Gerald L. Schroeder Ph.D.The Science of God: The Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom

You may disagree with some of what Schroeder writes, but you’ll need to “load for bear” to refute him. He a scholar of great eminence, a clear thinker, and as erudite a thinker as you’ll ever find. I was put on the trail of Schroeder by Sarah Salviander PhD (astrophysicist, UT Austin TX) and am pleased to acknowledge my gratitude for it. His six day explanation is quite excellent; don’t make the mistake of rejecting him out of hand, but wait until you understand what he says, and then offer your own explanation. I’m predicting, you’ll use Schroeder to explain yourself.

All the writings of Gerald Schroeder on concordism can be recommended for reading - I am doing so for the third time. "The Science of God" provides the best summary of them all. For readers of science, one must start with "Genesis and the Big Bang" - it will immediately provide the key for understanding the relationship between God's revelation in his Word and his revelation in nature, which is made understandable through the instruments of his highest creation: humanity and humanity's talent to explore the world by scientific, methodological investigation. Gerald Schroeder's incredible depth of insight in both physical science and ancient religious scripture has not been matched by any other author that I was going after in my career-long search for a concordism between what I truly experience as a religiously aware individual and what I teach as a professor of biochemistry. One feels embarrassed at ever doubting the truth of the Bible. Gerald Schroeder argues religiously from the view-point of Judaism, but consistently draws the line respectfully towards Christian and Islamic traditions of religion. It is written with such respect for religious tradition and awe of nature, that nobody can feel offended. Had it not been for Gerald Schroeder, I would have felt compelled to write something similar from a Christian perspective, but this book and its earlier ancestries would make that redundant and superfluous. It is a top-class semi-popular work that every lecturer of science should read as inspiration to teach - my students love it!

One of the best books I've ever read. Truly. My only criticism is as follows. Mr. Schroeder examines the Bible, or Talmud I should say, as well as other ancient Jewish writings with great insight. He brings to bare a brilliant mind and uncovers aspects of God and His science that many of us have never understood. He clarifies misunderstandings within the Old Testament even within translations. Gerald Schroeder, unfolds with wisdom and understanding the science as well as the spiritual side of how God interacts, or, doesn't interact from both a scientific and spiritual persoective. My one question to Mr. Schroeder is this: You use manifold aspects of religious and scientific knowledge to lay forth your ideas. However, why would you leave out the New Testament? It's as though I'm reading the first half of a brilliant novel by an excellent author and unexplainably the author decides to end the book well before the story is complete. The revealed written knowledge of God is completed in the New Testament where the Creator reveals His desired relationship with mankind as a Father to his children. In the quest for truth why not leave all preconceived religious ideas behind and explore the subject fully using all your resources? Still, I give this book a five star rating. it was fabulous.

It is not often one reads a book with such a wide background of considered thought - theological, biological, mathematical, astronomical - put in an interestingly novel and thought provoking whole. I had read some criticism of his work so came with some reservation and while I might not agree with all of his conclusions it does appear the criticisms are largely from those who are trying somewhat desperately to pick holes rather than reflect on the larger arguments. If you are interested in how and why we are here and want to expand your mind and challenge your conceptions this is well worth a read

A book that takes the 1st book of the Bible and gives back it's truth to a modern day reader who worships science over faith in God. I always knew Genesis was true and, being a physics enthusiast, I developed a rough idea how BUT...This book is worthless to 90% of people in that no one but a very select few knows anything about Einstein's laws of relativity. The "normal" Christian could not understand this book as they completely ignore all aspects of science as it relates to the creation. (Thanks be to the very embarrassing documentaries on how physicists and archeologists are all wrong and dinosaurs lived in the past 5000 years.)I'm so thankful to God that this author wrote this book as he affirmed my theories, which I attribute to God, and added fact and substance to them. But getting these ideas to your average Christian will take a book that starts from their perspective instead of a physicists perspective.

If you want to understand both Science and the Bible in context of the time and state of knowledge 5000 years ago this is the book for you. Although perhaps the order of things might have been a little out of sync with what we understand concerning evolution the ancient writers seem to have worked out in theory what happened in a way that was understood by people of the time. This alone is remarkable in its prescience. What the Biblical version of science provides is a remarkable guide to all life and its purpose which is simple- to go forth be fruitful and multiply and use the talents we have to do so.Whereits prescience lacks I felt was in believing that the fruits of the earth might be inexhaustable which of course we know today they are not. But they can be excused since I doubt population increase was seen as a possible problem in a time of significant human mortality.We know maibly of ten main commandments which are they major key to living together in a civilised way in human community. Yet in fact there are hundreds many of which are very sensible to living healthily in communities.This book is no apologia for religion rather it shows how man in those times was as capable of logical reasoning from first principles to make of the World and the major questions of existence probably just as much as we understand of agency and purpose of man in the Universe today since we are not much further advanced in such an understanding.If we examing the difference between humans and other animals there are perhaps two maybe three differences..While most animals find themsrlves at the mercy of the natural increase in entropy in the universe humans survive by using their brains’ abilities and imagination to delay divert or use that flow to create an environment propitious for survival. Human pass on this culture upon which future ones seek to improve. Unfortunately or fortunately our brains are such that we seem also to possess emotions we do not observe in animals, guilt, shame, hate etc perhaps evolved also to maintain order in our interactions but which can run riot leading to all those worst aspects of our condition.Death is perhaps the most fearful and mysterious fate awaiting all animals. However around the natural fears of humans in facing the forces of nature through time grew the ideas of magic and religion. Magic is just action without energy input, Science build understanding of the agencies that make things happen, religion attempts to explain why there is something rather than nothing by explaining it in supernatural terms. Religion, and Science both give us hope for the future in different ways but both require us to hope when circumstances seem beyond salvation. Hope in the face of all odds might seem cognitively dissonant but it is what we humans have which iabove all is our difference to other animals and what is the unique key to our survival and growth as a species.

A tremendous book

Jewish Physicist / Torah export Gerald Schroeder has written in 1994 a highly accessible book (The Science of God) using Einstein's General Theory of Relativity to show that if you have an observer on earth, and another at the extremes of the universe (God), six days in God's time is the same as billions of years on earth. This is the reverse position of young earth leader Russell Humphreys in his book "Starlight and Time" which I am also going to review.Schroeder uses his expertise in Hebrew, and also quotes extensively from Maimonides writing in the 12th century and Nahmanides who wrote in the 13th century to show that the Old Testament has a startling amount to explain to confirm what scientists in the 20th / 21st centuries are only now beginning to understand about Cosmology. These two ancients have been chosen by Schroeder so there can be no suggestion that their commentaries knew of modern science.The old earth / young earth positions are at constant loggerheads in modern times, but the two books I have mentioned go a far way to reconciling how 6 days / 6000 years / billions of years can all be right depending on your frame of reference. Well worth the read, even for people who are not experts in the subject matter.

A breath of intellectual fresh air. I struggled with the arguements given in support of the young earth concept for years, but never found a satisfactory argument given for the old earth theory until I ran across Schroeder's book Genesis And The Big Bang. I loved his way of handling this important topic and immediately ordered the other three books he had written including the Science of God. They don't get any better. Gerald has the background to take the young earth theory on and that he does in his books.

About time that religious people put up a real defense against the raging atheist war that would have our founding fathers and most of the ancestors of Humanity turn over in their graves.