Tuesday, March 5, 2024

My Three E-Books

I have just updated my book God and Cosmos: A Christian View of Time, Space, and the Universe. All three of my books are now available, free of charge, as e-books. To download the pdf files, just click on the links below. For some reason google.drive, where the pdf files are stored, can't handle epub files. If you prefer that format, please send me an email at byl@twu.ca. If you spot any typos or have any comments, please send me an email as well.

1. God and Cosmos: A Christian View of Time, Space, and the Universe. 

Download the pdf file here











Cosmology is the most important subject in the world.

Why? Because it is the story of the entire world: its origin, structure, purpose, and destiny. As people in that world, its story necessarily forms the background for our own personal story. It concerns our deepest beliefs, values, and hopes.

Our cosmology forms the basis for our response to the most fundamental questions about our existence. Our cosmological beliefs shape our morality, religion, and culture. They largely influence our worldview.

Our prime aim is to examine and develop cosmology from a Christian perspective. Very briefly, Christianity holds that God created, from nothing, a two-realm universe consisting of both a visible and a heavenly part, whose history follows God’s glorious plan. The original creation was good. It culminated in the creation of Adam, created in the image of God, to serve him and glorify Him. Unhappily, Adam’s fall into sin corrupted man, along with the entire physical world. Happily, man can be redeemed through the gracious work of Christ. After the Day of Judgment, believers will be transformed to rule with Christ on a renewed Earth cleansed from sin and corruption.

The main challenger to Christian cosmology is Big Bang cosmology, the mainstream secular cosmology currently embraced by most Western scientists and scholars.

This book aims to probe beyond the usual questions of origins and to dig deeper into various underlying philosophical and theological issues. The emphasis will be on the philosophical presuppositions and theological implications of modern cosmology, on the one hand, and, on the other, the significance of the Bible for cosmology.

To be accessible to the general reader, I assume no prior technical knowledge of cosmology. Although specific cosmological models tend to be highly mathematical, this book has only a few simple equations. 


2. The Divine Challenge: On Matter, Mind, Math, and Meaning. 

Download the pdf file here












This book is about the war between God and fallen man. It concerns the double challenge, between God and man, to establish who will rule. The war will be addressed at the level of competing worldviews, and their ability to explain reality and assign meaning. The battleground will range over the realms of matter, mind, and math.

The prime purpose is the apologetic one of showing the superiority of the Christian worldview over its main competitors. The main thesis is that only Christianity offers a cohesive, meaningful worldview. The challenges of modern naturalism and post-modern relativism ultimately self-destruct.

This book is addressed to the intelligent non-expert. Although the discussion will range over various issues in science, math, philosophy, and theology, no prior knowledge of these disciplines is assumed. The aim is to convey the basic thrust of the arguments in non-technical language, as simply as possible. Nevertheless, some of these issues are very subtle, requiring the reader's close attention.

3. How Should Christians Approach Origins?  

Download the pdf file here.

Its description is as follows:

Are you related to apes? Is Adam just a myth? Is evolution a fact? Is the earth billions of years old? Has science disproven the plain reading of the Bible, particularly concerning origins? Many Christians think so.

This booklet explores the nature of science and the influence of naturalism. It examines pertinent scientific evidence and biblical texts. It shows how basic Christian doctrines are grounded in the historicity of biblical events. It defends the traditional, plain-sense reading of Genesis.

Much is at stake. Pastors, Bible teachers, church leaders, and students need to embrace a Christian worldview that fully upholds God's Word as the ultimate authority. This booklet provides a solid beginning toward this goal.

*****

3 comments:

Dave Van said...

Thanks for these. I look forward to reading. Much appreciated.
Dave Van

john byl said...

You're welcome, Dave.

Anonymous said...

Thank you sir, I will read your book since you have been my lecturer at TBI- Kapchorwa Uganda