HOME SCHOOL BOOK REVIEW
Book: Genes, Genesis, and Evolution
Author: John W. Klotz
Publisher: Concordia Publishing House, second edition published in 1970
ISBN-13: 978-0570032120
ISBN-10: 0570032121 Language level: 1
(1=nothing objectionable; 2=common euphemisms and/or childish slang terms; 3=some cursing or profanity; 4=a lot of cursing or profanity; 5=obscenity and/or vulgarity)
Reading level: Ages 16 and up
Rating: 5 stars (EXCELLENT)
Reviewed by Wayne S. Walker
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Klotz, John W. Genes, Genesis, and Evolution (published in 1955 by Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, MO). When I was in college, I took a great course entitled “Evolution and the Bible.” The revised edition, published in 1970 with second printing in 1972, of this excellent book was our textbook. I still have it and was reminded of it recently by the death of our professor. With a doctorate in biology from the University of Pittsburgh, author John W. Klotz was a professor and chairman of the Division of Natural Science at Concordia Senior College in Ft. Wayne, IN. In his Introduction, he says, “Scientists pride themselves on being fair, objective, open-minded, and unprejudiced. Yet science also has its sacred cows, and today one of these is the theory of evolution. Any attack or criticism of the theory as such is regarded as a part of the cult of antiscientism….It is the author’s thesis that evolution in the generally accepted sense of the term has not taken place.”
The first two chapters deal with science and Scripture and with the history of evolutionary theories. Succeeding chapters discuss the species problem, days of creation and age of the earth, evidences for evolution, fossils, natural selection, suggested mechanisms for evolution, human evolution, special types of evolution, evolutionary history of plants and animals, and problems for the evolutionist. Bringing together the most recent research and findings of biology, anthropology, and archaeology, Klotz builds his case even more conclusively against evolution, refuting the idea of “the development of higher organisms from lower” and arguing for “a finite amount of change within fixed and closed systems.” There may be a few specific observations in the book with which some modern creationists might disagree, but in general we can appreciate the work set forth which attacks those who would easily substitute unproven scientific theories for the Biblical pronouncements about the origin of life and man.
Genes, Genesis, and Evolution is quite scholarly, with copious end notes for each chapter to cite sources for every statement made and an extensive index, making it suitable for use as a college textbook, or perhaps for an advanced high school student, yet it is also written in an easy-to-read style which allows it to be accessible and useful to just about anyone. Through the years, whenever I would be preparing lessons, classes, or other materials on the subject of evolution, I have often referred to this book, which in 1956 was named by the American Library Association Religious Books Round Table to its list of The Fifty Outstanding Religious Books of 1955-1956. So far as I know, no newer edition of the book has been published than the one I have. I would assume that many more modern discoveries could be added, but I would also think that a lot of Klotz’s arguments are still valid.
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