Reviews in Brief - Doctrine of Divine Creation

For the past week, I have been studying the Doctrine of Divine Creation.  Here is just a taste of some of what I read.  Other books have been given full treatment.

What the Bible Says about God the Creator (The Doctrine of God, Vol. 1) - Perhaps the most thorough treatment of this doctrine (and this doctrine alone) is Jack Cottrell's book.  This is only the first part of a series of books on the doctrine of God written by the theologian.  What Cottrell offers here are all of the issues surrounding the issue of creation such as transcendence, immanence, ex nihilo, and so many other things.  He talks about God, who He is, and how He created.  He says much about wrong views of God and right views of God.  He warns of wrong ideas like pantheism and dualism.  Cottrell is a writer that writes with simplicity.  I felt like I was being guided through the issues, not simply given the facts.  Cottrell writes like a teacher, not just a professor.  My biggest problem with them book is that little is said regarding evolution, theistic evolution, and similar issues.

The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God (Strobel, Lee) - Author and former journalists, Lee Strobel was once a skeptic and atheist.  But once he went where the evidence led, he became a Christian.  His other writings are well known and perhaps one book that is oftentimes forgotten is this book on creation.  The format is same and the excellence of dealing with the issues remain.  Strobel is a good writer and though sometimes he doesn't dig deep enough, he does ask good questions and force us to ask difficult questions that evolution cannot answer.



The Battle for the Beginning by John MacArthur - MacArthur is a well known pastor and author and in this book he takes on the issue of creation and evolution.  MacArthur is a young earth creationists and is so purely because of his convictions and interpretation of Scripture.  However that does not mean that he is empty headed.  Throughout the book, MacArthur shows the many holes in evolution and why young earth creation makes sense.  This is a book that should be taken seriously.  MacArthur makes important exegetical, theological, scientific, and even philosophical issues that should be part of the conversation.


Fatal Flaws: What Evolutionists Don't Want You to Know by Hank Hanegraaff - Though the book is small, author and radio host Hank Hanegraaff makes some important points in rejecting evolution.  Hanegraaff points out the many false "missing links" purported to be proof of our ancestry with apes.  Such lunacy continues with us today and Ida is only one of the more recent examples.  Likewise, Hanegraaff points out that evolution carries with it a lot of baggage like racism, sexism, and eugenics.  For those wanting an introduction into the many problems of this theory, this is a good place to begin.

Theology

Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe (RE: Lit) by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth  by Charles Ryrie
Systematic Theology - 3 Volume Set  by Charles Hodge
Abstract of Systematic Theology by James Boyce
God and Creation by Thomas Aquinas
Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin
Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem
Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, God/Creation by Norman Geisler


For more:
Reviews - The Death of Evolution 
Reviews - Fatal Flaws 
Reviews - Battle for the Beginning 
Reviews - The Language of God 
Reviews - Atheism Remix 
Reviews -Colson - How Now Shall We Live?
Reviews - Colson - The Faith 
Reviews - D'Souza - What's So Great About Christianity?
Reviews - Keller - The Reason For God
Reviews -  Lewis - Mere Christianity
Reviews - Mohler - Atheism Remix