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by Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa Rowman & Littlefield, 2002 272 pp.; $24.95, paper |
While writing this review, I am proctoring the final exam for my course on the history of science and religion. And as I look out over my students, their brows furrowed in thought, the value of Species of Origins by Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa becomes apparent.
I teach at the University of Georgia, the flagship school in the state's higher-education system. My class is mostly composed of honors students reared in the American South. Many of them are deeply religious—about half claim to attend Protestant church or fellowship meetings regularly. I can count on a few of these to jump to the defense of Genesis during class discussion. The University of Georgia is a state school, however, and many of my students are nonreligious or even anti-religious. Some of them roll their eyes in response to the biblical apologetics of their evangelical Protestant classmates.
In short, my class reflects the mix of beliefs that characterize the New South, which remains the most religious region of the country but is no longer monolithically so. All manner of belief and disbelief cohabits here. After all, my students say, this is Georgia, not Alabama! Little do they know that Alabama students would say something similar, perhaps about Arkansas. Species of Origins speaks to such an audience, whether at a state university in the Deep South or an evangelical Protestant college in the Northeast (where the authors teach).
In recommending this book for my students, I do not recommend it for everyone. Indeed, the authors had a particular audience in mind when they wrote this book: their own students. They kept their eyes fixed on this audience throughout, and succeeded in authoring a serviceable introductory text on a profoundly complex subject. People of various ages and backgrounds could benefit from being their students. This book serves as the next best thing for those of us not enrolled in their courses.
It is Giberson and Yerxa's thesis that multiple theories of origins compete for the American mind at the dawn of the new millennium. Some of us believe in young-earth creationism; others in some sort of theistic evolution or progressive creationism (slippery terms with different meanings to different people); and still others in naturalistic evolutionism.
Leading a discussion-based course in science and religion has taught me at least one lesson. Regardless of their stance on the issue, Americans (including honors students at a leading Southern state university) typically possess little detailed knowledge about their own conception of origins—and know virtually nothing (except perhaps murky negative stereotypes) about any competing theories. In the words of Sam Cooke's song from the Sixties, they "don't know much about history; don't know much biology; don't know much about a science book." This goes for self-professed Darwinists as well as creationists. Most could not pass a snap quiz on the fundamentals of their science. (Theistic evolutionists and progressive creationists probably would do the worst.) With this book, the authors seek to redress this situation without proselytizing for any particular viewpoint (though their inclinations are clear).
Giberson and Yerxa open with the creation story of modern science. In the beginning the Big Bang spawned wholly naturalistic processes that ultimately
generated humans, and Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson said it was good—or something along those lines. "Most of the story is quite well understood and is supported by a wealth of scientific data. Even the more speculative parts are not without empirical support," they stress. "And yet, when pollsters ask Americans if they believe the scientific creation story, they answer, in overwhelming numbers, with a resounding 'NO!' How can this be?"
