Full title: The Challenge of Creation: Judaism’s Encounter with Science, Cosmology, and EvolutionHardcover / 360 pp.
The book contains a foreword by Rabbi Dr. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president, The Orthodox Union (download foreword here).
Part One: Science
Chapter One: The Theological Foundations of Science
Chapter Two: The New Teleology
Chapter Three: Miracles and Nature
Chapter Four: The Particulars of Providence
Chapter Five: The Importance of Natural Law
Chapter Six: Approaching Conflicts
Chapter Seven: Departing from Literalism
Chapter Eight: Conflict and Reinterpretation
Part Two: Cosmology
Chapter Nine: Evidence for an Ancient Universe
Chapter Ten: The Chaotic Approach
Chapter Eleven: The Prochronic Approach
Chapter Twelve: The Prior-Worlds Approach
Chapter Thirteen: The Day-Age Approach (view as a PDF)
Chapter Fourteen: Departing from Concordism
Chapter Fifteen: Genesis as a Theological Text
Chapter Sixteen: The Content and Sequence of Genesis
Chapter Seventeen: Dinosaurs and Sea Monsters
Part Three: Evolution
Chapter Eighteen: Untangling Evolution
Chapter Nineteen: The Origin of Life
Chapter Twenty: Common Ancestry
Chapter Twenty-One: Evolutionary Mechanisms and Intelligent Design
Chapter Twenty-Two: Darwinian Evolution and God’s Attributes
Chapter Twenty-Three: The Ascent of Man
Chapter Twenty-Four: In Conclusion
Bibliography
NOTE: This book was written for those who are committed to the tenets of Judaism, but also respect the scientific enterprise and possess an advanced education in the natural sciences, and who are therefore disturbed by the challenges that are raised for their understanding of Torah. It addresses these challenges by following the approach of Rambam (Maimonides) and similar Torah scholars towards these issues, which, while firmly within the framework of authentic Orthodox Judaism, is not the method of choice in many segments of the ultra-Orthodox community. But many have found that no other approach works as well in solving these difficulties.
Other people may not possess as extensive a background in the sciences or may dispute the validity of the modern scientific enterprise. They may therefore simply not be bothered by the questions discussed in this book, or they may have different ways of dealing with such conflicts. Such people are not the intended audience of this book and they are advised not to read it.
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