The Many Waters

A.J. Pell is rector of Christ Church in Hope, B.C., and a lecturer in
the Anglican Studies Programme at Regent College in Vancouver.

On the cover we are promised that “The Many Waters is a scientific
interpretation of the creation story in Genesis, and is corroborated by
other ancient manuscripts.” But what is between the covers is very
different. The author dashes the reader’s expectation of a serious,
disciplined study in her introduction when she repudiates any English
translation of the Bible other than the King James Version. In her view,
accuracy to the Hebrew and Greek texts is to be sacrificed for

the sake of “the deeper meanings and thoughts of people in ages
past.” This is the first hint of her neo-gnostic view of God, the
scriptures, and even science.

By the midpoint of the book, Lueck is writing a form of science
fiction: the “LORD” (as printed in the KJV Old Testament) is “a
scientist or a doctor ... an expert in the field of genetic
engineering” whose “mission on this planet was to develop a genetic
blueprint for a new, more modern hominid ... up to the level of other
advanced nations in the cosmos.” By the end of the book, she is
writing a combination of astrology (Jesus begins “a New World Order
... the Age of Aquarius”) and gnosticism (“the kingdom of heaven/God
is within us”). Many of her footnotes refer to gnostic texts of one or
another religion, or to such authoritative works as Reader’s Digest
Mysteries of the Bible.

There is no point differing with Lueck, for she is right and the
experts in various fields are wrong; all we can do is leave her in her
self-constructed world and look elsewhere for a thoughtful attempt to
focus science on the biblical creation saga.