What do you think?
Rate this book
Evolving Certainties: Resolving Conflict at the Intersection of Faith and Science
Should secular science influence the church's theology? Is the Bible a book of science as well as a book of revealed spiritual truths? Few topics are more controversial among evangelicals than the theory of evolution. This book reviews scientific accomplishments since the scientific revolution in the 16th century. Nicolaus Copernicus set off alarm bells with his radical proposal that the earth orbits the sun. Evolutionary science has done the same since the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859. The author outlines several responses to evolutionary theory, from atheistic evolution across the spectrum to intelligent design creationism. The author explains the history of young earth creationism (YEC), linking it to Martin Luther's method of interpreting scripture before moving on to a discussion of links to 19th century Seventh-day Adventism. Many evangelicals question what science has to say about biological evolution, as well as the age of the earth. They pride themselves on a stalwart defense of biblical authority and inerrancy, arguing that compromising their interpretation of the Bible's creation accounts threatens the integrity of the Bible as a whole. Scientific literacy is lacking in modern-day Western culture, including the church, making it difficult for individuals to recognize disinformation. It is time for evangelicals to re-engage with evolutionary science which has the very real potential of enhancing faith as it pulls back the curtain on the abundant evidence that God used evolutionary processes to accomplish his ongoing creative activity.
375 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 3, 2020
1 person is currently reading
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 24, 2020
Pastor Terry Defoe’s goal for this book is to inform, not to persuade, and inform he does. In his introduction he points out that scientific discoveries have resulted in significant challenges for the Christian church, specifically, (1) How old is the cosmos and the earth? (2) Do species evolve? and (3) How was creation accomplished?
The author focuses his attention on the dialogue between science and Christianity, both historically and currently. He begins by discussing the scientific revolution, the cosmological revolution, the geological revolution, and the biological revolution.
He then devotes a chapter each to possible belief systems in response to the scientific advances: [1] Atheistic evolution, [2] Old Earth Creationism (including the gap theory, the day-age theory, and progressive creationism), [3] Evolutionary Creationism (aka theistic evolution), [4] Young Earth Creationism, and [5] Intelligent Design Creationism. Evolutionary creationism is clearly the author’s preference.
For him, it comes down to “the critical importance of hermeneutics – an accurate interpretation of the Holy Scriptures” (p. xviii). He includes very brief discussions of the theological issues impacted by adoption of an evolutionary perspective, including original sin, death before the fall, theodicy, the image of God, and the historicity of Adam and Eve. Pastor Defoe refreshingly admits several times that these issues have not yet been settled.
In his concluding chapter, Terry Defoe suggests that “The truth of evolution cannot and should not be decided by those who are not scientifically literate. It is important that Christian leaders possess a basic scientific literacy if they are to evaluate science and scientists. We have seen that it is not helpful to the church or to its integrity when church leaders make statements about science that are clearly ill-informed.” (p. 195) He is not advocating a scientific takeover of theology but is asking that science be given a fair hearing. He further suggests that “Scientific discoveries remind Christians that the science in the scriptures is simply the common-sense understanding of an ancient people living in a prescientific world. Rather than inappropriately reading modern notions back into the scriptures, evangelical Christians are learning to let the scriptures speak for themselves, uncovering the message intended by the original authors." (p. 147)
His conclusion is followed by a 23-page Appendix in which he presents and discusses the results of a number of polls on the topic of evolution, including Gallup, Religion Among Academic Scientists, the Pew Research Center, the National Study of Religion and Human Origins, and a Barna pastors’ survey.
The book is written for the popular audience and in a somewhat unusual style. It reads very smoothly, but almost every other sentence is footnoted, resulting in 1,704 endnotes, most of which are from the popular literature and many are references to readily accessible websites.
Except for numerous typos, this book is a well-written, comprehensive survey of virtually all of the current popular literature on the creation-evolution dialogue.
This would be an excellent book to recommend or give to a young earth creationist who is amenable to examining the compatibility of the Bible and modern science since the author shows “why it is possible to leave young earth creationism for biblical reasons.” (p. 11)
UPDATE: The author has recently (April 2020) updated the manuscript to include a reduction in the number of citations, as well as a fully revised table of contents, a major revision to the appendix, and indices that were completely redone.
The author focuses his attention on the dialogue between science and Christianity, both historically and currently. He begins by discussing the scientific revolution, the cosmological revolution, the geological revolution, and the biological revolution.
He then devotes a chapter each to possible belief systems in response to the scientific advances: [1] Atheistic evolution, [2] Old Earth Creationism (including the gap theory, the day-age theory, and progressive creationism), [3] Evolutionary Creationism (aka theistic evolution), [4] Young Earth Creationism, and [5] Intelligent Design Creationism. Evolutionary creationism is clearly the author’s preference.
