George Javor has taught biochemistry to medical students for many years. These years of teaching have prepared him to explain with clarity and authority the themes of biochemistry as they relate to the question of life’s origin. Not surprisingly his new book does an excel- lent job of explaining and applying aspects of biochemistry salient to creation.

The book is divided into three sections dealing with themes from cosmology, biology and biochemistry. Of these, the section on biochemistry stands out. The cosmology and biology sections contain interesting information which may be salient to the question of creation and evolution, but the chapters are so brief that large leaps in logic are encouraged. For example, most Christians who object to human cloning will not find the basis of their objections addressed in Chapter 11, “Cloning and the Christian.” The final sentence gives a taste of what is being said, “We believe that it is God’s desire that the increased scientific knowledge of the end-time should be exclusively for the benefit of humanity” (89). Most Christians would be happy to see increased scientific knowledge benefit the rest of the creation along with humanity.

There is much to praise about this book. There are also shortcomings. Several of the seventeen chapters would benefit from competent copy editing. Furthermore, the chapters do not come across as cohesive parts of the same document. But possibly the most valuable point George Javor makes is that, while chemicals naturally tend toward a state of equilibrium, life is a state of chemical disequilibrium. From a biochemist’s perspective, we are dead when we reach equilibrium.

The final chapters on Evidences for Creation do an excellent job of explaining this in terms an educated layman can understand. They go on to lay out clearly the implications of this view of life. Unlike the arguments against Darwinian evolution in earlier chapters, life as a state of chemical disequilibrium is a genuinely positive evidence for creation. Because chemical disequilibrium is laid out so clearly, these final chapters make Evidences for Creation worthy of a place in the libraries of pastors and others who are not scientists, but wish to understand the biochemical evidence for creation.