out that we actually revolve around the sun. Newton figured out why, Kepler figured out that meant that our orbits were not perfect circles but rather elliptical, and Einstein fixed some problems with Newton's view of gravity. Science is about taking what we're told and questioning it, which is direct opposition to creationism and faith. Faith is acceptance, science is skepticism. So it seems like the only reason for a creationist "scientist" to exist is to cast doubts on science and defend their faith. The good news is that science itself includes a method of casting doubts on it. It's that whole skepticism bit. We don't accept someone's word just because they say they're correct. We have to go over it and over it and over it again to verify that it's correct. And we know that even though we think it might be correct for what we can observe today, there may be something in the future that challenges our understanding and causes us to to develop new theories.
Creationist astronomy doesn't do that. It's all "God did it all!" or it's nothing. For example, the author says that the notion of extraterrestrial life does not "square well with Scripture". We haven't found any extraterrestrial life, so there's nothing wrong with creationist astronomy there. But what if we did? There's nowhere for a creationist "scientist" to go with that, because it's not included in the Bible.
That my biggest problem with this book. It's supposed to be about bringing a creationist understanding to the science of astronomy, but it's fundamentally opposed to what science actually is. It can't even document in a matter befitting science. On page 47, the author writes "There are actually several different natural mechanisms that God might have used to get the starlight here in thousands of years. These have been published in TJ and other places and so we will not repeat them here." I have no idea what TJ is supposed to be and none of the "other places" are described in detail as well. Science is all about the details! And it's really sad that there are quite a few endnotes, with specific papers and books and pages and quotes. He documents stuff that disproves a naturalistic viewpoint but can't be bothered to document the stuff that supports him. It's just frustrating, and I'm disappointed in myself for bothering to actually finish the book.
June 29, 2025
A simple, yet incredible read and study about Gods almighty power being displayed through the heavens. Jason Lisle is easy to understand, but also very intellectual, with scripture and the science of our world and universe.
February 1, 2009
This book is pretty good for a lay person to read. It has some in depth articles that make use of scientific language. In the first chapter there are presented some amazing science facts that are written in the Bible, for example: the shape of the Earth, the expansion of the universe, the conservation of mass and energy, the number of the stars. And remember that Genesis was written in 1500 B.C.! The second chapter presents the arguments for a young universe: recession of the moon, earth`s magnetic field, spiral galaxies and comets. The problem that secular scientist have with their model: the lack of antimatter, solar system formation, star formation, the unique earth.
It is a "de luxe" hardcover with brilliant illustrations from the outer space. Hence the 4 stars. But remember, the Bible is not a textbook; it only has final authority.
It is a "de luxe" hardcover with brilliant illustrations from the outer space. Hence the 4 stars. But remember, the Bible is not a textbook; it only has final authority.
June 1, 2016
So I almost gave this book four stars because I really wanted to hear a valid explanation of the star light problem (how star light from distant galaxies got here if the universe is young like young earth creationists say). When the author spent one sentence on it I was about to throw the book across the room. However, he won me back when he explained the materialist star light problem as well and turned me toward some other resources (this was an introduction book after all) and then he followed up with a ton of other good info, so I was hooked. I have always loved astronomy but have had no time to spend on it and this book may have stirred something up in me!
March 24, 2023
I’m sorry to say I was disappointed in this book, but at the same time I was not surprised with it. Before continuing I want to be clear that I am writing this review from my viewpoint as born-again Christian. I also see myself as a life-long learner, researcher, professional scientist and engineer, and natural lover of astronomy and many other areas of natural science. In writing this review, it is my intent to provide a critique of the book, and not to present a complete debate on the topic of young-earth-creationism. I am not one to “grind an axe” or want to argue "tit-for-tat". At the same time, writing this has been difficult because I found myself in a position of strong disagreement with the author, both in his presentation of astronomical topics, as well as the logic used in his presentation. I am not a theologian, nor do I have the academic credentials equivalent to the author. I have however, studied the Bible for several years, and I have spent well more than half a century participating in scientific studies, pursuits, and thinking. I am simply applying the life experiences and knowledge that God has given me in this life to provide my assessment of the material presented in this book.
