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SCIENCE FROM A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE

by Margaret Helder

Reviewed by: Jonathan Dykstra (Editor, Reformed Perspective)

From the title onward, No Christian Silence on Science is a clarion call to Bible-believing, six-day creation upholding Christians to stand up and be counted. It’s much more than that too. The author, Margaret Helder, has written for the Creation Science Dialogue and Reformed Perspective (the magazine I edit) for years, and if you’ve read her there, then you know Dr. Helder approaches God and His creation with awe, and teaches us how to tackle evolution without fear. This book is very much an outgrowth of that work. This, then, is intended to equip us, so we will be able to give a ready defense of our faith, and fortify us, so we will continue to trust in God, even when we face the attacks that will come in this predominantly Darwinist and secular field.

That’s a big task to tackle in a book that’s just 116 pages. That’s why, while this is a great book, it is no light read – there is a lot packed in here. In the five sections Dr. Helder addresses:

  • Science from a Christian Perspective
  • How Design in Nature reveals God’s Character and Work
  • Christian vs. Darwinian Ethics
  • The Christian Student: Meeting the Challenge of Secular Institutions
  • Impact of Evolutionary Thought on Church and Society

My favorites were the last two. They are worth the price of the book all on their own, and if I was giving this to a university student I think I would tell them to head to Chapter 4 first, to hear Dr. Helder’s advice on how to interact with evolutionary-minded professors. At one point she gives an example of a find that seems to prove evolution, and she then shows how a Christian student could respond. She suggests students be ready to ask questions, and starting with the 5 Ws is always a good idea (in Science, and journalism too!). And students will often find that by the time they get through their list of questions they’ll have discovered that this new, exciting, revolutionary find, is being over-hyped.

That’s not to say creationists have all the answers. As Dr. Helder notes, in the early and mid 1900s Christians holding to a six-day creation had little supporting scientific evidence available to them, so it was only because they were so confident in the trustworthiness of the Bible that they weren’t swayed by evolution. Today many problems with evolution can be pointed to, but there will still be occasions where a challenge to the biblical explanation is presented that we cannot answer. And perhaps we won’t be able to answer it for several decades. But we, too, should hold to the Bible, because it is trustworthy.

So who should read No Christian Silence? This will be of interest to anyone, but for the young high school graduate heading into the Sciences this is a must read. If they were to read it before heading to their first university science class, and really worked through it slowly and thoughtfully, they would be well-prepared. There are other books they should read too, but this is a very good place to start because Dr. Helder covers all the key controversies, and gives good solid direction on how to meet and deal with the opposition.

2016 / 116 pages / paperback / black and white illustrations/ $14.00

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Johnathan Dykstra
December 2016

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