The Dawn of Death: The Bible and Our Mortal Bodies

Why do we die? Why will your life eventually come to an end even without fatal injury or illness? As far as any of us stop to ponder this question two alternative answers are common. Either we and all living things die because something has gone wrong since human life first came into being or we die because all living things die in evolutionary and generational succession. The first of these answers is a widespread Christian one based on an understanding of the Fall. The second is the picture given by science. The Dawn of Death charts a course between these two answers as to why we die. It examines in depth the Bible passages and the science that lie behind them. The author draws a carefully considered conclusion and reflects on how this fits within Christian belief. Why do we die? Simon Howard answers this question from a variety of independent perspectives in this tightly written exploration of death. He delves into palaeoanthropology biology and psychology and includes extremely helpful exegesis of key texts in the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. This is a bold piece of focused scholarship that sets a clear agenda for further work on death. --Bethany Sollereder Faculty of Theology and Religion University of Oxford If you are looking for a book thats careful to push all the traditional buttons and that beats a deafening drum for literalism put this book down. But if you want a well qualified and patient tutor to walk you through the scenarios on death in our species from fossils to Genesis to Romans and how these understandings might relate to each other theologically--this is what youre looking for. --Deryck Sheriffs MA Tutor London School of Theology Bringing theology into conversation with science and Biblical scholarship Howard makes a clear concise and compelling argument that Christians can no longer believe that physical death entered the world subsequent to creation. This is a thought-provoking volume that lays the foundation for a generative discussion on the theological implications of abandoning the myth of our immortality lost. --Peter Slade Professor of Religion Ashland University; author of Open Friendship in a Closed Society: Mission Mississippi and a Theology of Friendship Rarely has utmost clarity of expression met this admirably with profundity of content in a single book. --Jason Lepojarvi Research Fellow in Theology St. Benets Hall Oxford University Death is a much-discussed topic in both theology and philosophy. This book takes on a limited but fundamental part of this discussion: what does the Bible say about death and can it be reconciled with contemporary natural science? His calm and balanced argumentation will be useful even to those who disagree with some of the books conclusions. --Erkki Kojonen author of The Intelligent Design Debate and the Temptation of Scientism (Routledge 2016) Simon Howard is a tutor in the BA program at a UK seminary. He is author of a distance-learning course on the relationship between science and Christian belief. He has graduate degrees in Biochemistry and Theology.