Book: StarStruck

Yes, I do still plan to maintain the blog. And even hope to post to it from time to time :)

Space. The Final Frontier. Well, those words aren’t exactly mine, but they are words I grew up with and love as a description of the skies above us. While I remember being fascinated by Jacques Cousteau and the underwater world, space was where I wanted to sea, study, and be… (still willing to pastor First Baptist Church, Lunar Rock, The Moon). Into that space-fascination comes today’s book, Star Struck, by Dr. David Bradstreet and Steve Rabey. Dr. Bradstreet has a Ph.D. in astronomy, which would support his qualification to write about space. Rabey’s background is church history, which is relevant…how?

In this manner: one of the goals of Star Struck is to deal with the supposed conflict between Christian faith and scientific work. Rabey provides some good background information on the interaction between the church in history and scientific exploration. The collaboration does an excellent job explaining the debacle that was the treatment of Galileo, for example, and how Christianity as a whole is not against studying the skies with honesty and integrity.

Overall, this is a good read. Bradstreet’s insights into astronomy are educational. The additional benefits of pointing toward the Creator in the process are evident. I do wish he would take my side about Pluto, but I guess it’s just not a planet after all…

As the astronomy in a theology text needs to be double-checked, so I would caution that some aspects of the theology in an astronomy book might be different from one’s background. Bradstreet and Rabey are in agreement about the Sovereign Creator God, but their views may not line up with yours. It’s still worth reading—let your thoughts be challenged!

I have enjoyed reading this. I handed it off to all three of my students—15, 13, and 10—and they all enjoyed it as well.

A good add to the shelf!

 

I did receive a copy of this book from Booklook.