When the Great Abyss Opened

"Pleins has written a stimulating book. His writing is lucid, his arguments are cogent, and his interpretations are insightful. The book deserves to be read by those interested in the history of interpretation, creation and flood myths, the relationshiop of religion and science, and hermeneutics." --The Catholic Biblical Quarterly "This book is enjoyable and thought-provoking. One can recommend it to biblical scholars, archaeologists, theologians, and scientists-all who are interested in a lively discussion about human culture and religion."-- RBL "This fascinating book opens up a completely new light on a topic about which we all think we know something and about which we learn we knew very little. One of the great myths of Western culture is seen in a completely fresh light, thanks to the labors of J. David Pleins. I urge everyone to read this volume."--Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University; author of Can a Darwinian be a Christian? and Darwin and Design "Pleins provides the first book on Noah and the Flood that has really caught my attention and interest. He deftly traces many of the modern searches for Noah's Ark and contextualizes them with wit and wisdom, then offers a perceptive look at the ancient texts which assist our understanding of the Flood narrative in Genesis. Enlightening reading."--John C. Endres, S.J., Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley "All aboard for the cruise of your life on the S.S. Ark, under the expert guidance of a latter-day Noah, J. David Pleins. In a well-written, fast-paced book, Pleins deals with all the major and many of the minor aspects of this eternally-fascinating topic. He describes four different approaches to the issues--ranging from fundamentalist-literalist to no-nonsense scientific-naturalist--and uses them all to explore deep matters of the mind and heart. He shows that, apart from geological-historical-archaeological matters at one end and literary-mythical-legendary questions at the other, at the center or bottom we find ourselves and what matters most to our inner lives. At the end, we know that the search will go on, and whether we will ever find the ark or some piece of it (unlikely), along the way we will find out so many other things as to make the voyage immensely valuable and enjoyable.--David Noel Freedman, editor, The Anchor Bible Dictionary "A book for everyone, the clergy, scientists, believers and non-believers, seeking truth in the connections between geology, archaeology, myth, literature, and the Bible. Wonderfully engaging, accessible, factual, balanced and scholarly."--William B. F. Ryan, co-author, Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About the Event That Changed History