This volume has as its subtitle, "Why A Global Flood Is Vital to the Doctrine of the Atonement." When I first read this, I had to make sure that my eyes were correctly focusing, since, at first reading, the question did not make any sense?or, using a more contemporary expression, this statement did not compute.

What could a purported major worldwide geological event, which is supposed to have occurred within the last 10,000 years, and for which there is little scientific evidence, have to do with a complex theological concept that has been the subject of debate among Christian theologians for more than fifteen hundred years? The editor of the volume states it as follows: "What impact, if any, does the answer to?questions about the extent and effect of the biblical flood have upon our salvation?" (p. 11)

I assumed initially that since I lack formal theological training, my puzzlement was a function of my ignorance. So I read on, hoping that I would be able to gain an insight about how an understanding of the geological column could have anything to do with a Christian's view of salvation--or as the volume's editor expressed it, "What do sedimentary layers have to do with Calvary? (p. 120). I also read on to be able to contrast and compare the positions taken in this treatment with those expressed by other Adventist authors in another recently published book?Creation Reconsidered; Scientific, Biblical, and Theological Perspectives, a volume
edited by James Hayward of Andrews University and published by the Association of Adventist Forums.

Creation, Catastrophe and Calvary contains a foreword, an introduction, and nine chapters by eight authors. Chapter 6, "The Geologic Column and Calvary: The Rainbow Connection," written by the editor, presents the essential message of the book. It is that how one interprets the origin of the geologic column i.e., whether it was deposited over millions of years or very rapidly in a worldwide deluge "can either support or demolish the gospel." (p. 121). Why is this? A worldwide flood "geologically establishes the needed causal connection between human sin and all death by burying animals into the geologic column subsequent to Adam's sin, thus confirming the truth of the biblical claim that all death is the wage of sin." (p. 115).

He further argues that "if geology shows that the biblical claim of the causal relationship between Adam's sin and the death of animals is false, we could ask on what grounds would the biblical claim about the historicity of the causal connection between Adam's sin and his death as outlined in the fall narrative be true? (p. 113). This reviewer would argue that this is an excellent question. What indeed is the "biblical" claim on this point? More to the point, is it a "biblical claim" or a claim developed within a particular fundamentalist-oriented hermeneutic?

Why must this flood be worldwide? Because the "forgiveness of human sin seems to depend in part upon the historicity and universality of the flood." (p. 115). If a worldwide flood never occurred, then geology would "undermine the atoning power of Calvary." (p. 115). If "?fossils in the geologic column lived and died for millions of years before the appearance of Adam and his sin, the geologic column destroys the causal relation between sin and human death?" (p. 113). "Because the conventional interpretation [i.e., a scientific interpretation] of the geologic column [denies] any causal relationship between animal death and human sin, [this undermines] the atoning or sin-forgiving power of Jesus? death." A local, Near-Eastern flood also "undermines the atonement" because it is "unable to produce the existing global geologic column" (p. 119).

Some readers might wonder about the subtitle of the chapter: "The Rainbow Connection." The rainbow, which is used by one of the writers/editors of Genesis as a symbol to signify the resolve of the deity to never again destroy humanity by water, is employed by Dr. Baldwin as a sign of "God's global, geologic column-producing flood?" (p. 120). We are informed that the "message of the rainbow for the geologist today" is that the geological column did not form "over billions of years, but came into being rapidly by means of the divinely initiated, unimaginably violent, planet-wide flood described in Genesis 6-9." (p. 120).

In an introductory chapter, Dr. Baldwin also provides an exegesis of Revelation 14:7 to conclude that it provides an "implied specific endorsement" (p. 35, footnote 11) for a six-day creation, the "need for a global flood . . . [and] a hermeneutic that interprets the early narratives of Genesis in a literal, historical fashion." (p. 33). Some readers may find it fascinating that this expansive interpretation is obtained from a single verse of biblical text.

The other chapters in the volume provide supporting and confirming interpretations to bolster the core message. For example, in the chapter by the late Gerhard Hasel, it is argued that the "days" of Genesis 1 are literal days. Randall Younker insists that Genesis 1 and 2 are fully compatible creation accounts. Richard Davidson argues that the writer of Genesis views the flood as a "worldwide event." Regretfully, Dr. Davidson never addresses the question of whether "worldwide" would mean the same thing to an ancient Near Eastern writer that it now means to a modern reader. (Those interested in a more comprehensive and better reasoned treatment of this issue may wish to read Raymond Cottrell's discussion on the "Extent of the Genesis Flood" included in the Creation Reconsidered volume noted above.)

A chapter by Ariel Roth on the geology of the Grand Canyon expresses his faith that a global flood produced the geologic column. In Norman Gulley's "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," we have a theologian who wishes to lecture us about science and confidently proclaims that Seventh-day Adventists "believe that Satan lies behind the various forms of evolutionary theory." Unfortunately, he never tells us how he has determined what all SDAs believe on this topic.

What is a nontheologian to make of such a book? This volume vividly demonstrates the principle that most of us are lifelong prisoners of our presuppositions. Dr. Baldwin views salvation in terms of a "blood atonement" process, ignoring the number of alternative explanations of the Christian salvation motif. The other contributors to this book apparently share his view?a position that, along with biblical inerrancy, is one of the historic cornerstones of classic Protestant fundamentalism. For example, the author of the foreword, Harold Coffin, suggests that the "core of the gospel" is the "substitutionary death of Christ." The cynic in me sees this book as the product of an intellectual "panic attack" as certain Adventist theologians and others of traditional orientation realize that more and more informed and educated members of their faith community can no longer ignore the massive weight of both scientific evidence and theological scholarship that does not square with traditional SDA understandings of the opening chapters of Genesis. One wonders if Dr. Baldwin and the other writers whose contributions are included in this volume would feel more comfortable living in the 18th century?perhaps at the same time as William Paley?a time when pesky scientific data did not complicate one's theological conjectures.

On the positive side, Dr. Baldwin calls for all participants in the dialogue on this subject to "place all issues onto the table for discussion" (p. 11), to "exercise genuine respect, love, and courtesy to one another, and to demonstrate an openness to new ideas." (p.116). All can endorse and subscribe to these fine and helpful sentiments. Regretfully, the views expressed in most of the rest of this volume reflect a fundamentalist hermeneutic that is both scientifically and theologically problematic. '