The author's toolkit includes degrees in Physics and Divinity and decades of teaching and preaching the Bible as an Elder in the United Methodist Church. So, with the books of science in one hand and the book of Scripture in the other, he answers Gauguin's three questions by demonstrating that the truth claims of science and the truth claims in the Book of Genesis are synonymous. He concludes the either/or approach to science and Scripture is no longer tenable.
As seekers of truth, we turn to science and Scripture, for we need them both. Great rivers of truth flow from the fountain of science, but as powerful as science is, it cannot answer all our questions.
Each of the three Parts of this book was written to answer one of three questions French artist Paul Gauguin painted onto his magnum opus. His questions are translated: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? These questions are time dependent. The first speaks to the past. The second speaks to the present and the third speaks to the future. Wherever we came from, we had no say in any of that history. Whatever we are, we had little say in that history. His third question speaks to the future, and in this case, we are in full control. The answer to this question depends on a decision each person will inevitably make, whether they do so intentionally or not.
In Part I, we answer Gauguin's first question by examining the truth claims associated with the Theory of the Big Bang. In Part II, we answer his second question by examining the truth claims associated with the Theory of Evolution. In Part III, we answer his third question by comparing and contrasting the truth claims of Scripture with the truth claims of science discussed in Parts I and II.
The truth claims in Genesis are central to our task, and because Christians and Jews embrace Genesis as part of their sacred literature, it is fair to say this book is written primarily for members of these two religious communities. However, atheists, agnostics and people of other religious traditions will also find this book useful, provided they bring an open mind and firm commitment to follow the evidence to the reading.
The author compares and contrasts the truth claims in the first few chapters of Genesis with the truth claims of modern science. He contends the comparisons are straightforward, the evidence is unambiguous and the conclusions are clear. Although the vocabulary of science is quite different from that of Scripture, by comparing and contrasting the truth claims they each contain, he shows the claims are complementary, not contradictory.
The science is presented in a manner meant to be accessible to laymen, which means it is written as simply as possible and without the technical terms associated with various branches of science. Although it has been suggested that Scripture and science present different kinds of truth which do not necessarily overlap, the author contends there is not one kind of truth from science and a different kind of truth from Scripture. The truth claims of science are in harmony with the truth claims of Genesis. There is no conflict between science and religion, and we need them both in order to provide robust answers to Gauguin's three questions.
