Book Reviews: Evolution for Everyone

image_pdfimage_print

Evolution for Everyone by David Sloan Wilson (Delta)

Hundreds of school board members must have questions about the relation of science to religion. Maybe their pastors do, too. This affordable paperback by a winner of a Pulitzer Prize will suggest answers. A professor of biology and anthropology at Binghamton Univer-sity, he challenges some thoughts about evolution. A lively story-teller, Wilson reminds us that it is not just about dinosaurs and human origins. For readers who fear evolution is a deadly foe of their religious faith, he assures them that it need not be.

Most Christians would like to see public schools improve. We are not yet ready to label them as hopeless or call for mass withdrawal of children into church-directed schools. Perhaps scanning Wilson’s chapters, with such humorous titles as “Dancing with Ghosts” and “Darwin’s Cathedral “ can clarify our thinking about both creation and Creator. One thing is for sure: things move so slowly that mysteries will still challenge our grandchildren and their descendants. Or, to restate slightly this book’s title, evolution is for everyone.

Bob Beck, Intentional

Interim Pastor

Fort Worth

 

Living the Lord’s Prayer by David Timms (Bethany House)


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


This author compares the desire to know the heart of God to a journey. He begins the book with a short review of Christian men and women who sought a closer walk with God and then summarizes their variety of approaches to holiness. Although all work, the author contends the fixed point of reference must be in what is commonly called the Lord’s Prayer found in Matthew 6.

This book explores the basic elements of the Lord’s Prayer and the principles embedded within it that lead to a deeper walk with God. The prayer is more about how to live than how to pray.

It is the author’s belief that the prayer calls us to transformation and a framework for a more meaningful life. If you want to explore more deeply this wonderful prayer, this book will be a blessing to you.

Jerry Bradley, president

Children at Heart Ministries

Round Rock

 

All Through the Night by Davis Bunn (Bethany House)

Davis Bunn pens an action-packed Christian novel in All Through the Night. The Christy Award winner masterfully marries mystery with his finance background in unlikely hero Wayne Grusza—a preacher’s son with a past. His minister sister recommends the CPA and former military operative to a Florida retirement community that has been swindled.

The brilliant, rebellious Wayne moves onto the property and meets a cast of eccentric seniors, including a retired missionary determined to gently turn tough Wayne to God. The loner, who has spent his life skirting the law, manages to scam the scammer. But then comes a stranger second case complete with a beautiful lawyer and a wealthy CEO who believes he has been warned of impending danger by an angel.

Can Wayne rely on the word of the heavenly messenger, sort out the financial maze and learn the identity of the evil-doers in time? Will Wayne and Tatyana allow themselves to fall in love? Will Victoria’s prayers make the difference? The author keeps the reader reading until the final page-turn in this inspiring, provocative thriller with a light touch of romance.

Kathy Robinson Hillman,

former president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

 

The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir (Multnomah)

Mark Mynheir, a Central Florida police detective, successfully combines his passions for criminal investigation and writing in The Night Watchman, skillfully spinning a spellbinding story with a Christian message.

Orlando homicide officer Ray Quinn loses his partner and his career in the split second of an ambush that leaves his body shattered. Relegated to condominium night-watchman duty, the tough guy turns to John Wayne movies and whiskey to escape his pain.

He finds the job monotonous until Pam Winters senses something’s wrong and asks him to open her brother’s apartment. Inside, they discover two bodies. Ray’s old unit investigates, rushes to judgment, and rules the deaths a murder-suicide.

But Pam isn’t convinced the Outreach Orlando Ministries pastor shot an exotic dancer and then killed himself. She urges Ray to investigate and restore her brother’s reputation.

Hesitantly, the retired cop takes the case. However, the more the ex-detective uncovers, the more his discoveries convince him of David’s innocence and goodness. But nothing is as it seems. As the sinister plot unravels, Ray finds himself in the midst of a scandal that reaches from strip clubs to the courthouse with a stop in the Orlando Police Department.

Kathy Robinson Hillman, former president

Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas

Waco

 

 


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard