Book Review – Deliver Us From Evolution?
This is a self-published book, and is not in standard e-book format. Nonetheless, I was able to read it from my Kindle, and it is entirely free of typos and grammatical errors (at least I didn’t notice any). The author, Aaron Yilmaz, is a degreed biologist (BS, Oakland University, MS, University of St. Joseph Connecticut), adjunct professor of biological sciences, and environmental specialist for the state of Michigan. Yilmaz was recently profiled by Biologos. You can view his LinkedIn profile here.
I enjoyed reading this very much! It is an account of the author’s personal journey from YEC to EC, as well as a comprehensive defense of EC. The author is a committed Christian, and felt led to share his struggle to reconcile his Christian beliefs with what he has learned from his study and professional experience in the biological sciences.
The book is divided into four sections: Introduction (Statement of Faith); Part 1 – The Nature of Science and Scripture; Part 2 – The Evidence For an Old Earth; and Part 3 – The Evidence for Evolution.
The Statement of Faith is orthodox in every way. In the first section, the author shares his personal story, and thoroughly covers the theological issues in fresh yet faithful ways.
In the second part (probably my favorite), he details the evidence for an old earth in two groups, senior organisms and ancient natural phenomenon. Senior organisms are living plants that have been consistently dated using carbon-14 techniques and dendrochronology in excess of 10000+ years. Some ancient seagrass in the Mediterranean Sea has even been estimated between 80K and 200K years. Ancient natural phenomenon include coral reefs, some of which have been dated to between 50K and 176K years, as well as ice cores (some of which provide evidence for 700K years), and geological features such as varves and stalactites. The author describes in meticulous detail how information from the fields of astronomy, geology, and the study of plate tectonics all support an old earth. Fascinating…
In the third section, the author covers such topics as the genomic evidence for evolution, pseudogenes, endogenous retroviruses, vestigial organs, and the fossil record, including questions about transitional fossils. All topics are supported by meticulous footnotes to credible, scholarly primary sources.
The entire book was erudite and engaging, it is altogether an enjoyable and accessible read, and I highly recommend it.