Book Review of the Advancement by L Russ Bush

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First your review of The Advocacy: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Historic period

Mar twenty, 2014 Brent McCulley rated it did not similar it

Bush-league is quite scatterbrained and his thesis seems to jump around without warrant from one topic to the other. Moreover, i is not sure who this volume was written for seemingly trying to refute serious philosophical assumptions, simply and so quoting scripture well-nigh how the terminal days will exist dark as they are now. This volume was honestly quite sophomoric, and unscholarly. Would not recommend at all.

Jan 22, 2015 Wesley rated it information technology was ok

This book was awful. Bush is disorganized, following no logical pattern in his thinking. He likewise groups ii opposing perspectives, modernism and postmodernism, into i category and thinks his arguments are sufficient to answer both. He alienates those Christians who do non read the creation accounts in the Bible literally. The only skilful contribution he makes is when he points out some of the inconsistencies in modern, naturalistic thinking. I find Miracles by C.S. Lewis to infinitely more helpf This book was awful. Bush is disorganized, post-obit no logical pattern in his thinking. He also groups 2 opposing perspectives, modernism and postmodernism, into one category and thinks his arguments are sufficient to answer both. He alienates those Christians who practise not read the cosmos accounts in the Bible literally. The only good contribution he makes is when he points out some of the inconsistencies in modern, naturalistic thinking. I find Miracles by C.Due south. Lewis to infinitely more helpful on these topics. ...more than

L. Russ Bush (1944-2008) was a Southern Baptist professor, apologist, and philosopher. He served Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as Professor, Dean of Kinesthesia, and Vice-President. In 2006, he was appointed Dean of Faculty Emeritus and the first Director of the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Civilization. His commitment to biblical inerrancy and his acute bookish publications surrounding information technology safeguarded biblical inerrancy as Southern Baptist Convention doctrine. He is remembered for his

L. Russ Bush-league (1944-2008) was a Southern Baptist professor, apologist, and philosopher. He served Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary equally Professor, Dean of Faculty, and Vice-President. In 2006, he was appointed Dean of Faculty Emeritus and the beginning Director of the Fifty. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture. His commitment to biblical inerrancy and his astute academic publications surrounding it safeguarded biblical inerrancy every bit Southern Baptist Convention doctrine. He is remembered for his passion to integrate theology and culture, in hopes that the culture could be successfully evangelized for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In an effort to address the prevailing culture of modernism and moral relativism, Bush-league published his treatise entitled The Advancement: Keeping the Faith in an Evolutionary Age. This eight affiliate book exposes the philosophical flaws of naturalism, revealing its logical inconsistencies and antireligious sentiments. Finding the terms "modern" and "postmodern" ambiguous and dissatisfactory, Bush utilizes the title "the Advancement" to draw the secularism'due south aim of technological and scientific progress and its pass up in religious and moral development. His text is an impressive, progressive apologetic confronting naturalism and for God and His intelligent design. A brief summary and critique of the text volition exist given, including suggestions for future discussions in theology.

Affiliate i, "The Worldview of the Advancement," describes modernism and its forsaking of its spiritual, specifically Christian, origins. Bush compares the basic tenets of the Advancement to those of Christianity, highlighting Christianity'due south fundamental themes of stability in nature, spiritual warfare, and modify as a consequence of divine intervention to counter the Advancement's themes of inevitable progress, concrete struggle, and Darwinism.

Chapter 2, "The Rise of Advancement Science," is a dramatic telling of the ascension of the Advocacy, tracing its development from the scientific revolution inspired past the Copernican controversy to the emergence of uniformitarian thought and the evolutionary worldview of the modern twenty-four hour period.

Chapter iii, "The Advancement of the Theory of Cognition," forms a major portion of Bush-league'southward apologetic, in which Bush exposes the fallacies and inconsistencies of modernism'south claims regarding noesis and truth. He demonstrates that a worldview without God (or at minimum, an intelligent designer) loses its validity as a result of its own claims (i.east., the arguments utilized against religion tin can be utilized as even more than sufficient show against science). Chapter iv, "Modernistic Theistic Alternatives," discusses theology's failed try to integrate modernism into its doctrine and the error laden theologies such integration produces.