For him, it comes down to “the critical importance of hermeneutics – an accurate interpretation of the Holy Scriptures” (p. xviii). He includes very brief discussions of the theological issues impacted by adoption of an evolutionary perspective, including original sin, death before the fall, theodicy, the image of God, and the historicity of Adam and Eve. Pastor Defoe refreshingly admits several times that these issues have not yet been settled.
In his concluding chapter, Terry Defoe suggests that “The truth of evolution cannot and should not be decided by those who are not scientifically literate. It is important that Christian leaders possess a basic scientific literacy if they are to evaluate science and scientists. We have seen that it is not helpful to the church or to its integrity when church leaders make statements about science that are clearly ill-informed.” (p. 195) He is not advocating a scientific takeover of theology but is asking that science be given a fair hearing. He further suggests that “Scientific discoveries remind Christians that the science in the scriptures is simply the common-sense understanding of an ancient people living in a prescientific world. Rather than inappropriately reading modern notions back into the scriptures, evangelical Christians are learning to let the scriptures speak for themselves, uncovering the message intended by the original authors." (p. 147)
His conclusion is followed by a 23-page Appendix in which he presents and discusses the results of a number of polls on the topic of evolution, including Gallup, Religion Among Academic Scientists, the Pew Research Center, the National Study of Religion and Human Origins, and a Barna pastors’ survey.
The book is written for the popular audience and in a somewhat unusual style. It reads very smoothly, but almost every other sentence is footnoted, resulting in 1,704 endnotes, most of which are from the popular literature and many are references to readily accessible websites.
Except for numerous typos, this book is a well-written, comprehensive survey of virtually all of the current popular literature on the creation-evolution dialogue.
This would be an excellent book to recommend or give to a young earth creationist who is amenable to examining the compatibility of the Bible and modern science since the author shows “why it is possible to leave young earth creationism for biblical reasons.” (p. 11)
UPDATE: The author has recently (April 2020) updated the manuscript to include a reduction in the number of citations, as well as a fully revised table of contents, a major revision to the appendix, and indices that were completely redone.
June 9, 2024
I recently finished reading Evolving Certainties by Terry Defoe and highly recommend it. One thing that really stood out to me about this book was the pastoral heart of the author. Rev. Terry Defoe is a retired pastor who served congregations in Western Canada for almost 40 years. He writes out of pastoral concern for Christians who have questions or wrestle with topics of science and how they fit into their Christian faith and belief. “Coming to terms with science generally, and evolution in particular, has consumed a significant portion of my adult life. I compare this intellectual journey to traveling to a foreign country. This journey has the potential to fundamentally alter one’s worldview. My goal is to inform, not persuade. I am well aware that accepting the risk of being wrong is the price of publishing one’s ideas. I am of the opinion that much more can be accomplished through respectful dialogue than could ever be accomplished through negative attacks, polemics, and criticism.” p33.
The book is written for laypeople, is divided into 3 sections, and has 13 chapters. It contains numerous end notes and the author has clearly researched this topic thoroughly. There are four chapters that examine four significant paradigm shifts in our understanding of physical reality: the scientific revolution, the cosmological revolution, the geological revolution, and the biological revolution. Then the book looks at various ways Christians have responded to these paradigm shifts.
“When naïve evangelical students are exposed to genuine scientific evidence for evolution, often for the very first time, they come to the realization that they have not heard the full story from their church leaders or denomination.” “Francis Collins, founder of BioLogos says, ‘The God of all truth is not well served by lies, no matter how noble the intentions of those who spread them.’” I highly recommend this book for pastors and Christians who have questions about science and where modern scientific discoveries fit in their faith and theology. The conversational approach in this book is gentle but firm and not a threat to the Christian faith or those wishing to understand views beyond their own.
The book is written for laypeople, is divided into 3 sections, and has 13 chapters. It contains numerous end notes and the author has clearly researched this topic thoroughly. There are four chapters that examine four significant paradigm shifts in our understanding of physical reality: the scientific revolution, the cosmological revolution, the geological revolution, and the biological revolution. Then the book looks at various ways Christians have responded to these paradigm shifts.
“When naïve evangelical students are exposed to genuine scientific evidence for evolution, often for the very first time, they come to the realization that they have not heard the full story from their church leaders or denomination.” “Francis Collins, founder of BioLogos says, ‘The God of all truth is not well served by lies, no matter how noble the intentions of those who spread them.’” I highly recommend this book for pastors and Christians who have questions about science and where modern scientific discoveries fit in their faith and theology. The conversational approach in this book is gentle but firm and not a threat to the Christian faith or those wishing to understand views beyond their own.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews