Seven Glorious Days:
A Scientist Retells the Genesis Creation Story by Karl W. Giberson
This new book by Karl Giberson, professor of religion and
science at Stonehill University is another look at the creation story from
scientific lens. Giberson writes, “…I am
bringing modern science to bear on the story of creation. I have also reshaped the scientific story of
our origins as if it was the story of how God created the world, and not merely
an account of natural history” (4). He
goes onto indicate that in the book he divides up the “Days of Creation” into
cosmic and geological epochs. The end
result is a story about scientific inquiry into the beginning of the creation
and forming of it inspired by the biblical creation account. I would add at the onset that the book is
loosely inspired by the biblical account and heavily attuned to contemporary
scientific ideas.
Quite remarkable in this book is Giberson’s telling of the
mysterious new star that Tyco Brahe found in 1572. The combination of fascination with stars,
astrology, and discoveries was commonplace in Europe at the time. Yet, “A new star was a theological
puzzle. If God created the heavens “in the
beginning,” what was this new star? Perhaps
it was some kind of message. Speculation
began to mount about its astrological significance and the message it contained”
(65). The star had existed all along but
was in fact seen by Brahe because it was at this point an exploding star. Giberson helpfully goes onto explain that
stars ‘are nuclear explosions that last for billions of years’ (68). The overwhelming gravity pulling inward
causes the star to burst like a balloon and bounce around like a the multiple
waves of light at a fireworks show. Brahe’s discovery was the beginning of a
growing knowledge of stars, their origin, and how they react to their own
gravitational pull.
I appreciate Giberson’s willingness to examine how
simple-life forms function without jumping to rash conclusions. He writes, “The myster of the origin of life
is the mystery of how to cross the barrier from nonlife to life. We can readily explain how the early earth
came to be rich in the necessary building blocks of life….But we cannot see
exactly how these blocks managed to arrange themselves into the living,
metabolizing, reproducing cell” (100).
This kind of honesty is where the divine intention is seen in the work
of his creation, and yet, we are not even told in Genesis 1-2 how exactly
things were formed, other than by the spoken word of God. I think Giberson’s honesty is welcomed
because he seeks to gather the necessary geological and scientific reasons for
the origin of the universe without stepping into mere conjecture when knowledge
is not available.
This book is more a scientific understanding of life’s
origins, including the Earth, than anything related to the Genesis creation
story. Finding purpose, a higher
purpose, in the developing creation is part of Giberson’s purpose, yet I don’t
find much of this in his writing. If you
are interested in scientific explanations for the life’s origins and
discoveries that have been made along the way, this book is for you.
Thanks to Paraclete Press for the review copy of this book
in exchange for an honest review.
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