It's widely assumed these days that Science holds the answer, not just to our questions about the material universe, but to our questions about everything. This is because the material universe is all that is believed to exist, and since Science is supposed to be the only way to learn about physical reality, it is the only way to know about anything that exists.

These are all assumptions rooted in the presupposition that God does not exist, and has not revealed himself. The modern view of science as the only means to true knowledge has led people to just assume that anything that it cannot prove doesn't exist, and since God cannot be proved by science (being a spirit, not a material being) he is assumed not to exist.

But God does exist, and he has revealed himself. He's revealed himself in his inspired Word, the Bible, and it is there that he gives us the true history of the human race, the meaning of life and death, and the only way of salvation through Jesus Christ. God, the creator, made all things and is controlling history to his desired end.

The big question then is, Can God and Science coexist? Not if Science is the only acceptable way to know anything—in that case, we'd have to make one box for Science and another box for God and keep them separate forever. In the Christian worldview, however, all things belong to God, even science, and we can therefore study it in light of what God has revealed.

This doesn't mean we use the Bible as a science textbook. There is very little the Bible remarks upon by way of science, and most of that has to do with origins. But when we pick up a science textbook, we read it through the lens of God's Word, in which all things are subservient to God, including science. Such subservience is at the very heart of Master Book Science.

How Do These Work?

Update: As Master Book's science curriculum has developed, it has gone from the mix of books described below to something more cohesive. There are now three sets of books that could be considered a K-12 curriculum, with the books described below usable as alternate or supplemental offerings. Let's Talk Science for K-3, God's Design series (originally AiG) for 4-8, and Master's Class High School Science for 9-12 each need their own reviews.

The Master Book Science series isn't a complete curriculum by itself, nor is it a single series. Rather, it's a group of products all designed to bring students to the understanding that Christians can do science, and that the facts of the material world do align with the Christian belief in divine creation better than they support the theory of evolution.

For elementary through high school students, the Wonders of Creation Series offers a number of full-color, glossy-paged books about various specific topics like astronomy, weather, caves, ecology, fossils, and more. These books contain a mixture of hard science and creationist apologetics, with lots of beautiful photographs, illustrations, diagrams, and more.

Each book also has a consumable workbook (available for free download on the Master Books website) which helps students internalize what they've learned as well as helping them to think critically. The books in this series are all written by professionals in their various fields (for instance, an actual astronomer wrote the text on astronomy).

Building Blocks in Science and Building Blocks in Life Science, both by Gary Parker, can be used as introductions to general science and biology for middle and high school students, or they can be used to show students who've already studied these to integrate their knowledge into a more creation-oriented worldview.

Both volumes double as textbooks and consumable workbooks, in which students read text and answer a number of questions, mostly relating what they've read to a Christian worldview. Parents are encouraged to discuss these questions with their kids, but this isn't a prerequisite for finishing the course.

For older students who have studied the various branches of science already, the By Design Series offers challenging material that uses science to show that evolution is by no means a fact, and that creation is a perfectly viable solution to the problem of origins and the age of the earth.

Presented as textbooks with a workbook component, each of these three volumes is written by a field professional who is also a Christian and a creationist. Human anatomy, cosmology, and geology are all taught in-depth and tied to the Christian and young earth creationist worldviews. These are difficult texts, but rewarding for older students and adults alike.

Finally, the Parent Lesson Planner (PLP) Guides offer high school students a more formal way to study various texts for school credit. There are PLP guides for the Wonders of Creation Series, Unveiling the Kings of Israel and Unwrapping the Pharaohs, the Exploring Science series by John Hudson Tiner, Evolution: The Grand Experiment, and others.

Every PLP Guide includes weekly lesson plans, student worksheets, quizzes and tests, an answer key, and information on how long the Guide should take to complete and how many high school credits it's worth. These Guides allow students to work on their own with ease and turn supplemental books into actual curriculum options.

Our Honest Opinion

As part of God's creation, the physical world must be studied, and we strongly agree with the idea that Christians are some of the people best suited to do this study since Christian scientists actually see the world as it is. Christians are increasingly marginalized within the sciences, and books like these are refreshing.

They're also frustrating. While we're creationists at Exodus Books, we also understand the limits of evidence to prove that God is and that he made the world. God reveals himself in nature, but it is the preached Word of the Bible—not a bunch of fossil "proof"—that brings men and women to belief and repentance.

These Master Book Science volumes do contain a lot of good science, and they contain some good apologetics, but they also contain a lot of apologetics masquerading as science and vice versa (an accusation the authors, particularly Gary Parker, often level against their evolutionist counterparts).

We like the Wonders of Creation Series and the By Design Series the best. The authors of these books seem aware of the danger inherent in trying to prove Christian truth empirically, so they make their presuppositions concerning both faith and science well known and operate from this framework.

Gary Parker's books are the most problematic. He tends to make logical jumps that are unhelpful, and to use circumstantial evidence and induction to make his points. While there is good content in his books, there's also a lot to cause careful readers to raise an eyebrow. The PLP Guides are helpful, but the books they cover vary in quality.

Overall, we like these books. Again, we're creationists (though not hardline young earth), and the emphasis on the harmony of science and faith is welcome. We'd simply recommend reading these along with your students, discussing the content and the questions with them, and being sure to instill in your kids that the Bible is the ultimate proof of God's existence.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he's a husband and father who loves church, good food, and weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.