In many ways, I found this book to not be about astronomy per se, but rather it seems written to express a fundamentalist Christian point of view and have astronomical topics as the backdrop. The study of astronomy, for me, is so rich and so wonderful and so multi-faceted, therefore I can’t recommend this book based upon the information presented on the limited astronomical topics here. The argumentative approach and overall tone of the book were not compelling to me. I found many places in the book where I felt the author took far too great of liberties with his conclusions or with his rationale to be viable or convincing to me. I felt he failed to present credible evidence for his view, and really only argued against the views he disagrees with. Also, there are places in the book where I found the author to be overly absolute, to the point of being incorrect or where his argument was grossly incomplete. This repeated pattern only resulted in a progression of a loss of credibility in my eyes.
That said, there are a few areas in this book where I did find myself in agreement with the author, some of which include the following quotes:
- “According to the Bible, God made human beings in His own image (Gen. 1:27). As such, we reflect in a finite, limited way some of God’s infinite attributes.”
- “God has given us the ability to reason — to think some of His own thoughts after Him.”
- “It seems that the more we zoom in on the universe, the more beautiful it becomes, and the more we realize how truly vast and amazing it is. The more we “magnify” the universe, the more amazed we are by its beauty and complexity. The same is true of the Creator of the universe. The more we magnify God, the more we realize just how amazing He is. It seems that God has constructed the universe to reflect this aspect of His character.”
And the gospel message at the end of the book was great!
But beyond these points, this book felt to me like an attempt to win an argument rather than educate the reader. It feels like the author only presented a vary narrow set of things to support a very specific narrative, and did not to look at or even attempt to present the majority of information available on this topic. The resulting conclusions from the set-up and sometimes circular arguments fell short of being convincing to me. In the introduction of this book, the author uses an anecdote involving a magician to make a specific point. I found the use of a magician in this story ironic in a way. When a magician performs sleight-of-hand, we perceive the trick as being “magic”, because the skill of the magician controls what and how we view the trick. The trick is not really “magic”, but rather a manipulation of the situation in order to present the magicians intent. The magician only allows you to see what supports the trick to make it seem “supernatural”. The magician withholds things from your view that would reveal the true mechanisms of his or her act. There may be some things that the magician brings into the trick to distort or alter what or how you see things. The magician may also do things to distract you with things outside the trick, so that you don’t look too close at what is really happening. In reading this book, I observed in multiple places that the author used these sorts of techniques to make his points. While these techniques make for an entertaining “supernatural magic” show, they do not contribute to credible books on science.
At one point in the book the author makes the claim that the universe was created supernaturally, and that it would be foolish to expect natural evidence for something supernatural. Since science is essentially the systematic pursuit of examining naturally occurring phenomena, I quickly realized that this book is not about science at all. The topics presented in this book are truly pseudoscience (I mean no derogatory intent here, just my conclusion).
The author states that the age of the universe is on the order of 6000 years which is based upon a “Biblical World View”. After reading this book, I feel it would be more accurate to say that the author’s conclusions stem from a “Strict fundamentalist interpretation of a Biblical World View.” I say this respectfully, again with no derogatory intent. However, I personally disagree with this interpretation. The overall “Biblical World View”, which is presented cover-to-cover in the Bible, is so strong and so compelling me, I have been forced to re-align my thinking and revisit my life experiences and learnings in light of this view. The Bible contains an exceedingly small amount of information about the origins of the universe, and very little information regarding astronomical concepts. Building such a rigid dogma around such a limited set of information, and leaving out (what I feel is) the true essence of the Biblical World View, appear to me to be a disservice in communicating the message of the Bible. And in doing so a very distorted and utterly incomplete view of Astronomy is presented in this book. I found the cornerstone of the author’s position to be an intellectual cop-out, which does not align with how I believe God intends us to think, as we humans collectively explore His creation.
Portions of the book contain a handful anecdotes where naturally observed evidence might suggest a young universe (or might not), but the book does not even start to acknowledge that science itself is the pursuit of things unknown. Using examples of things that science can not yet explain to justify the presumed "Christian World View" puts God in a pretty small box that is easy for humans to understand and argue about. My thought is that the creator of this universe is far bigger than that.
