Creation

Claus Westermann; Fortress Press 1976
reviewed by Laurie Chisholm in Sea of Faith (NZ) Newsletter 23, October 1997
"I recommend this book to Sea of Faithers who would like to rethink the teaching that God created the world. If you have read your Geering and Cupitt, you already know the sorry story of church opposition to the discoveries of Galileo and Copernicus. You are aware of the failed attempts by Christian apologetics to prove that divine creation is the only satisfactory way of explaining the world, and you have probably concluded that the concept of God is in deep trouble. Westermann writes against this background. He thinks that the Church too a wrong turning in its response to the rise of science and the Enlightenment. He wants to help us get back on track, and his contribution is a fresh look at the Genesis stories of creation in then light of modern biblical scholarship. He wants to open up their meaning to us as modern people, and he is eminently qualified in this field. Not only is he the author of probably the most authoritative (and large!) commentary on the book of Genesis, but he also spent time in the field of adult education. Westermann knows how to explain the significance of his research in ordinary language to those without specialised knowledge.

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