Here’s a book that will surely appeal to many in the Evolutionary Christianity community: Honest to Genesis: A Biblical and Scientific Challenge to Creationism, by Margaret Towne. Margaret is co-editor of the newsletter of the American Scientific Affiliation (scientists who are Christians), an organization that helped me embrace evolution nearly thirty years ago and in which a number of the speakers in the EC series, including Ian Barbour, Karl Giberson, Denis Lamoureux, Ted Davis, Owen Gingerich, and Charles Townes, are members.

Margaret is a biologist who went to seminary and then went on to earn a doctorate at Montana State University. Her dissertation was on the creationism vs. evolution issue. It was titled: “The Influence of Critical Thinking on Christians’ Belief and Belief Change with Reference to the Polarities of Creationism and Evolution.”

At Montana State University, Margaret had the Jurassic Park paleontologist, Jack Horner, on her committee.  He encouraged her to write a book on the subject, which resulted in Honest to Genesis. Here is Margaret’s website.

In her email to me, Margaret said, “My book is written for everyone…theologians and pastors who are not as trained in science, and scientists who have not been trained in biblical hermeneutics. I have tried to make these subjects understandable to everyone.”

Margaret generously sent me a copy and, while I’ve only had time to briefly peruse it, I must say that it looks quite good. Those on the moderate to conservative end of the theological spectrum will find it especially useful, but there are gems here that any thinking Christian, no matter how liberal, will find valuable.

Here’s a description from the publisher:

Honest to Genesis integrates the biblical creation accounts with modern evolutionary theory. It targets a broad audience, covering both the scientific as well as the theological dimensions of this subject which continues to erupt in the culture from courtroom to classroom to living room. Beginning upon foundations in critical thinking, it progresses to a historic overview of the dialogue between science and religion, especially as it pertains to evolutionary theory. Readers will learn how to examine the Bible in light of its unique cultural and geographic settings, its ancient languages, various authors, and the thousand-year time span of its composition. In addition, the foundations of evolutionary theory are delineated, incorporating the data from fields including geology, paleontology, biochemistry, and biology. The very good news is that conflict need not exist between these often seemingly opposing disciplines if the biblical and scientific records, both written by the same divine Author, are appropriately interpreted.