A quote attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer states:
“How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed further and further back (and that is bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know."
For me, the pursuit of learning about the nature of the universe, and seeing the depth the Lord has created (in the expanse of space, in the natural laws we discover, and in the vastness of measurable time itself), fills me with awe that I can not express. Participating in the pursuit of scientific observations and study has been exceedingly rewarding for me, and following this path helps me understand the depth and character of God. The deeper we look, the more we find, and every discovery shows us deeper and deeper depth. I have heard it said that God has created this universe as a challenge for us to explore, just so we can know His depth.
Unfortunately, the author puts out the impression of an extremely shallow and limited view of God, apparently in an attempt to justify a fundamentalist narrative. In light of the immense and incredible volumes of evidence that God has provided through His creation for us to study, this conclusion makes me sad.
In many ways, I found this book to not be about astronomy per se, but rather it seems written to express a fundamentalist Christian point of view and have astronomical topics as the backdrop. The study of astronomy, for me, is so rich and so wonderful and so multi-faceted, therefore I can’t recommend this book based upon the information presented on the limited astronomical topics here. The argumentative approach and overall tone of the book were not compelling to me. I found many places in the book where I felt the author took far too great of liberties with his conclusions or with his rationale to be viable or convincing to me. I felt he failed to present credible evidence for his view, and really only argued against the views he disagrees with. Also, there are places in the book where I found the author to be overly absolute, to the point of being incorrect or where his argument was grossly incomplete. This repeated pattern only resulted in a progression of a loss of credibility in my eyes.
That said, there are a few areas in this book where I did find myself in agreement with the author, some of which include the following quotes:
- “According to the Bible, God made human beings in His own image (Gen. 1:27). As such, we reflect in a finite, limited way some of God’s infinite attributes.”
- “God has given us the ability to reason — to think some of His own thoughts after Him.”
- “It seems that the more we zoom in on the universe, the more beautiful it becomes, and the more we realize how truly vast and amazing it is. The more we “magnify” the universe, the more amazed we are by its beauty and complexity. The same is true of the Creator of the universe. The more we magnify God, the more we realize just how amazing He is. It seems that God has constructed the universe to reflect this aspect of His character.”
And the gospel message at the end of the book was great!
But beyond these points, this book felt to me like an attempt to win an argument rather than educate the reader. It feels like the author only presented a vary narrow set of things to support a very specific narrative, and did not to look at or even attempt to present the majority of information available on this topic. The resulting conclusions from the set-up and sometimes circular arguments fell short of being convincing to me. In the introduction of this book, the author uses an anecdote involving a magician to make a specific point. I found the use of a magician in this story ironic in a way. When a magician performs sleight-of-hand, we perceive the trick as being “magic”, because the skill of the magician controls what and how we view the trick. The trick is not really “magic”, but rather a manipulation of the situation in order to present the magicians intent. The magician only allows you to see what supports the trick to make it seem “supernatural”. The magician withholds things from your view that would reveal the true mechanisms of his or her act. There may be some things that the magician brings into the trick to distort or alter what or how you see things. The magician may also do things to distract you with things outside the trick, so that you don’t look too close at what is really happening. In reading this book, I observed in multiple places that the author used these sorts of techniques to make his points. While these techniques make for an entertaining “supernatural magic” show, they do not contribute to credible books on science.
At one point in the book the author makes the claim that the universe was created supernaturally, and that it would be foolish to expect natural evidence for something supernatural. Since science is essentially the systematic pursuit of examining naturally occurring phenomena, I quickly realized that this book is not about science at all. The topics presented in this book are truly pseudoscience (I mean no derogatory intent here, just my conclusion).
The author states that the age of the universe is on the order of 6000 years which is based upon a “Biblical World View”. After reading this book, I feel it would be more accurate to say that the author’s conclusions stem from a “Strict fundamentalist interpretation of a Biblical World View.” I say this respectfully, again with no derogatory intent. However, I personally disagree with this interpretation. The overall “Biblical World View”, which is presented cover-to-cover in the Bible, is so strong and so compelling me, I have been forced to re-align my thinking and revisit my life experiences and learnings in light of this view. The Bible contains an exceedingly small amount of information about the origins of the universe, and very little information regarding astronomical concepts. Building such a rigid dogma around such a limited set of information, and leaving out (what I feel is) the true essence of the Biblical World View, appear to me to be a disservice in communicating the message of the Bible. And in doing so a very distorted and utterly incomplete view of Astronomy is presented in this book. I found the cornerstone of the author’s position to be an intellectual cop-out, which does not align with how I believe God intends us to think, as we humans collectively explore His creation.
