In Creation in Scripture, Herold Weiss discussed the various ways in which creation is presented in the Bible. In Creation: The Christian Doctrine, Edward W. H. Vick examined what should go into constructing a doctrine of creation that is truly Christian.

Worshiping with Charles Darwin?

But does acceptance of the theory of evolution as the method, while affirming that God is the creator impact the way we worship? Bob Cornwall, pastor, writer, activist, and church historian takes on this controversial subject in Worshiping with Charles Darwin. Though this book does discuss the reasons why Bob accepts the theory of evolution and also why he believes this is compatible with his Christian faith, that is not its purpose.

Of this new book, Thomas Jay Oord, Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Northwest Nazarene University said, “Bob Cornwall’s sermons read like a great conversation with an articulate and well-read friend. The prose is lively! And the perspectives he offers on creation, science, Scripture, and God are greatly needed in an age of confusion over issues in science and theology. This book is an outstanding contribution to a better way!” (Emphasis mine.)

There are two collections in this book. The first is a series of sermons Bob has preached on Evolution Sunday (the Sunday closest to Charles Darwin’s birthday). If you’re a pastor who is considering what to do on this Sunday, Bob will provide you with ideas. If you’re a parishioner whose pastor is considering commemorating Evolution Sunday, these sermons might give you an idea what that could look like.

The second is a collection of essays presenting the idea of Evolution Sunday and God as creator to a broader audience. These essays were published as columns in the local newspaper where Bob Cornwall was pastor.

Finally, the collection has a supplement with liturgical aids for those planning worship services for Evolution Sunday.

There are a number of controversial aspects to this book. Besides the obvious question of of the relationship of the doctrine of creation to the theory of evolution–are they compatible or not–there is the question of whether the theory of evolution should be the subject of a Sunday in church. There are those who accept the theory of evolution and yet do not like, even vehemently oppose, the idea of putting such a Sunday into the church calendar.

So we’ve even titled the book controversially. We’ve also titled it honestly. But it’s not the most controversial book that we publish on this subject. Most importantly, as with all of the books pictured (including those forthcoming), it is not primarily about arguing which view of origins is true. Rather, it’s about examining the implications of accepting the theory of evolution.

Worshiping with Charles Darwin will be released about July 1. It will be priced at $9.99. Until the first copy ships you can pre-order it for $6.99 via Energion Direct.

Related Forthcoming Books

How will the forthcoming books follow up on what the earlier books have done?

Creation in Contemporary Experience will be released in March, 2014, and will discuss how our view of God as creator should impact the way we live in the world. How does this inform our ethics? How can we tell the story of creation in scientific terms?

Creation: The Science is to be written by science educator and Methodist Lay Speaker Tony Mitchell, Ph.D., whose doctoral degree is in chemistry education. This is again not primarily a book to debate the issues. In requesting this title (and it was solicited), I asked Tony to answer the question: What basic science would you like an audience to understand before they listen to a debate on creation vs. evolution?

Will We Publish All Sides?

I decided I should take this issue on directly. So here are five books on the topic of creation and evolution, and all of them are from the same general perspective. Is Energion Publications taking an official position on this and only publishing one side? We have a mission and doctrinal statement, and our doctrinal statement does not take a position on this issue. Neither do we. But it is not a question of “both” sides. There are a number of viewpoints on how faith and science relate, and with the right manuscript we’ll be interested in publishing any of them. (Read my notes on Energion Publications and my personal views.)

Let me give two examples of excellent books from other publishers and from other viewpoints. First, from the old earth point of view, we have John Sailhamer’s Genesis Unbound. While this takes Genesis literally, it takes it in a very different sense from the one that is usually called literal and so allows for an old planet in an old universe. The link above is to my review. While ultimately I disagree, Dr. Sailhamer’s book is one that is challenging and well worth having read, even if you continue to disagree.