Chapter five, "What is Naturalistic Evolution?," details "Seven Assumptions of Evolutionary Biology and "Ten Axioms of Modernistic Scientific Thought," discussing the underlying theories that constitute naturalistic development and modernism. Chapter 6, "Why Not Naturalistic Evolution?," exposes the weaknesses of the Advancement'due south position, including "Five Unproblematic Objections to Naturalistic Evolution." Affiliate 7, "Why Non Advancement?," uncovers the illusionary nature of the Advocacy, suggesting that the implications of the modernistic worldview discredit their own theses. Bush concludes his text with the eighth chapter, "What then are we to believe?" in which he argues for Christian-based theism and defends Christ's claims referencing C.S. Lewis' "trilemma."

Bush'due south critique of the Advancement is indeed warranted; the logical inconsistencies of mod thinking are apparent to objective readers educated in matters of philosophy and theology. The Advancement is more often than not reader friendly, though not equally accessible as W.Eastward. Brown of Freedom University suggests in his review. Bush's writing fashion requires familiarity with academic tone and fashion and proficiency in following somewhat complex rational arguments. This writer is non suggesting that the laity would not capeesh this text; in fact, the common reader would do good greatly to grasp Bush's arguments and employ them in conversation with scientifically minded modernists and postmodernists. Still, The Advancement remains complex plenty to remain off the shelves of popular booksellers and sufficiently formal to intimidate many laypersons. While intellectual proficiency ought not to be a accuse against Bush, one must call back that the battle against the Advocacy is most often fought in the trenches of daily life betwixt coworkers, colleagues, and friends. Wise Christian leaders will arm the masses rather than the intellectual aristocracy.

Bush utilizes the term "the Advocacy" to supervene upon modernism and postmodernism for he feels "Modern seems strangely old-fashioned, and Postmodern is surely a temporary name." While he may exist correct that postmodern volition prove to be a temporary title for the electric current era, in utilizing one term ("Advocacy") to describe both modernism and postmodernism, Bush unnecessarily and inappropriately unites two very different philosophical perspectives. Modernity holds that there is "objective, absolute and knowable truth" and such truth is ascertained through empiricism and the scientific method. Postmodernity, on the hand, teaches a "deconstruction of objective truth and rationality;" truth cannot be held in absolute statements, but "is a matter of perspective simply; it is something that individuals and communities construct, primarily through language." Modernism and postmodernism are two entirely dissever philosophies that produce unlike implications and worldviews. In a pluralistic historic period where many individuals concoct their ain adaptations of spirituality and religion by drawing elements from one organized religion and perspectives from another, it is feasible to conclude that there are many postmodernists who hold to modernism in relation to scientific discipline and academia merely agree to postmodernity in morality and law. To this signal, Bush-league does no harm past placing modernity and postmodernism under the same philosophical umbrella. However, Bush errs in his failure to properly distinguish the two philosophies. Perhaps this is why his argument seems to ebb and period against modernism and postmodernism equally he is uncertain as to which exactly he is opposing. The chief purpose of the text, to expose the flaws of naturalism and evolutionary worldviews, is an apology confronting modernism.

The Advancement does well in its stance against integrating modernism with theology. Bush-league indicts open theism and procedure theology, whose analogousness for naturalistic and evolutionary science influences its agreement of God'southward nature rather than assuasive the opposite to occur. The notion that God is in process because the earth and its man occupants are in procedure is the consequence of anthropocentric absurdity and a rejection of the inerrant inspiration of the Scriptures. As gimmicky Christianity continues to flirt with heresies guised equally alternative theologies and postmodern doctrines, Bush-league'south vocalization is a light in the darkness beckoning the children of God to return domicile from their dissipated tour through secular humanism and naturalism.

Bibliography

Brown, William E. "Review: The Advancement: Keeping Faith in an Evolutionary Age," Faculty Publications and Presentations, Paper 242, (Spring 2005): 154-156, accessed April twenty, 2014, http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts....

Bush-league, L. Russ. The Advancement: Keeping the Organized religion in an Evolutionary Historic period. Nashville: B&H Bookish, 2003.

Groothius, Douglas. Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Instance for Biblical Faith. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Printing, 2011.