Portions of the book contain a handful anecdotes where naturally observed evidence might suggest a young universe (or might not), but the book does not even start to acknowledge that science itself is the pursuit of things unknown. Using examples of things that science can not yet explain to justify the presumed "Christian World View" puts God in a pretty small box that is easy for humans to understand and argue about. My thought is that the creator of this universe is far bigger than that.
A quote attributed to Dietrich Bonhoeffer states:
“How wrong it is to use God as a stop-gap for the incompleteness of our knowledge. If in fact the frontiers of knowledge are being pushed further and further back (and that is bound to be the case), then God is being pushed back with them, and is therefore continually in retreat. We are to find God in what we know, not in what we don't know."
For me, the pursuit of learning about the nature of the universe, and seeing the depth the Lord has created (in the expanse of space, in the natural laws we discover, and in the vastness of measurable time itself), fills me with awe that I can not express. Participating in the pursuit of scientific observations and study has been exceedingly rewarding for me, and following this path helps me understand the depth and character of God. The deeper we look, the more we find, and every discovery shows us deeper and deeper depth. I have heard it said that God has created this universe as a challenge for us to explore, just so we can know His depth.
Unfortunately, the author puts out the impression of an extremely shallow and limited view of God, apparently in an attempt to justify a fundamentalist narrative. In light of the immense and incredible volumes of evidence that God has provided through His creation for us to study, this conclusion makes me sad.
June 7, 2023
I read through this very quickly, as I continue to look for books for our 9th/10th grade astronomy class for Fall. This is an interesting book. Written by Jason Lisle, so it is explicitly young-earth-creationism. It could be read and enjoyed by adults but I thought it was maybe targeted younger than 9th/10th grade, at least as far as class books go, so I think I'll reject it for that purpose.
It is an interesting medley of topics, but it "works" for what it is (and it is a rather short book). Some neat astronomy is shared, but also some philosophy (it begins by talking about how worldview affects how we interpret data, and goes on to talk about issues like peer pressure in science). It also offers various evidences for a young-earth and problems for old-earth cosmology. Now this is a short book, so this is all done very quickly, there is very little engagement with critics on these points. But for what the book is trying to do it does it quite well, actually.
It is an interesting medley of topics, but it "works" for what it is (and it is a rather short book). Some neat astronomy is shared, but also some philosophy (it begins by talking about how worldview affects how we interpret data, and goes on to talk about issues like peer pressure in science). It also offers various evidences for a young-earth and problems for old-earth cosmology. Now this is a short book, so this is all done very quickly, there is very little engagement with critics on these points. But for what the book is trying to do it does it quite well, actually.
March 3, 2020
This is a good introduction to the basic principles of astronomy in simple, layman's terms. It also shows the ways that astronomy supports biblical creation as well as introducing the cosmological problems with a young earth cosmological model and providing possible solutions. Among other things, The book shows how little humans really know about the Universe. My main complaint would be that Dr. Lisle spends way too much time discussing apologetical methodology for a book on astronomy. I think one paragraph on that would have served to make his point. I also would have liked a little more depth in the explanations about the lasw which govern the universe. Even in the endnotes would have been satisfactory. Lisle is a brilliant scientist, but I think this book could have been better.
August 7, 2022
My husband bought this book for me and we read it aloud to each other. It was a great book for that, full of beautiful full color images and lots of ideas that were fodder for good conversations. We love watching documentaries about the cosmos, but we always roll our eyes and wish we could skip over the segments that emphasize a secular worldview--there just seems to be nothing else available on the subject. As Lisle said in the last chapter, the field of apologetics is largely comprised of biological and biochemical and historical arguments. Biblical creationists seem less represented in astronomy. This was a refreshing exception.