Kurt Wise’s book Faith, Form, and Time was a pleasant surprise for me in terms of young age creationist reading. As I note in my review (linked above) Dr. Wise is very clear that he believes in a young earth because he believes that is what the Bible teaches, and that the Bible is to be taken over the observations of science.

Call for Submissions

Which brings me to a note on potential manuscripts. If you are a young age creationist, consider taking and developing that one point. Does the Bible challenge the observations of science? The theories of science? Is there a consistent way of interpreting the Bible that tells us when we should take our understanding of scriptures over our observation of and understanding of the physical world? We would be very interested in publishing a positive, consistent, readable, and challenging exposition of that point with strong examples from various parts of scripture, not just the traditional creation passages.

I found that I was extraordinarily well suited to the task of boring audiences. No, I didn’t bore everyone, but I had to make a serious effort to speak about things that actually interested the people I was speaking to. Frequently, it turned out that when I thought I was most boring, people were actually enjoying themselves and learning.

One lady called me aside and said something like this: “You have to remember that they haven’t heard this stuff as many times as you have. Don’t be afraid to be basic.”

It was good advice. On the other hand, it was also dangerous advice. It is certainly quite possible to lose people by speaking over their heads. If you’re a specialist, it’s actually quite easy. Just talk about the things that interest you in your field, and you’re probably leaving most everyone else behind. That applies to any subject. I remind my wife of it every so often when she talks about cooking. She’ll read a recipe and wonder if I think it would be good. I’m wondering what half the ingredients actually are.

But if I actually wanted to learn to cook (I don’t, beyond extreme basics), I’d need to learn about those things.

So let’s take that as a metaphor. If she talks down to me, I cannot learn about those ingredients and processes, because cookbooks will speak in those terms. If I don’t know how to braise, broil, sauté, and many other processes, and I don’t know what thyme or cumin tastes like (though I relate the latter to tithing!), I’ll never learn to cook. So in order to communicate and teach, she’s can’t leave them out, but she has to explain them.

Similarly, if a Bible scholar teaches about Bible study, and wants people to learn how to study, he or she must talk about difficult words and complex concepts. One cannot avoid the terms, and yet one must teach about them, so people can learn. It’s a difficult task.

In my experience, the ability to teach clearly to lay people effectively is rare amongst scholars and specialists. There are those who can teach in an engaging manner, and there are those who are true scholars, but they rarely combine. A person who combines those characteristics or skills is a great treasure in the church or anywhere else.

Scholars tend to overestimate their ability to communicate with non-scholars, and non-scholar communicators tend to overestimate their scholarship. I suspect that, having tried to pursue a middle course, I overestimate both!

My purpose is not to beat up on scholars on their ability to communicate. I can deal with this by rejecting manuscripts as necessary, and marketing others to a different audience than the scholar may have intended. But I do want to make a call for manuscript submissions from people who combine those skills. In particular in the Participatory Study Series, we’re looking for people who can glean the best of biblical scholarship on a topic and present it so that people can understand it, and can learn the skills necessary to evaluate it.

Because of the lack of communication between scholars and those in the pew, and often those who occupy the pulpit as well, many in the church tend to believe what experts who happen to be in their particular faith tradition have to say. They will dismiss as either unscholarly or perhaps heretical things written by scholars who are not from their faith tradition. Why? Simply because they really don’t understand how the scholars came to their conclusions.

Here are some hints about producing a manuscript that will communicate to non-specialists:

1) Watch for technical terms. Make sure to define them clearly.

2) Don’t leave the technical terms out. Your readers want to learn (I hope!).

3) Illustrate freely. If you just give the theory, many people won’t comprehend what’s going on.

4) Don’t be dogmatic. Make sure you express the level of confidence in your conclusions that is justified by the evidence available.

5) Don’t expect people to simply accept what you say on your authority. I don’t mean to support it by providing footnotes. Explain and illustrate.

6) Don’t try to accomplish too much.

7) Have some friends who are not specialists read and encourage them to tell you where you were unclear.

