Genesis And The Big Bang

An M.I.T.-trained physicist attempts to demonstrate that "the biblical narrative and the scientific account of our genesis are two mutually compatible descriptions of the same, single and identical, reality." The most compelling part of Schroeder's argument is, ironically, the least important: his prelude, in which he explains how his participation in an underground nuclear test gone awry ("there had been a slip-up. . .we were now in the midst of a manmade earthquake. . .a radioactive cloud or front was moving toward us") led him to rethink the role of science and religion in human life. His ruminations resulted in this book, in which he asserts that two apparently incompatible time schemes for world-creation - the six days of Genesis and the 15 billion years of evolutionary theory - are both true. How? Because God and man have different time frames; to buttress his argument, Schroeder rejects literal interpretation of Scripture and then dips into relativity theory. Until the creation of Adam on the sixth day, the Bible utilizes God's time; after Adam, a human time frame is adopted. According to Schroeder, pre-Adamic events match current astronomical theory, so that, for example, the "wind of God" of Genesis 1:2 is equivalent to the inflationary epoch that took place 10 to the -35 seconds after the big bang. As for post-Adamic time, Schroeder finds that the biblical calendar tightly follows present-day archeological knowledge. He caps his argument by explaining why life could not have resulted from random chemical reactions, further evidence of a divine origin for our existence. Lucidly argued, never wacky - but unlikely to convince anyone but the converted. In most scientific circles, this won't even make a smallwhimper. (Kirkus Reviews)