Fossils and the Flood
Exploring lost worlds with science and scripture
Paul Garner
New Creation, 2021 (ISBN: 97809990409, 148pp, £29.99)
There are several issues on which many Christians are sorely tempted to bear a scathing disposition toward their brethren. Creationism is one such. Whether the days of Genesis 1 are literal 24 hour periods or poetic descriptions of eras of time should not be a church-dividing issue. Old Earthers should refrain from scorning Young Earthers as unscientific and the latter should refrain from disdaining the former as unfaithful. Certainly as regards the unscientific charge, this book offers a cause for some softening of criticism.
The sincere views of several highly-qualified creationist scientists are distilled for popular digestion. The contributors set out their reconciliation of the Biblical accounts of creation and flood with the latest empirical data, under the caution that the former authority always take precedence over the latter. This is a beautifully illustrated volume, featuring lavish illustrations of all sorts of flora and fauna. Though geology is given good treatment, it is the biology which takes centre stage.
As impressive as this work is, the authors’ convictions have forced them into some highly convoluted directions. Illustrations of the Ark, for example, feature no recognisable animals. Meanwhile, some concepts confidently expressed (such as the floating forest) are actually unsettled points of live debate within Creationist circles.
Edward Keene, Little Shelford
