Book Review: Andrew Parker - The Genesis Enigma

Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Dutton
Publication Date: October 8, 2009

"For the first time ever, a respected evolutionary biologist shows how the biblical story of Genesis reflects scientific truths that were only recently discovered – and finds room for divine inspiration at the center of this enigma."

~From the inside flap

Andrew Parker is a well-known and respected scientist. His knowledge of evolution and the Big Bang is extremely impressive, and in his new book, The Genesis Enigma, Parker attempts to show how a metaphorical reading of Genesis 1 actually has numerous parallels to the scientific understanding of world. Eventually, Parker posits some views on how science and religion can coexist, finding room for God to fit within the boundaries laid out by scientific thought.

In theory (no pun intended), this was an interesting idea for a book. The “Battle over the Beginning” has been fought for years, and I was mildly interested to read a book that claimed to find a middle ground. What I found this book to be instead was a science textbook that explains the origins of the universe from the Big Bang on, then uses some extremely questionable exegesis to say that the Bible agrees with the science. I say questionable because, for example, connecting the mention of “lights” in Genesis 1:14 to the development of sight was very unconvincing. What you basically have is a scientific history book (both of the earth and the scientists who developed the theories behind evolution) with a few theological claims tacked onto the end.

Two things were exceedingly evident to me as I read this book: 1) Parker has an immense knowledge of science and can explain complex theories quite well. 2) He is not a theologian and does not understand the theological implications of most of his claims as he attempts to reconcile religion and science. He clearly doesn’t believe the Bible is God’s Word, and he just doesn’t seem to understand why Christians would have a hard time with even the claim that God just created the energy for the Big Bang and then stepped back to watch. Even a cursory reading of the whole of scripture, however, reveals that God is intimately engaged in this world that he created. Additionally, I kept coming back to this as I read Parker’s claims: If God didn’t personally create us, forget Him. He would have no claim on us, no right to enforce a moral law on us, and the need for Jesus to redeem us from our rebellion against that law and God would disappear. Christianity falls if God is not our Creator (See Romans 5).

Throughout the entire book, there were numerous moments where Parker was forced to admit that science has no answer to something (i.e. Where did the energy for the Big Band come from? Why do animals reproduce at all? Why does religion exist at all if it serves no evolutionary function?). In the final chapter of the book, Parker addresses many of these questions to get to his claim that there is “room for God” within a scientific understanding. The problem with this is that the God Parker arrives at in his understanding (sort of, he seems mostly agnostic) doesn’t resemble the God presented in the Bible at all. As I said, Parker doesn’t seem to have a problem with this, but Christians will.

That’s why I’m not exactly sure of his audience for this book. Christians will clearly see that he’s pulling the foundation away from all of Christianity, and non-religious people will likely not care whatsoever that Genesis can be metaphorically interpreted to somewhat match up to science. Parker doesn’t aim at reconciling science with God (consistent with Christianity), he just wants to reconcile it with the possibility of a god.

I enjoyed reading parts of this book simply to get a good summary of what science says about the earth’s origins, but that’s really all. In terms of thinking through how to reconcile that science with Christianity, there’s nothing very new or helpful here.

- Not Recommended.



*This book was provided for review by Dutton Books.