8) Listen to your editor(s). Editors are quite imperfect and may be wrong, but they’ve generally read a lot of manuscripts and they may have some good ideas.

Deadline for your entry is midnight, June 11, 2013.
You can enter this giveaway by:
1. Retweeting our tweet on Twitter (@energion). (Please do not just tweet this link.)
2. Commenting on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Energion).
3. Commenting on this blog post.
We will randomly select a winner from all entries for each book. Please enter no more than one time by each method. We will ship your book within one week of receiving your mailing address.  

I’m fairly certain that publicly owned companies would get less questions about the relationship between the company’s beliefs (if any) and what is published. But since I’m noted as the owner of Energion Publications, I am occasionally asked whether I will publish certain things that disagree with me, or whether I will provide special treatment for items that agree with my personal theology.

I will digress briefly to note that while I am owner of the company in a legal sense, I consider it a shared enterprise with my wife Jody Neufeld, and we do all things by agreement. Publication is a “2 yesses or 1 no” situation. When you see the word “we” in this post, I’m referring to my wife and myself. We are not always enthusiastically in agreement about what we choose to publish, but if one of us says “This should not be published,” then it doesn’t get published by the company. She will read this post before I publish it. Further, we’re guided by certain people whose judgement we believe is sound. We don’t give such advisers an absolute veto, but we do listen to them very seriously and prayerfully before making our decisions.

There is one aspect of my personal theology that carries over 100% into Energion Publications and its mission: I believe that any issue is best discussed openly and without condemnation. There are certain issues that tend to bring condemnation on a person who even gives consideration to an opposing view. I would list here both homosexuality and the creation-evolution controversy. It is my intention to publish that which positively presents material that pushes the boundaries. (I’ve written about this previously in Why Did You Publish THAT Manuscript?)

I want to emphasize that my intention is not to publish debates, but rather positive expressions of views of various groups, preferably in practice. For example, Bruce Epperly’s book Healing Marks could draw debate from several quarters. From the more secular side he could be asked why he believes in prayer or healing at all. He takes on those who claim that Jesus did not actually heal. At the same time, his theology of healing is likely to make either evangelicals or charismatics a bit uncomfortable, though I would challenge my charismatic friends to see the similarities in his theology and their practice. But the important thing about this book is that it is presented not as a debate with either of those groups, but rather as a positive call to healing ministry for liberal, progressive, and mainline Christians. Indeed, Bruce makes the call to all Christians to be involved in healing ministry.

I laid this out in a home video some years ago that can be found on our mission statement page, but I would like to restate it here.

We have a doctrinal statement. Note that there are only four items on that doctrinal statement. Energion Publications is not a church or a fellowship. It has a mission, one I believe God has called me to carry out through this means of publishing. Those doctrinal points lay out the outer boundaries of the ground we’re trying to cover. As limited as they are, I still want to tell you that they are not intended to condemn those outside the boundaries. They are just the focus of the mission of this company.

In my video I reference three groups: Evangelicals, Charismatics, and Liberals/Progressives. It’s easy to stereotype these groups, and I’m trying to avoid that, but I see each pushing the boundaries as seen by the others. There are obviously many more groups, and if they fall within those boundaries and also push the way we think within them, they’re part of our mission as well.

Now just because something falls within the limits of the mission doesn’t mean we’re going to publish it. There is still manuscript quality, timeliness, logistics, and our ability to market a particular title. We’ll also be considering how effectively a particular manuscript pushes the boundaries, and how much need there is for that boundary to be tested.

I do not claim to be totally unbiased. Doubtless, my own views will impact how I read manuscripts. But it is not my intention at any time to make Energion Publications a means of proclaiming my personal theology to the world. I am willing, and even anxious, to provide a platform for views I oppose personally, but that fit within the mission of the company.

