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	• Who Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man Fazale Rana, Hugh Ross NavPress Publishing Group, 2005 - 299 pages average customer review:based on 38 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Where do we come from?

The fundamental question asked in this book is, what does it mean to be human? Are we the product of blind, undirected evolutionary processes that did not have us in mind, or are we carefully fashioned in the image of God, distinct from the rest of creation and thus endowed with dignity and purpose? For a century and a half, the only scientific theory on the table was Darwin's theory of evolution which, of course, taught the former. The combination of mutation, natural selection, and vast amounts of available time were claimed to be the only creative forces necessary to produce man from the lower animals. Just as the Biblical account of creation had been prior to it, evolution became the new orthodoxy and was held with a resolute zeal that was determined not to let a divine foot in the door. It was claimed that science was being objective while creationists were anything but. The truth, however, was that science, at least in the realm of origins, held a commitment to philosophical materialism (nature is a closed system of physical causes) that was no less religious than a Bible believer's commitment to the Genesis account. So Darwinism reigned supreme, and paleontologists went about their digs and examined their evidence with their evolutionary framework firmly in place. The unbroken, gradual progression of hominid evolution was presupposed, and the evolution of man from non-human hominid ancestors was confidently proclaimed a fact.

The authors suggest that a reexamination of the Biblical account might be in order. Creation is testable, they claim. It is not just a religious, unfalsifiable story of our origins. The book of Genesis makes specific claims that can be evaluated in light of scientific discoveries. They propose to examine the scientific evidence in origins research and see which model, Darwinism or a Biblical creation model, makes better sense of the evidence. The creation model consists of thirteen testable predictions, three of which are as follows:
1. Humanity's origin dates back to between 10,000 and 100,000 years ago.
2. God created humanity at the "just-right" time in earth's history.
3. Humans are behaviourly distinct (in a way that reflects God's image) from the earlier hominids, the great apes, and other animals.

The current state of paleoanthropology is examined in some detail, based especially on recent studies and discoveries. It becomes clear, at least to this reader, that the actual evidence for progressive hominid evolution does not match the picture that we have all become familiar with: that of a tree, starting with a single trunk and splitting into divergent paths as you go up., so that it is apparent where we could pinpoint our common ancestor with, say, chimpanzees. What we see instead is that "an explosive diversity of hominids occurred at the time of their first appearance in the fossil record" (p.152) which persisted throughout their history. This looks more like a lawn than a tree. As paleontologists gather more data, however, the picture does not clarify but gets more confusing as arguments abound as to whether this or that hominid species should be reassigned to this or that genus. Relationships between the various hominids cannot be determined with any degree of certainty.

Not only that, but it appears that the characteristics of modern man, the chief two of which include bipedalism and brain size, cannot be demonstrated to have emerged gradually. Modern man, along with advanced human culture, appeared out of nowhere 50,000 years ago, "a veritable explosion of human culture - anthropology's 'big bang'" (p. 249). The authors argue that this is the special creation of man by God and we are seeing evidence of the image of God in man. There is a qualitative difference between modern man and earlier hominids, not a relationship of gradual emergence. The authors conclude that the evidence consistently favours a model of origins which takes seriously implications drawn from the book of Genesis, over against the Darwinian model.

The most difficult part of the book is the one dealing with studies in molecular biology, but for those without a science background, the authors summarize their arguments at the end of each section, in a short "bottom line" paragraph that would allow the reader to skip the technical details if necessary. They go into some detail to examine recent genetic studies because one of the most widely recognized evolutionary arguments involves the claim of a 98 percent genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees. But it turns out that this similarity might have to be reduced to closer to 85 percent, which clearly increases the distance between humans and chimpanzees. The picture is more complicated than strict sequence similarity, however. We find that slight changes in genetic sequence can lead to vast differences in development.

It is astonishing that if one can extricate oneself from evolutionary presuppositions, all the lines of evidence presented by the authors leads to a conclusion that vindicates the creation model. Indeed "at no other time in human history has the biblical account of humanity's origin held greater credibility than it does today" (p. 250). Christians need not fear science. When we can follow the evidence where it leads, and not be shackled by a naturalistic worldview that presupposes that the physical world is all there is, we can be confident of the Biblical account that man is made in the image of God, distinct from the rest of creation.

In closing, this book makes a valuable contribution to helping us see that there is no conflict between taking both science and the Bible seriously when it comes to a discussion of human origins. The Genesis account is not myth: it makes predictions that can be tested by science. I don't think this work falls into the camp of Intelligent Design, as the authors make explicit use of the Bible in their arguments, while the I.D. movement does not do so in order to draw a design inference. But it is a work that is important for thinking Christians. Whether it counts as "science", however, is debatable, depending on whether you hold to a closed philosophy of science (methodological naturalism) or an open one (an intelligent agent can be part of a theoretical construct). I happen to hold the latter view, but this question is not addressed by the authors and is thus beyond the scope of the book.

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Strong Arguments

In starting, let me tell that I am a born-again-Christian who has never doubted the story of creation. With that said I have been less than at-peace with the discussions of creation vs. evolution and the history of time.
It seems that this book takes the route of forensic microbiology to look for answers. I had never seen this before. Of course it has only been very recently that the DNA mapping has allowed such investigation.
I found it both strange and exciting that the scientists seem to have traced all humanity to one small group of "starters" in one locale. The argument that the DNA history for the male is simpler than that of the woman because of the flood is intriguing. It would seem that, according to this work, all men have dexcended from Noah while te women have a wider parentage.
The inability to find a wide spread evolutionary sprouting in many places is also very catching.
I would like to see a rebuttal from an evolutionist.

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Great scientific authority

My compliments to Drs. Ross and RAna! They have done a fine job of educating laymen in the intricacies of scientific creationism. They treat their detractors with respect and grace. I wish the reverse were true.

Similar themes are explored (in laymen's language) in a very entertaining suspense novel: The Y Factor

Well-organized and thoughtful

I was "educated" in government schools in the 1970's, and I was lied to in many, many ways about the "science" of evolution. I feel betrayed and violated because as a child I trusted those who taught "science" as facts, and I believed in the charts and pictures where man is "evolving", and I certainly was led to believe we come from the Neanderthals (among others), but, again, I was deceived.

Dr Rana's book is excellent, but maybe he isn't as angry as I am about all the lies that textbooks still propagate today as "truth." Evolution, in short, is a fraud and a hoax, but so many of us want to believe in science, and it is hard to just turn everything over to faith, but evolution, in itself, is a religion too.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Scientists Fazale Rana and Hugh Ross introduce a testable scientific model for humanity's origin--a Biblical model--that sheds light on the latest findings on evolution and the origins of man.

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