The science of the earth and the history of man, though cultivated by very different classes of specialists and in very different ways, must have their meeting-place. They must indeed not only meet, but overlap and run abreast of each other throughout nearly the whole time occupied by the existence of man on the earth. The geologist, from his point of view, studies all the stratified crust of the earth, down to the mud deposited by last year's river inundations. The historian, aided by the archæologist, has written and monumental evidence carrying him back to the time of the earliest known men, many thousands of years ago. Throughout all this interval the two records must have run more or less parallel to each other, and must be in contact along the whole line. The geologist, ascending from the oldest and lowest portions of the earth's crust, and dealing for millions of years with physical forces and the instinctive powers of animals alone, at length as he approaches the surface finds himself in contact with an entirely new agency, the free-will and conscious action of man. It is true that at first the effects of these are small, and the time in which they have been active is insignificant in comparison with that occupied by previous geological ages; but they introduce new questions which constantly grow in importance, down to those later times in which human agency has so profoundly affected the surface of the earth and its living inhabitants. Finally, the geologist is obliged to have recourse to human observation and testimony for his information respecting those modern causes to which he has to appeal for the explanation of former changes, and has to adduce effects produced by human agency in illustration of, or in contrast with, mutations in the pre-human periods. The historian, on the other hand, finds, as he passes backward into earlier ages, documentary evidence failing him, and much of what he can obtain becoming mythical, vague or uncertain, or difficult of explanation by modern analogies, until at length he is fain to have recourse to the pick-axe and spade, and to endeavour to disinter from the earth the scanty relics of primeval man, much as the geologist searches in the bedded rocks for the fossils which they contain. He has even learned to use for these earliest ages the term prehistoric, and so practically to transfer them to the domain of the archæologist and geologist.

As part of his challenge to the theory of evolution, the outspoken creationist presents alternative theories of bird flight and migration. In 1932, Bernard Acworth established the Evolution Protest Movement (now called the Creation Science Movement) for the purpose of criticizing evolutionary theory in scientific terms. A freelance journalist and amateur ornithologist, he took aim at the accepted science of ornithology with a keenly skeptical eye. Here, Acworth addresses topics including bird and butterfly migration, and the peculiarities of the cuckoo. In Bird and Butterfly Mysteries, Acworth presents a close examination of the science concerning the flight of winged animals. Through this analysis, he exposes errors that call into question many of the major conclusions reached by professional ornithologists. While the two Laws of Currents Acworth proposes in this volume have since appeared in other works on ornithology, he has never received due credit for their discovery.

These volumes describe how the development of the different styles of interpretation found in reading scripture and nature have transformed ideas of both the written word and the created world.

The four companion volumes of Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions contribute to a contextual evaluation of the mutual influences between scriptural exegesis and hermeneutics on the one hand and practices or techniques of interpretation in natural philosophy and the natural sciences on the other. We seek to raise the low profile this theme has had both in the history of science and in the history of biblical interpretation. Furthermore, questions about the interpretation of scripture continue to be provoked by current theological reflection on scientific theories. We also seek to provide a historical context for renewed reflection on the role of the hermeneutics of scripture in the development of theological doctrines that interact with the natural sciences. Contributors are J. Matthew Ashley, Robert E. Brown, Elizabeth Chmielewski, Edward B. Davis, Henri Wijnandus de Knijff, Marwa Elshakry, Richard England, Menachem Fisch, George Harinck, Bernhard Kleeberg, Scott Mandelbrote, G. Blair Nelson, Alexei V. Nesteruk, Jitse M. van der Meer, Rob P. W. Visser, and William Yarchin.

Glenn Morton used to be a young-earth creationist, but the facts changed his views. In this his second book, Morton shows that mainstream science does not contradict a literal reading of the inerrant word of God. The author provides proof that God created Adam and Eve about 5.5 million years B. C. (Please note that, for formatting purposes, there is an intentionally blank page between pages 5 and 6 of the main text.)