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Thursday, October 11, 2018

What is man?

I recently read What is Man? (Elm Hill, 2018) by Edgar Andrews. It's a witty, erudite, wide-ranging monograph that defends biblical anthropology in light of modern scientific challenges. The book has a scientific emphasis, but that's integrated into a broader philosophical and theological context. 

PART 1. MAN AND THE COSMOS
Ch.1. Who Do You Think You Are? 13
(What is Man? A summary)

Ch.2. The Cheshire Cat Cosmos 33
(Can a universe create itself from nothing?)

Ch.3. Small Flat Bugs 51
(Where is Man?)

Ch.4. The Cosmic Cookbook 75
(A fine-tuned universe)

Ch.5. Deutsch’s Dauntless Dinosaurs 103
(Exploring the mega-multiverse)

PART 2. MAN AND THE BIOSPHERE
Ch.6. Death And Taxes 125
(Human uniqueness)

Ch.7. The Devil In The Details 145
(Digging deeper into genes and genomes)

Ch.8. Dem Dry Bones 169
(What fossils really tell us about the rise of Man)

Ch. 9. Aristotle And The Snowball 193
(On human consciousness)

PART 3. MAN AND THE BIBLE
Ch.10. Worldviews At War 217
(On the nature of reality)

Ch.11. Adam And The Apple 239
(The historicity and fall of Adam and Eve)

Ch.12. The Image Of God 263
(Why Man is unique)

Ch.13. The Second Adam 287
(Jesus Christ, the perfect man)

Ch.14. The Resurrection: Fact Or Fiction? 307
(The claim, the evidence, and the implications)
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13 comments:

  1. Jesse Albrecht10/11/2018 1:42 PM

    This book definitely looks like it is worth reading. Also, Frank Turek and Norman Geisler's "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" is pretty well written.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Epistle of Dude10/11/2018 3:01 PM

    His previous book Who Made God? was solid too.

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  3. Lydia McGrew10/11/2018 3:06 PM

    I know he *really* wants Amazon reviews, so consider putting one up for him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Danny10/11/2018 3:13 PM

      Preferably something beyond 'Great book' or 'Received as expected' or 'Delivered quicker than expected'! I'm sick to the back teeth of the amount of Amazon non-reviews that clog up the 'reviews' section. It makes me want to chop my head off.

      Delete
    2. Danny10/11/2018 3:45 PM

      To clarify, I know Steve would write a meaningful review, because a) he has substance, and b) I have seen some of his reviews; my little rant was a more generalised one, having spent the last hour or so on Amazon reading largely non-reviews regarding several books on my list. And these are not books on sewing! I came from there to here, and just *had* to vent my spleen.

      And half an hour later I still want to chop my own head off.

      Delete
    3. Epistle of Dude10/11/2018 3:45 PM

      Danny

      "It makes me want to chop my head off."

      Whoa, let's not carried away, bro! At least, leave the head chopping to Muslim jihadis. :)

      Delete
    4. Jesse Albrecht10/11/2018 4:06 PM

      Oh, my!

      Delete
    5. Danny10/11/2018 5:34 PM

      EoD,

      Fear not. Even with my head chopped off I'd still not shut up :)

      Delete
  4. JBSulman10/11/2018 4:03 PM

    I bought this book and just started reading it. I also purchased WMG. Thanks for the review

    ReplyDelete
  5. Trent10/11/2018 5:07 PM

    Old earth? young earth? TE?

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    Replies
    1. steve10/11/2018 7:24 PM

      I'm guessing he's old earth.

      Delete
    2. Epistle of Dude10/11/2018 7:37 PM

      Trent

      "Old earth? young earth? TE?"

      Here's Edgar Andrews:

      I deliberately avoid dealing with these matters in “Who made God?” because this is not a book about creationism but about two conflicting paradigms — atheistic and biblical world-views respectively. Just as there are many conflicting ideas within atheistic materialism, but all materialists agree that evolution is a fact, so also there are conflicting versions of creationism but all agree that creation was miraculous (that is, it cannot be explained as the result of a natural evolutionary process). This, therefore, is a different debate, one on which the book barely touches.

      I really don’t like terms such as “young earth”, “old earth” and “Intelligent Design” (with ID in capitals!) because when you look more closely they are actually very ill-defined. I therefore don’t apply any of these labels to myself. My own non-negotiable position is that (1) the early chapters of Genesis are historical not mythological; they describe things that actually happened; and (2) the universe and all that it contains was created ex nihilo by God, who continues to sustain it. Beyond that I have my own theories (for example, that ‘Big Bang’ cosmology is consistent with a historical view of Genesis One) but respect the views of those who differ from me.

      http://www.challies.com/interviews/who-made-god-an-interview-with-edgar-andrews

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    3. Epistle of Dude10/11/2018 7:39 PM

      Andrews has also done several debates and interviews where he fleshes out some of this. They're available on YouTube if you search "Edgar Andrews".

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