Southeastern Baptist Seminary L. Russ Bush Heart for Religion and Culture. "Fifty. Russ Bush." Accessed April 20, 2014, http://www.sebts.edu/faithandculture/....

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Sep sixteen, 2019 Jeff rated it did not like information technology

A couple quick thoughts now, more to come perhaps as I my ideas go on to percolate.

On the i mitt, I appreciate the piece of work Bush-league is trying to practise (defend a Christian metaphysic from a Naturalistic metaphysic) and call up that he points up some excellent thoughts in the form of the volume.

On the other mitt, I recall there are some serious issues nowadays in the advice of his thoughts.
i. Bush-league seems to accept multiple audiences in mind for his book, leaving it with the feeling of randomly skipping

A couple quick thoughts at present, more to come up maybe as I my ideas continue to percolate.

On the one manus, I appreciate the piece of work Bush-league is trying to exercise (defend a Christian metaphysic from a Naturalistic metaphysic) and call back that he points up some splendid thoughts in the course of the book.

On the other mitt, I think there are some serious issues present in the advice of his thoughts.
1. Bush seems to have multiple audiences in mind for his book, leaving it with the feeling of randomly skipping between genres. My estimate is that information technology was intended for either a lay audience, or the students of a Christian university. What this means, though, is that we get a mix of philosophical text and sermon all mixed together. At times Bush engages with ideas and arguments which he seems to presume y'all are familiar with, leading to extended discussions on technical details of a position which practise not appear to have an immediate begetting on the text. Additionally, he often jumps directly from philosophical speculation to sounding like he is preaching from a pulpit, dropping in proof-texts with little, if any, exam or explanation.
2. In an try to focus his arguments, Bush bundles all of modern and postmodern idea into one overarching category. In theory, this seems like it should work since both operate from a roughly naturalistic metaphysic. In reality, the 2 schools of idea head in rather different directions. This leaves Bush's text jumping dorsum and forth, trying to address differing perspectives, merely without a betoken of reference to explain why the jumps are needed.
iii. Bush uses his endnotes poorly. Nosotros are explicitly told that some of his best arguments are in the stop notes, and quite a few of them run on for a good page.
4. The text itself is besides rather repetitious, without any articulate reason or need to recover the same ground.
v. The use of scare quotes in the preface is terrible and completely undermines the academic gravitas of the balance of the book. They give the preface a sarcastic and condescending feel, though since this tone isn't present in the remainder of the book, I'g willing to consider the option that the preface was poorly edited and missed on the nomenclature which is generally used through the remainder of the book.

These are flash thoughts, which might conform as I go along to recall about the volume, but for now at least you have my initial impressions. In whatever case, I would not recommend this book. The ground it covers can be better approaches through other authors.

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Nov 17, 2019 Rebecca Ray rated it really liked information technology

Book 190 of 2019. In this book, Bush argues against Darwinian naturalism from a history of ideas perspective. He also argues against postmodernism every bit well as progress and advancement through discussions of the history of god ideas, and he reveals that much of what is termed postmodernism should exist considered late modernism. He also makes the claim that spiritual progress is no further forth than it was before the enlightenment.

I know the above is a disjointed summary, just there are a lot of big

Book 190 of 2019. In this book, Bush argues confronting Darwinian naturalism from a history of ideas perspective. He also argues against postmodernism besides as progress and advocacy through discussions of the history of god ideas, and he reveals that much of what is termed postmodernism should be considered belatedly modernism. He besides makes the claim that spiritual progress is no farther along than it was earlier the enlightenment.

I know the above is a disjointed summary, but there are a lot of big ideas in this slim book. He bounces from place to identify and provides many assertions and proofs in both the text and his all-encompassing footnotes.

I tend to hold with him that most "postmodernism" is merely tardily modernism. I'm pretty sold on that. He has an interesting accept on Darwinism as a production of Enlightenment thinking, and despite the fact that he does not support evolutionary theory, I respect his separation of the "fact of development" from the "theory of natural selection." In that location are a lot of places to go with the ideas. I think he does an interesting job of attacking the scientific metanarrative, and although I'm not completely convinced, I exercise find myself wanting to do more than reading in this area of both Darwin and his detractors. It'due south an intriguing and thought provoking book.