December 21, 2023
Dr. Lisle uses the naturalist's arguments to interpret the universe and then shows the biblical answer to the problems inherent in the naturalist or evolutionary theory.
He states two very important things near the end of the book.
1. The Bible is not a science book, but when it speaks to science it does so perfectly, correctly and inerrantly.
2. No amount of evidence will convince someone who is wholly committed to their worldview, even if it is wrong.
He states two very important things near the end of the book.
1. The Bible is not a science book, but when it speaks to science it does so perfectly, correctly and inerrantly.
2. No amount of evidence will convince someone who is wholly committed to their worldview, even if it is wrong.
March 5, 2020
This book is a must-read for anyone wanting to get a basic, easy to understand, overview of the Biblical worldview as it pertains to astrophysics. Dr. Lisle points out many flaws in secular reasoning and argumentation of the universe being 13.7 billion years old. Dr. Lisle is brilliant and you should definitely check this out.
May 20, 2020
Helpful, Accessible, and Interesting
Sometimes when I read or hear assertions in the field of astronomy, I have a hard time knowing if they accord with biblical truth or not.
While certainly not exhaustive, this book was very useful in helping me to sort out some of the ideas I was curious about in the realm of astronomy.
Sometimes when I read or hear assertions in the field of astronomy, I have a hard time knowing if they accord with biblical truth or not.
While certainly not exhaustive, this book was very useful in helping me to sort out some of the ideas I was curious about in the realm of astronomy.
December 22, 2023
Dr. Lisle is a brilliant astrophysicist, but he writes in a way that is simplistic enough for the common laymen. I appreciate that he can explain complex subject matter in an easy, straightforward way that everyone can understand. My 8th grade class is reading this as a companion to their astronomy curriculum. The apologetics in this book are fascinating. I learned a lot, and enjoyed every page.
April 21, 2018
Logical Presentation
Jason clear lays out the facts of the biggest issues between biblical and materialistic world views as they relate to astronomy. Objective consideration is all that you need to bring.
Jason clear lays out the facts of the biggest issues between biblical and materialistic world views as they relate to astronomy. Objective consideration is all that you need to bring.
June 19, 2018
Taking Back Astronomy is a big-picture perspective of the universe described with details in a way that non-astrophysicists like myself can understand ;). I love the focus on God and creationism, and the part about spiral galaxies made me cry. God is amazing!
September 22, 2020
Great overview
Excellent apologetic for a created universe. Creation Science is a field that needs a lot more contributions to counteract the lies of the enemy. Hoping for a lot more to come.
Excellent apologetic for a created universe. Creation Science is a field that needs a lot more contributions to counteract the lies of the enemy. Hoping for a lot more to come.
February 28, 2021
This is a beautiful book with a clear, apologetic presentation of astronomy from a Biblical worldview. Don't expect to learn anything particularly advanced; I would recommend reading this to simply whet your appetite for learning more about the heavens which God created.
January 27, 2019
Interesting
Want to read
December 13, 2022AIG 2022: Bought Dec. 12
December 19, 2022
I think I read this back in 2009 or 2010. A colourful, useful reference book for all ages. Not a fan of how Master Books designs books, but contents are good.
October 11, 2010
"Taking Back Astronomy" gives Christians a biblical view of astronomy. It's written by Dr. Jason Lisle, who has a doctorate in astrophysics, in a clear fashion that teens and adults can easily understand. Some technical language was used, but the terms were explained in the text and in the glossary in the back. While the book was mainly an overview of astronomy, there were in-depth explanations on a number of topics, like Hubble's Law, gravitational attraction, the horizon problem for the Big Bang model, and so on.
The book was filled with beautiful full-color photographs of nebulae, star clusters, planets, stars, and galaxies. Most of the pictures were fairly small (a couple inches across) but some were full page or even a two-page spread. All were clear and beautiful. Overall, I felt the book was well-written and very interesting. I'd recommend it to any Christian interested in learning more about astronomy and how it confirms a biblical worldview.
The introduction explained how worldviews (starting assumptions about the world) influence how we interpret the evidence. Chapter One surveyed the universe and our solar system to show just how big it is. Chapter Two explained what the Bible says about the universe and how modern science has confirmed much of it even though ancient astronomers didn't accept what the Bible stated on the topic.
