4 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
I've always been on the fence about the creation debate. I don’t practice Judaism, but I was raised in a more progressive church and family that encouraged reading and investigating other topics that most Christians hold taboo, like science, and other religions and their teachings. So like the authors of this book, I've held the view that the two beliefs of cosmology and creationism can coexist.
Creationism is just a science that hasn't been measured properly yet, and God is a scientist whose work and theories are layered in mystery. The Biblical Clock by Daniel Friedmann and Dania Sheldon tries to peel away this veil of mystery, showing that it does in fact pair up with the findings of cosmology. They do this, not through scientific theories and satellites, but by studying the scrolls and teachings of the great minds from thousands of years ago. These people were men of God who also sought to answer the question of creation.
From the book, it seems that several of these scrolls and vast, in-depth teachings were lost because of wars, and for a time because people were just unaware that they existed. I actually find it quite interesting that men thousands of years ago figured out what science only concluded decades ago. And without the advanced technology that supposedly would open man’s mind to learn more about the universe. It’s a bit ironic, but also very fascinating. It shows that spiritual practices and enlightenment can be just as effective in formulating theories when pursued seriously.
It's interesting to see a book that talks about not just the original scrolls where excerpts of the Bible were pulled from, but that also investigates additional material that forms engaging hypotheses to support the vague outlines of Genesis. The authors also took the chance to continue the timeline and speak about the ‘end of days’ though they shy away from actually predicting anything. But I’ll let you be the judge of their findings.
I enjoyed this book. It didn’t come off as preachy at all. It tells you the history of the figures who contributed to the ancient books in Judaism as well as certain aspects of the science of cosmology and how it came about, in order to show the correlation. It actually ends around page 165 and the rest are references and appendices that further support their work.
I really appreciated the fictional parts of this book. It wasn’t entirely fictional, of course. The authors just used what was already known about the figures in history, about their personal lives or where they lived and what events were happening in history at the time when they came upon the discovery, and then embellished on it. So there were these small stories based on real events in between the ‘heavy information’. It helped to add credibility to the book and further keep me, as the reader, intrigued.
There were a few spelling errors here and there, but nothing much so I would still give this book 4 out of 4 stars. I also liked the diagrams and pictures that were included to give you a better idea of what the authors were referring to as their study has proven to be just as detailed as known scientific theories.
I really think anyone who has an interest in the teachings of God or anyone studying theology would appreciate this book. It may go against what you already believe at times as the perspective is from Judaism and not Christianity, but all you need is to approach it with an open mind. It’s just another perspective. I also believe it would be of interest to people who have studied cosmology but want to understand the true nature of creationism from a more ‘scientific’ standpoint. As I said, all that is needed is an open mind.
******
The Biblical Clock
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
