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Critical Review by:
Dr. Edward Fudge, Author and Bible Teacher
A kind friend gave me the book Beyond
Creation Science and asked for my opinion. This
is what I told him in response:
Thanks for the gift of the book Beyond
Creation Science. As a
physical book, the craftsmanship is elegant. The authors have clearly done much
study. I especially found fascinating the points from logic, science, history,
geology and the biblical text against the
young-earth theory. The part about the Tower of Babel was very interesting
also. The basic premise paralleling beginning/end, Genesis/Revelation,
young-earth-theory/dispensational theory is also clever and makes an attractive
vehicle for the authors’ views. Unfortunately, their case rests on a
number of flawed assumptions. To name just a few:
- Throughout the book, the authors repeatedly engage
in circular argument. When discussing the Old Testament side of their supposed parallel,
they justify their interpretation based on the supposed New Testament side of
the parallel. Then, when discussing the New Testament side of the parallel, they
justify that interpretation based on the supposed Old Testament side.
- They assert that the Jews at the time
of Jesus did not expect a final cataclysmic “end” to the physical
universe. The fact is that Jewish
literature from between Malachi and Matthew was full of just such expectations,
as documented in Jubilees, Enoch and the Dead Sea Scrolls, among other intertestamental literature. That expectation rested on
passages from the Old Testament and it carried over to the authors of the New
Testament and later church fathers.
- They argue that stoicheia in 2 Peter has
to be understood as Jewish, covenantal “principles” rather than physical
“elements” of the material world, saying that everywhere that word
occurs in the New Testament it has the Jewish covenantal meaning. That statement
is the authors’ assumption, not a necessary conclusion. In fact, the word
stoicheia had a long history in non-biblical Greek, in which it stood
for “principles” or “elements” of an intellectual
(“doctrinal”) system, but also meant the physical
“elements” of the material world (which they thought were earth,
air, fire and water), as well as
sometimes meaning the 12 “elements” of the zodiac in the
stars of the heavens. Several of this word’s New Testament occurrences probably
are best interpreted as referring to
something other than Jewish covenantal principles. That is certainly true of its
use in 2 Peter.
- They assume (as all hyper-preterists must) that the entire New Testament was written
before A.D. 70-71, something that the best scholarship considers most unlikely.
- Throughout the book, they criticize the
young-earth advocates and also the dispensationalists for taking the Bible literally regarding first
things and last things, yet their major
case rests on taking absolutely literally all the statements about the end
being “near,” “drawing near,” “close,”
“at hand” and so forth. There is another way to take all those statements
seriously, realizing that the ”end” had indeed begun, but that the
“end” of the “end” was delayed, just as stated in both
Old (Psalm 110:1 – “until”) and New (Acts 3:20-21 –
“until”) Testaments. For more details along this line, please see:
Well, as you can see, you stimulated me to think! And I thank you
again for your kindness and generosity in thinking of me!
Edward Fudge
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