Chapter Three talked about the age of the universe, why secular astronomy gives billions of years instead of the biblical ~6,000 years, the many ways that the Big Bang doesn't match the biblical account of the origin and end of the universe, the distant starlight problem versus the horizon problem, problems with the day-age compromise, evidence that confirms a young universe (moon recession; the magnetic field of the earth, other planets, and the sun; spiral galaxies, and comets) and why explanations as to how these evidences can be explained in a billions-of-years time-frame are unsupported.
Chapter Four talked about modern astronomy (with its commitment to naturalism) and the problems with the Big Bang origins model (anti-matter, solar system formation, star formation). It also described how unique the earth is and touched on the subject of UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Chapter Five explained the conflicts between the biblical and secular worldviews and pointed out which one best fits the evidence found in astronomy.
I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
The book was filled with beautiful full-color photographs of nebulae, star clusters, planets, stars, and galaxies. Most of the pictures were fairly small (a couple inches across) but some were full page or even a two-page spread. All were clear and beautiful. Overall, I felt the book was well-written and very interesting. I'd recommend it to any Christian interested in learning more about astronomy and how it confirms a biblical worldview.
The introduction explained how worldviews (starting assumptions about the world) influence how we interpret the evidence. Chapter One surveyed the universe and our solar system to show just how big it is. Chapter Two explained what the Bible says about the universe and how modern science has confirmed much of it even though ancient astronomers didn't accept what the Bible stated on the topic.
Chapter Three talked about the age of the universe, why secular astronomy gives billions of years instead of the biblical ~6,000 years, the many ways that the Big Bang doesn't match the biblical account of the origin and end of the universe, the distant starlight problem versus the horizon problem, problems with the day-age compromise, evidence that confirms a young universe (moon recession; the magnetic field of the earth, other planets, and the sun; spiral galaxies, and comets) and why explanations as to how these evidences can be explained in a billions-of-years time-frame are unsupported.
Chapter Four talked about modern astronomy (with its commitment to naturalism) and the problems with the Big Bang origins model (anti-matter, solar system formation, star formation). It also described how unique the earth is and touched on the subject of UFOs and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Chapter Five explained the conflicts between the biblical and secular worldviews and pointed out which one best fits the evidence found in astronomy.
I received this book as a review copy from the publisher.
May 24, 2015
Astronomy in ways is an old field of science, in other ways, it is relative new in terms of discovery. This book by Dr. Jason Lisle discusses the importance of ones worldview in driving the interpretation of the data, particularly in terms of origins. Jason discusses various astronomical facts and theories regarding the universe and its origin. It is great introductory book for the those unfamiliar with Astronomy, who also have a love for the Lord and His Word. Dr. Lisle discusses many of the amazing facts about our solar system and the universe, but also provides some provocative insights into the origin of them.
This book is relatively short at about 125 pages, but is packed with beautiful full-color pictures, and lots of interesting discussion on various astronomical topics. He challenges some of the long-age uniformatarian beliefs by presenting evidences that present difficulty with such a worldview. Other discussion are interesting and informational. Some of the interesting discourses concerning blue stars, the frequency shift of light due to gravity, motion and expansion of the universe, the conservation of mass-energy, the law of gravity, why we always see the face of the moon, difficulties with the Bing-bang theory, and others. The book is written for the Christian lay-person by a gifted Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, whom I very much appreciate.
This book is relatively short at about 125 pages, but is packed with beautiful full-color pictures, and lots of interesting discussion on various astronomical topics. He challenges some of the long-age uniformatarian beliefs by presenting evidences that present difficulty with such a worldview. Other discussion are interesting and informational. Some of the interesting discourses concerning blue stars, the frequency shift of light due to gravity, motion and expansion of the universe, the conservation of mass-energy, the law of gravity, why we always see the face of the moon, difficulties with the Bing-bang theory, and others. The book is written for the Christian lay-person by a gifted Ph.D. from the University of Colorado, whom I very much appreciate.
