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Table of Contents

In the Beginning God
Modern Science and the Christian Doctrine of Creation

by John Weaver

Preface

1. 'I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom'
The Methods of Science and Theology

1. Chalk and cheese?

2. The wonderful world of science

3. Theology: getting the whole picture

4. 'Let's talk together'

5. Cheap tricks? and other dangers

6. A voyage of discovery

2. 'Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens'
The Witness of Physics and Cosmology

1. Discovering order in the universe

2. Discovering the wholeness of space and time

3. Discovering a universe with a beginning and an end

4. The mystery of the beginning

5. Ultimate explanations?

6. The alternatives of God or law

7. The mystery of 'fine tuning'

8. The uncertainties and chaos of the universe

9. What kind of creator?

3. 'What are human beings that you are mindful of them?'
The Witness of Biology

1. Explaining the signs of development and change

2. Development through evolution

3. Development through natural selection

4. Genetic change

5. The search for a guiding principle of change

6. Mere chance is not enough

7. The phenomenon of increasing order

8. Suggestions of purpose

4. 'Through Him all things were made'
The Witness of Geology

1. The evolution of the earth

2. Drifting continents

3. Changing environments through time

4. The dimension of geological time

5. The origins of life

6. Evidence of evolution in the fossil record

7. Where does God fit in?

8. The peculiar case of human beings

9. The creative purpose of God

5. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth'
The Witness of Genesis

1. What kind of account is Genesis 1?

2. A creator who relates himself to human beings

3. The ordering of creation

4. Scientific discovery and the Genesis narrative

5. Consistency with science, but not science

6. The nature of the creator

7. The goal of God's purposes

6. 'God's invisible nature...has been clearly seen through the things He has made'
Natural Theology

1. The revival of natural theology

2. Natural theology in dialogue with philosophy: a history

3. Natural theology in dialogue with science; a history

4. The ambiguous witness of science

5. New forms of the design argument

6. 'It ain't necessarily so!' --scientific problems with design

7. A new form of the cosmological argument

8. The limitations of natural theology

7. 'In Him we live and move and exist'
The Mutual Witness of Science and Faith

1. Holding science and faith together

2. The God of the universe we know

3. A biblical kind of natural theology

4. A biblical view of the immanence of God

5. The scope of creativity

6. Progress and disorder in nature

7. General and special revelation

8. 'Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth'
Apologetics and Preaching

1. Finding purpose in the universe

2. A paradigm shift in world-view

3. Towards serious theology--the world-view in the Bible

4. What sort of God?--towards taking science seriously

5. Towards serious preaching--apologetics for today

6. Preaching from Genesis 1

7. An invitation to get involved

Epilogue

Index

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