In the last year and a bit I’ve done a lot of work in trying to understand and then critique the approach of Dr. Denis Alexander of the Faraday Institute in Cambridge (UK).
I know that many readers of UD are familiar with Alexander’s big-selling work, “Creation or Evolution – Do We Have To Choose?”. This book is probably (alongside Francis Collins) the work with the most traction by Darwinists seeking to argue from a Biblical Christian viewpoint.
I’ve previously drawn attention to IVP’s “Should Christians Embrace Evolution”. In this post I want instead to draw attention to my own response, “Creation or Evolution – Why We Must Choose”. If you don’t want to read the blurb and just want to see the book, skip to the end of this post.
Whereas the IVP work is more wide-ranging and tends to use Alexander’s ideas as a useful foil at various points, mine (as the title suggests) is a direct reply. The chapters of my work correspond one-to-to with his. It’s not a paragraph-by-paragraph response, because I had to decide which points were the major ones, and my own fields of expertise are not the same as Dr. Alexander’s. It does comprehensively cover and critique all the turning points of his thought – including his dismissal of ID. Here’s the cover blurb:
Denis Alexander’s “Creation or Evolution – do we have to choose?” is a well-written argument that evangelical Christians should make peace with Darwinism and drop the church’s historic teaching that all things were made miraculously in just six days. Its author seeks to argue that science has spoken convincingly, and claims to show us ways to read the Bible to bring about a harmony between the two. David Anderson begs to differ on both counts.
He argues that Alexander has mangled Scripture, managing to harmonise it with Darwinism only by using methods which are distinctly and disastrously contrary to evangelical orthodoxy. Moreover, he finds Alexander’s methods in handling of key scientific issues to be logically flawed. In this book he shows us how weak the new Darwinist evangelicals’ arguments are, and why Bible believing Christians can continue to place strong confidence in the Scriptures and the church’s historic understanding of them.”
You can read the whole book online for free, or download a Word or PDF document here. The copyright statement is very generous if you have ways to re-use it.
If you want to buy a nicely printed copy for yourself or a bookstall, there are options here and here. But for UD readers (in the UK or US) here’s a special offer, valid for 10 days. You can get as many copies as you like for £5 (UK) or $9 (US). Just drop me an e-mail with your delivery address at choose-offer@dw-perspective.org.uk. I’ll then reply to confirm and tell you how to pay (you’ll need a debit/credit card or Paypal account).