Last March we published a small study guide It’s in the Bag by Kimberly Gordon (also author of Energion fiction titles Prayer Trilogy, Allegheny Hideaway, and Please Love Me, all of which are on sale during the month of June). It’s in the Bag takes the likely contents of your purse and brings spiritual lessons from what’s found there. But it’s largely a book for the ladies. Guys can read it, of course. I did. But how many guys want to discuss spiritual lessons from lipstick?

So what we needed was an ordinary guy who loves Jesus, along with a similar idea aimed at the men of the church. Enter Greg May. Late last year we published his first book, Crewed Awakening, which provides a year of practical, down-to-earth devotions. Greg knows how to bring spiritual lessons out of the events of daily life.

And where do you look for the raw material for these lessons? Well, the toolbox! Where else?

Greg May got to work and soon we had the manuscript for this new study. Check it out and consider pre-ordering now. We’re offering a 30% discount until the first book ships, and that’s better even than our quantity discount for any number less than 50. Get your fall curriculum order in now!

This title will be released by the end of June, 2013.

Energion Publications

Our resident poet, Lee is a perfect match for whatever setting you find yourself in this summer. His poetry will add that imagination dimension to your relaxation. You will find yourself picking up his volume of poetry, noise flash, again and again.

The most prolific of our fiction writers, Kimberly will paint a picture of a time that you may think was easier and simpler. Her characters are real and relevant to our time and our own questions and events. Join Kimberly in the mountains of Pennsylvania in Allegheny Hideaway, the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in Prayer Trilogy, or the prairies of Iowa in Please Love Me.

The privileged life of Joshua Hawkins will take you from his life-changing encounter in an alley to a dimension that is terrifyingly real as Joshua learns what a life and death decision really is. Will he survive? Heath takes you on Joshua’s page-turning journey in The Traveler’s Advance.

Waking up on a beach after another lost night in alcohol, Sam McBride finds himself with a second chance opportunity, but it won’t be simple or easy. There are many characters in this story that may connect with you in your own life. Daniel will introduce you to real and imperfect people who must make choices to put their faith in God or in themselves. You will also meet angels and demons. Do you believe in them? You may want to answer that after reading Covenant.

Only someone who has grown up in what is known as the Bible Belt could write such a story with insight, humor, self-deprecation and reflection of what was in the Belt and what is now in the Belt. Nick offers no message, moral proclamation or agenda. What he does give is highlights of the truths of the Bible Belt culture and therefore he also performs a complete overhaul of its patrons’ thoughts and lifestyles for better or for worse in Megabelt.

Writer, publisher and teacher, Henry finds the writing of fiction relaxing but he can’t help sneaking in a lesson to be considered in his stories. Modern day parables of real life settings, dilemmas and events can give the reader some thoughts to ponder in Stories of the Way. Henry then crosses into another dimension in Tales from Jevlir: Oddballs, ten short stories that will weave the tapestry of this fantasy world.

Pamphlets

The Participatory Study Series grew out of two elements. The first was a series of pamphlets which were part of the package Jody and I bought when we started the company. We had both put work into these pamphlets. They were designed to provide short overviews of areas of Christian belief or practice that could be used as an introduction in churches. A key element of these pamphlets was a list of resources for further study.

We have neglected these pamphlets for some years. They are difficult to produce at a price that makes them affordable for churches. We never felt the need to make money on them, but we needed to cover expenses. So we’ve made them available as source files that people can print. But they haven’t been updated or improved in format, and some of them are somewhat ragged at the edges.

Over the next year we will be updating them; the process including utilizing a number of qualified people to review them. We don’t expect that everyone will agree on the contents of any particular pamphlet, but we want the pamphlets to be as useful as possible by reflecting the range of Christian beliefs on a subject and presenting resources one can use to follow that topic in various tradition streams. We won’t change the method of distribution. We will distribute each pamphlet as a free PDF file suitable for printing on any ordinary printer, including color. We will continue to allow such copying and printing with no need for special permission. We will keep these under copyright only to state that no one else can charge the basic content.

