The Challenge of Creation: Judaism's Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and Evolution

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 360 pages
• Published by: Zoo Torah July 18, 2006
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1933143150
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1933143156
• Book Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Weighs: 1.8 pounds

Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Foreword to The Challenge of Creation
Seekers will find in this work a model of honest confrontation with serious challenges.

Professor Yehuda Gellman, Department of Philosophy, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Clear, cogent, and philosophically convincing, Rabbi Slifkin's The Challenge of Creation is an intellectual kiddush Hashem.

Reader Reviews
Rav Slifkin has proven himself a very courageous fighter for the truth and this book is the latest in a series he has written in order to bring light to those who are troubled by the supposed differences between "religion" and science. He says clearly at the beginning of the book that those who don't have any problem in this area would probably be better off not reading it, but in today's world, where new ideas are constantly challenging accepted beliefs, I can't believe there really are many people who are not at least aware of the controversies involved. Unlike what some people think, traditional Jews have been forced repeatedly throughout history to confront ideas that challenge what is believed to be "authentic" Judaism and great scholars like Saadya Gaon, RAMBAM and others have risen to this challenge. This is because Judaism, which teaches its followers to use their brains, makes it inevitable that many observant Jews will begin to ask questions, and not limit their intellectual inquiry to the traditional Jewish sources. Although my educational background is in Geophysics and not in the realm of biology and the animal kingdom, the book made the subject Judaism's attitude towards biological evolution understandable. R. Slifkin points out that many religious Jews, particuarly those with scientific educations, attempt to reconcile problems like the age of the universe with Jewish tradition by saying that the world was created 5768 years ago LOOKING like it was billions of years old. I find this difficult to swallow. One need not look at the biological or paleontological record to see this, even an untrained observer can look at the surface of the Moon and see a very clear evolutionary pattern of development with alternating periods of cratering and large-scale lava flows being prominent. Why should such long-time-scale evolution appear to take place if it really didn't? Our reason tells us that this evolutionary development took place. This can not be simply be a trick being played on the observer. R. Slifkin points out that prior to Darwin's theory of evolution coming out, there was a similar crisis in the "Torah and Science" realm when Copernicus' theory placing the Sun at the center of the Solar System became well-known. Most traditionalist Jewish thinkers rejected it at the time, however, it eventually became accepted. Slifkin asks why traditionalists were able to eventually accomodate themselves to this theory, but biological evolution seems to be a much harder idea to swallow. It seems that having Man supposedly evolve out of some "lower species" is somehow more abhorrent than having him created spontanously out of a lump of minerals, although I don't see why this should be. Regarding the controversy over "Intelligent Design" which Slifkin rejects, I must say I don't have a good enough grounding in the subject to really take a position, however, I instinctively believe Slifkin is right in saying that if you limit G-d's "intervention" in the world to the places where there are currently gaps in our knowledge, we may find that he will be progressively "squeezed out" as science progresses. I am aware that many people say "today's popular scientific theory will be thrown in the junk-heap tomorrow", but it is ridiculous to say that science doesn't advance. We know more today than we did hundreds or thousands of years ago. We can fly in the air and even reach the Moon and planets. Advances have been made in medicine and technology. This is a fact. Rav Slifkin is to be commended on writing a clear book elucidating these difficult points and for his courage in standing up to personal attacks on himself. Comment | | (Report this)