The genome revolution of the last twenty years has changed biology forever. It has provided stunning insights into the evolution of species (such as ours) and the development of new functional capabilities (such as placenta, brain, and immune networks). We are learning how genes make a human animal―but that loving relationships with others are required to make a human person. Random mutations, filtered by directing order, underlie evolutionary development, but also cause diseases such as cancer. We are wont to question God when faced with devastating natural and moral evils. But deeply embedded in the biblical story we encounter a Creator who has always purposed to deal with the evils of a freely operating world by extirpating them through Jesus of Nazareth, who is God incarnate.
Graeme Finlay has been involved in cancer research and has taught scientific pathology in the University of Auckland. He is author of Human Evolution: Genes, Genealogies and Phylogenies (2013) and the Gospel according to Dawkins (2017).
“This is big history. Life on Earth is a mind-boggling adventure in enormous amounts of historically inherited developing information, generated and tested over millennia. Genetic biology is the evolution of caring. Finlay traces this from planetary to molecular scales, culminating in suffering love. I guarantee every reader an unprecedented challenge for the next age.”
—Holmes Rolston III, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University
“The Bible and science look pretty immiscible. Feeding the four thousand doesn’t seem to have much in common with natural selection, let alone the gravitational constant. Graeme Finlay disagrees (as do I). Finlay’s biological credentials are secure, but he also has a firm grip on the truths of Christianity. . . . Underpinned by unfolding histories, both phylogenetic and biblical, Finlay brings humanness back to central stage and thereby re-asserts the eschatological destination of our species.”
—Simon Conway Morris, Professor emeritus of Evolutionary Palaeobiology, University of Cambridge
“Evolution and Eschatology offers an informed and helpful discussion of the complicated issues arising at the interface of traditional Christian theology and contemporary evolutionary theory. Finlay’s ambitious work draws on the best thinking of scholars who have wrestled with the ‘big questions’ of our origins and found ways to embrace both creation and evolution. Readers will find much of value in this well-written and thoughtful book.”
—Karl Giberson, Scholar in Residence, Stonehill College
“Scientifically precise and theologically rich. An authoritative tour through human origins, development, and broader human biology, melded with careful Christian thought; depicts the history of life on Earth as an impressive but incomplete narrative finding ultimate fulfilment in Jesus. Warmly recommended to all seekers after truth concerning nature and its Author.”
—Zachary Ardern, Postdoctoral Fellow in Evolutionary Genomics, Wellcome Sanger Institute
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