For the armchair theologian: Bush's writing is fairly opaque. He assumes the reader knows a big amount of theology and scientific theory. I have read paragraphs and notes over and over once again and still occasionally drawn a blank. In fact, I have ii pieces of writing due based on ideas in this book in the side by side two weeks and really wish I had time to reread the book alee of writing. I'd stay away from this ane unless y'all have a background in philosophy and/or philosophy of scientific discipline.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#gradschoolreads #seminary #theunreadshelfproject2019 #scienceandfaith #books #bookstagram #theadvancement

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Apr 27, 2020 Brittany J. rated it it was amazing

This volume was a required text for a specific course- and it was phenomenal.

The author presented his information conspicuously and concisely without skating effectually any bushes or skipping any potholes. His presentation and content were sound and consummate and did non shy away from the hard questions.

Anyone interested in apologetics, Christian or otherwise, would benefit from this reading.

Nov 12, 2018 Roger rated it really liked it

I read this equally a required textbook for an introductory graduate class in Christian Apologetics. It offers a short, to the signal critique of the Materialist-Naturalist worldview from an evangelical Christian perspective. Although information technology is non exhaustive, it offers some poignant reflections about the implications and effects of a non-theistic, materialist worldview.

Makes a peachy case against 19th and 20th century notion of progress in liberal and atheistic circles. Bush combats the naturalistic assumption that humanity is generally getting better, and contends for the reverse. A good mix of Christianity, scientific discipline, philosophy, and historiography.

Nov 24, 2017 Cindy rated it information technology was astonishing

I had to read this as part of my Apologetics class at Liberty Academy! I was a great book nigh sharing the Christian Organized religion in today's modern world that has a worldview Bush calls the Advancement (age). I highly recommend it! I had to read this as part of my Apologetics class at Freedom University! I was a slap-up book nearly sharing the Christian Faith in today's mod world that has a worldview Bush calls the Advancement (historic period). I highly recommend it! ...more

February 11, 2010 Jason rated it liked it

To start off, allow me say I had to read this book. I don't think that I would accept read it otherwise. Simply I enjoyed it. The volume is all well-nigh understanding the modernistic viewpoint of life and how that affects our faith. I found this volume a little dated but I respect the idea that Dr. Bush (who was a professor at Southeastern where I go)was trying to put along.

If you are interested in scientific discipline and how it relates to Christianity, this might be a good book for you. (Might be considering there are probably

To start off, permit me say I had to read this book. I don't think that I would have read it otherwise. Simply I enjoyed it. The book is all almost understanding the modern viewpoint of life and how that affects our organized religion. I found this volume a little dated but I respect the idea that Dr. Bush (who was a professor at Southeastern where I get)was trying to put along.

If y'all are interested in science and how it relates to Christianity, this might be a skillful book for y'all. (Might be because in that location are probably more readable ones out at that place). If you are not interested in sciene, don't bother with this one. Information technology was hard to find too.

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December xiv, 2014 Ray Ruppert rated it really liked it

The Advancement is Bush's terminology for the current worldview. He does a good chore of analyzing various theologies and how they influence this "advocacy" which is a result of the religion of science. He discusses various theistic options such equally process theology and open up theism. His conclusion is "Advancement thought is like allurement, attractive to the hungry fish just with a hook in it. It captures the mind simply leads to despair. Eventually it undermines the technology that makes it at first appe The Advancement is Bush's terminology for the electric current worldview. He does a good job of analyzing diverse theologies and how they influence this "advancement" which is a result of the religion of science. He discusses diverse theistic options such as process theology and open theism. His conclusion is "Advancement idea is similar bait, attractive to the hungry fish but with a claw in information technology. It captures the listen simply leads to despair. Somewhen information technology undermines the technology that makes it at first appear to be truth"(pg 109). ...more than

Apr 08, 2020 Canon rated it did non similar it

Ravings of a Christian-worldview disciplinarian.

Sep 23, 2013 Tiffany rated information technology actually liked it

Gives Christians testify, tools, and resources needed to defend their faith and find a connection between scientific discipline and God.

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