The catalog will include a bolded word REVISED in the description of pamphlets that have gone through this review and reformatting. Current pamphlets are available in Word or PDF format. The new ones will be available only as PDFs.

Books

At the other end of the spectrum we have the Participatory Study Series books. I have recently written about the work I’m doing on revising the first guide, my own study guide to the book of Hebrews. A number of people have come on board since I wrote that guide and the series has become much more than I had ever hoped when I released it.

Along with a general guide to the method, we now have guides to Hebrews, Revelation, Luke (Dr. Geoffrey Lentz), Ephesians (Dr. Bob Cornwall), and Philippians (Dr. Bruce Epperly). We have initiated topical study guides, something I had only dreamed of when the series began, with our first title being Eschatology: A Participatory Study Guide. I expect to add another guide to the topical list shortly.

Later this year we will release Ecclesiates: A Participatory Study Guide, to be written by Russell Meek. I have had a chance to review early lessons from this guide and I am very excited about it. It will display some of the methodology involved in intertextuality, and do so in a way that laypersons can understand and apply.

We don’t have precise dates, but we are expecting manuscripts on Acts (Dr. Wesley Wachob) and Colossians/Philemon (Dr. Allan Bevere) shortly.

If you are interested in writing for the Participatory Study Series, the only qualifications are that you can interact with current scholarship and at the same time bring the Word of God into the lives of people who are not necessarily scholars. There are a lot of volumes to be written!

Booklets

But I have long wanted something that falls between the extremes of books and pamphlets. These would provide the same sort of overview as the pamphlets, except that they would be more self-contained. While I would always encourage people to study further, for some, these pamphlets might provide the survey they need to understand what is going on in their congregation, denomination, or in the broader church.

So I’ve gotten started on getting authors for these booklets. There will be two distinct sets. The first will simply be expanded versions of existing pamphlets. For example, we have a pamphlet titled God the Creator, which surveys Christian views of origins. A booklet on this topic will simply expand this discussion to approximately 24 pages.

Recently new printing options for these small booklets have become available to us at Energion, and we’re going to take advantage of them. Using these methods we can provide the books at a suggested retail of just $4.99 with quantity discounts available to reduce this to as little as $3.24. In addition, we’re going to make these booklets available for various ebook platforms and price them at 99¢.

But we’re also going to add another branch to this series of booklets, priced in the same way. This second set of booklets will illustrate the scholarly methodology necessary to deal with particular issues. A good example of this is the issue of authorship. Many people read articles such as Bart Ehrman’s recent Who Wrote the Bible and Why it Matters (HT: Michael Patton). How does a reader evaluate such claims and counterclaims?

This series will provide short examples of scholars providing their arguments briefly enough and clearly enough so that others can learn by observing their example. I will not limit these to one particular perspective. The only requirement will be that the author makes a complete argument and demonstrates how such debates are conducted. I will prefer positions that challenge the mainstream, but do so using good scholarly procedure.

In pursuit of this goal, David Alan Black has agreed to revise his paper on the authorship of Hebrews in a few minor ways so as to make it a better educational tool. It will then provide the first of these booklets. Dave hasn’t quite convinced me of his position, but he has convinced me that he has covered all the bases, deserves to be heard more widely, and demonstrates good scholarship.

The last point is the key to this series of booklets. They must show the process and the logic used in making determinations such as these. Many people in our churches simply accept the statements of those scholars who are in their tradition or part of their community. They assume these are right. This is true whether a church is liberal or conservative, mainline or independent.

I will be posting announcements of individual volumes as the information is available. For now, if you would like to contribute to the series, you will need to write something short (or adapt a scholarly article) such that the people in the pew can benefit. The key is not that they need to benefit from your conclusion, but rather from observing your methodology. As long as you own the necessary rights, you can use material that has been published previously in a journal, though most journal articles will require some revision. Or you can write something new.

Be sure to like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter to keep up with these exciting new developments.

So this is your chance to get this new, revised and expanded edition.