Book Review: Creation According To The Scriptures

Author: Andrew Sandlin (ed); Publisher: The Chalcedon Foundation; Length: 160 pages; Available From: Chalcedon Store/Abe Books/Albris

Intellectual and academic respectability is one of the cherised lusts of modern Calvinism. As a result of wanting to be thought of as serious scholars by worldly, humanistic academics, many respectable-hungry Calvinists have compromised on the doctrine of creation. So, instead of interpreting Genesis 1:1-2:3 as literal history, some modern (and not so modern) Reformed scholars have embraced theistic evolution, the Gap Theory, or the somewhat less offensive (but still erroneous) Day-age and Framework Hypothesis theories.

However, this collection of brief essays seeks to defend the Biblical account of six-day creation from a presuppositional standpoint. While it is true that denying 24-hour six-day creation is not as serious as denying justification by faith alone; the contributors to this symposium do not regard the doctrine of creation as one over which their can be reasonable, brotherly disagreement. On the contrary, how one interprets Genesis 1 has profound effects on how one views the rest of Scripture (if we can’t believe what God says here can we believe anything that He says anywhere else?). Indeed, Andrew Sandlin points out that ‘to deny the historicity of the Genesis account of creation is to establish the groundwork for an equally plausible denial of Jesus Christ’s historical redemptive ministry’ (p. 11).

Particulary good chapters include, Ken Gentry’s ‘Reformed Theology and Six Day Creation’ (which easily proves that the Westminster Confession teaches literal 24-hour six day creation); Frank Walker’s critique of Meredith Kline’s mythological ‘Framework Hypothesis’; and Dave Bush’s demolition of the Scofield Reference Bible’s ‘Gap Theory’ (funny how CI Scofield’s literal hermenutic only begins at Genesis 2) and exposes the exegetical folly of trying to say that the word ‘day’ in Genesis 1 means anything other than an ordinary day. Also included are chapters by Cornelius Van Til, Rousas John and Mark Rushdoony, among others.

One chapter, in particular, which might especially upset Humanists is Thomas Schultz’s ‘Charles Darwin: The First Social Darwinist’ where he demonstrates how Darwin’s racism laid the foundations for the Nazis’ racial theories. In short, this volume is a must read for all who wish to defend the Scriptural account of creation.

Rating: 9/10

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