05 September
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In Book Reviews, The Bible and Scientific Issues

by Jonathan Sarfarti (Master Books, 2004)   Review by Rowland S. Ward written 2005 This book was given to me to review by one who said it was a bit out of his field. Its subtitle is self-explanatory – “A Biblical and Scientific Refutation of ‘Progressive Creationism’ (Billions of Years), as popularised by Astronomer Hugh Ross.” I would also plead incapacity to assess many of the arguments drawn from scientific disciplines. Indeed, I question if much of the material is appropriate or necessary for the popular defence of the Biblical doctrine of creation. Obviously Dr Sarfarti of Answers in Genesis thinks otherwise. Recently, a 16Read More →

24 April
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

From The Presbyterian Banner, October 2005 Following on positive comments by President Bush, The Melbourne Age reported on 11th August: “The controversial theory of ‘intelligent design’ has won the qualified backing of Education Minister Brendan Nelson, who says it should be taught in schools alongside evolution if that is the wish of parents. Intelligent design, which is damned by critics as a front for biblical Creationism, argues that life on Earth is too complex to have evolved purely through Darwin’s theory of natural selection.” ID proponents argue that biochemistry, physics and other scientific disciplines reveal such an intricacy and complexity of design that we mustRead More →

25 March
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

Genesis 1:1-2:4: a contribution towards reconciling differences From The Presbyterian Banner, March 2004 THE CREATION DAYS I offer five propositions, add some explanatory notes and draw conclusions. 1. The primary meaning of the Hebrew term yom (day) is in reference to a normal day of about 24 hours. Unless the context requires otherwise the primary meaning should be maintained. The Hebrew term yom has the same range of meanings as the English word day. It is natural to immediately think of ordinary days as we read the creation account for the first time, for we have a seven-day week as did Israel. Still, it isRead More →

10 December
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In Book Reviews, The Bible and Scientific Issues

by William Ryan and Walter Pitman (New York: Simon & Shuster, 1998) 298pp US$25 [See note added 6 Sept 2010 at end.] The Melbourne Age on 29/10/1999 carried a story about the views put forward by Willian Ryan and Walter Pitman, geologists from Columbia University one of whom gave a public lecture at Melbourne University on his theory. Essentially the two geologists have established that the Black Sea was once a fresh-water lake with a water level 100 metres below the Bosporus. However, in 5600 BC rising sea levels as a consequence of glacial meltwater overflowed from the Mediterranean at a rate 200 times thatRead More →

10 December
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

The original paper appeared in the August and September 2000 issues of The Presbyterian Banner. Last updated here December 2007. In the last paragraph of the Church and Nation Report (Synod 2000) I wrote: As a church we have not yet come to grips with relating our theology to the working of the present world. We need a good, open discussion to help understand the Biblical view of creation and science compared to those of the medieval and modern periods. Are we mature enough as Christian leaders to do this? We have the most important message anyone can hear. Are we in danger of driftingRead More →

10 December
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

This is a shortened slightly revised version of a fuller paper written February 2001 accessible at <http://www.spindleworks.com/library/ward/framework.htm>. This version last updated March 2008. A. INTRODUCTORY 1.1 What is the literal meaning of a text? The literal meaning is commonly taken today as the surface meaning: the ordinary sense of the words is to be understood unless an obvious contradiction or absurdity results. But we Reformed have always insisted that the nature of God’s covenant administration must be considered. The prophets promise not a literal restoration of Israel but a restoration that transcends the old kingdom and brings about the conditions that deal with the inadequaciesRead More →

10 December
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

This article is from Trowel & Sword, the magazine of the Christian Reformed Churches of Australia, May 1999. The letters of your two correspondents in the last issue of T & S suggest they have not understood, assuming they have read, the Biblical arguments I have tried to develop in Foundations in Genesis. Lord’s Day 43 in the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that God’s will is that we never give false testimony against anyone or twist their words. We Christians must keep this in mind when we discuss our differences. My two brothers seem to have such a narrow view of what is authentically ReformedRead More →

10 December
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In Book Reviews, The Bible and Scientific Issues

by Peter Lemesurier (London: Piatkus Books 2000) pbk. 325pp) ISBN: 0749921633   From The Presbyterian Banner, September 2002 Peter Lemesurier appears to be one of the more sane followers of Michel de Nostredame (1503-66), if that is not a contradiction in terms. Nostradame, later known as Nostradamus, was a contemporary of his fellow Frenchman John Calvin (1509-65), but was a far different character. Nostradamus was of Jewish extraction but a practising Roman Catholic. He achieved considerable fame as a physician of the plague, although his medical qualifications are uncertain, and he did not claim great success himself. He was also famed somewhat as an ‘astrologer’,Read More →

09 December
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In Book Reviews, The Bible and Scientific Issues

 By Peter Harrison (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), xii + 313pp., A$105 This review by Rowland S. Ward appeared in the Reformed Theological Review, December 1999.   Peter Harrison is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bond University, Qld. He has authored a volume that is well-written and rsearched and which is very valuable in understanding the origins of the natural sciences. A common view since the 1930s has been that the Puritans were the key to the rise of the sciences since so many of them were involved in the founding of the Royal Society. They were also over-represented in the sciences compared to theirRead More →

24 April
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In The Bible and Scientific Issues

From The Presbyterian Banner, November 2005 The popular weekly British news and information magazine New Scientist has a special report on Fundamentalism in its 8 October 2005 issue. The first article ‘End of the Enlightenment’ argues that reason, pluralism, democracy and freedom of thought are under threat from intolerant belief systems – the fundamentalists of Christian, Muslim and other persuasions. Unable to cope with modernity’s challenge to religious orthodoxy, and fearful of secularism’s cultural dominance, they fight back by asserting the infallibility of the sacred text, the superiority of their belief system to all others, the inadequacy of reason, and the subjugation of human freedomRead More →