August 24, 2024
Brief overview of astronomy and the problems evolution has in trying to explain scientific findings. For example, there is the lunar recession problem: the moon is moving an inch and a half away from the earth per year, due to the gravitational interaction between the bodies. Working backwards, this means the moon can't be more than 1.5 billion years old, since at that point it would be touching the earth. As the book explains, evolutionists are therefore "forced to adopt secondary assumptions to make the evidence fit".
In fact, the author points out the tendency to force the evidence to fit evolution is very common in astronomy (as with other sciences, such as biology, geology, etc.). For example, comets clearly can't survive 4.5 billion years orbiting the Sun, so evolutionists invented the Oort Cloud as the source of new comets, despite no evidence for the existence of the cloud. There's also extra-solar planets the size of Jupiter which orbit very close to the star, no known process for these planets to form that close to their star, no process to start them migrating inwards, and no process to stop the migration before they crash into the star.
Unfortunately, the book also includes a three page section on "confessing Jesus is Lord and placing our faith in Him" that is sadly common in many creation science books from Protestants.
In fact, the author points out the tendency to force the evidence to fit evolution is very common in astronomy (as with other sciences, such as biology, geology, etc.). For example, comets clearly can't survive 4.5 billion years orbiting the Sun, so evolutionists invented the Oort Cloud as the source of new comets, despite no evidence for the existence of the cloud. There's also extra-solar planets the size of Jupiter which orbit very close to the star, no known process for these planets to form that close to their star, no process to start them migrating inwards, and no process to stop the migration before they crash into the star.
Unfortunately, the book also includes a three page section on "confessing Jesus is Lord and placing our faith in Him" that is sadly common in many creation science books from Protestants.
April 21, 2020
"Each of us must decide whether we are going to trust the secular opinions of human beings, or the clear teaching of the Bible. The Bible has always been correct when it touches upon astronomy. It is important to remember that we are at just another point in history. Yes, people today will scoff and ridicule a belief in a 'young universe', but then again many of those same people will ridicule a belief in Jesus Christ being the one true God, or even the very belief in a Creator. The Bible has always been vindicated in the past. There is no reason to cave in to mere peer pressure today."
EXCELLENT. Will be perusing this often and forever. A great Christian science approach and addition to anyone's astronomy library!!!
EXCELLENT. Will be perusing this often and forever. A great Christian science approach and addition to anyone's astronomy library!!!
September 27, 2013
Jason Lisle is a very gifted teacher. The information is presented in such a way as to not overwhelm or off-put laypersons like myself. I was captivated the entire book and was thankful to learn so many things you don't normally read or hear, but are acknowledged facts even if not advertised (for obvious reasons to those familiar with world views). On that note, the very last chapter alone (on world views) is worth the price of the book, I feel. Very important teaching today, for everybody. If this topic interests you at all, you won't regret checking this book out!
February 27, 2014
The pictures in the book are worth the price of the book alone. Magnificent views of stars and aspects of space enhance the reading material provided in the book. The writing was not consistent to the audience, though. At times the explanation were detailed and technical which would be beyond the reading level of the rest of the book. It seems the author should evaluate and either make the technical section less so, or bring the rest of the book up to that level. The information provided was very good, and the book was interesting overall.
November 17, 2016
I really enjoyed this book for the clear logical writing, substantial science, and the stunning pictures. This is an introductory astronomy book written by a creation scientist. Often (almost all) astronomy books are filled with a secular worldview that is actually not supported by science yet the secular books aim to imply otherwise. This book helps us to understand this and though some may not agree with the creationist view, they may at least be able to think more clearly and logically about astronomy after reading a book such as this.
March 8, 2016
Taking Back Astronomy is an introductory book giving a Biblical world view of astronomy. The author gives several strong arguments showing that the facts fit a Biblical world view more than a naturalistic or secular world view. There are also some beautiful photos of stars and constellations.
June 2, 2022
I liked it for the most part. There wasn't a lot of information about actual astronomy. If you want that, you should probably read Dr. Lisle's other book, The Stargazer's Guide to the Night Sky. This book primarily focused on how to interpret evidence from astronomy through a biblical worldview.
February 11, 2013
Not the detail that I was looking for but good summary presentation of the subject.
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