Book Review 1

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Jan 9, 2024

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Book Review 1: Psalm 104: In Wisdom You Made Them All Presented by: Patricia A. Young In her book ‘ Psalm 104: In Wisdom You Made Them All,’ Krista Kay Bontrager, along with Fazale Rana, explores the creation themes of Psalm 104. Krista Kay Bontrager is the Dean of Online Learning at Reasons to Believe. She is a teacher at heart and enjoys teaching Bible to all ages. Fazale Rana is the Vice President of Research and Apologetics at Reasons to Believe. He is the author of several groundbreaking books, including ‘Creating Life in the Lab’ and ‘The Cell’s Design.’ Psalm 104 presents a magnificent picture of God as creator and a dynamic view of the world God made. The main subject of this Psalm is the order of the world and the sovereignty of God who created and maintains it. There is definitely a noticeable connection between Genesis 1, and Psalm 104 which offers a poetic mediation on key themes presented in the first chapter of the Bible. Additionally, Psalm 104 presents unique parallel passage to Genesis 1, along with passages from Job 38 and Proverbs 8. In some cases, it offers a broader description of events that transpired on certain creation days. In order to interpret and dissect Psalm 104, the authors points out that there must be ground rules to interpret and dissect Psalm 104. For example, Bontrager identifies several literary techniques used by the Psalmist such as poetry, parallelism, imagery, and anthropomorphism. The authors also breakdown the the Psalm into ‘sense units,’ which makes it easy for the reader to understand the delineation of themes within the Chapter. These lay out a timeline for God’s creative work. Bontrager mentions in the booklet the viewpoints of young-earth creationists and how they view this passage of Scripture. However, she prefers the old-earth perspective and puts forth several arguments to support her stance. For example, in exploring the account of creation day 4, the timing of the order of the 1

creation of Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the stars are mentioned. Bontrager states that while those favoring young-earth ideology believe that Earth was created first, old-earth proponents consider this a description of the increasing visibility of heavenly bodies as the atmosphere became more transparent over time. In another example, Bontrager points out the account of the flood of Noah in light of its mention in Psalm 104. She argues that the young-earth creationist's believe that the flood covered the entire world. But the Psalm reference that the flood waters will never again cover the earth. A strength of the booklet is how Bontrager and Rana, include sections referred to as ‘Science Integration.’ In these, the authors presents salient arguments for interpreting Scripture based on scientific evidence from the disciplines of astronomy, geology, and geography. These provide the reader with a clear understanding of the best interpretation of the Psalm and other references to the creation story in Job and Proverbs. Finally, the Psalmist engages in s back-and-forth rhythm, toggling between the creation days of Genesis 1 and his current observation of the creation. For example, Psalm 104:7-9 discusses events that correspond to creation day 3 in the Genesis 1 chronology, followed immediately (in verse 10-13) by events that correspond to days 5 and 6, when animal's and humans were created. This pattern results in a few moment of mingling between the creation story and the Psalmist’s contemporary observations. This back-and-forth nature of the poem makes interpreting the passages somewhat complicated at times, but it also adds value. As a follower of Christ and Chaplain, I recommend this booklet to for believers and non-believers. For me this booklet provided me with encouragement to look around and admire the beauty of this world. It stands as a reminder to meditate 2

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