Pursued to Eternity by John Riley -- my REVIEW

  Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew

Recently I read the book Pursued to Eternity by John Riley. The author of this book is actually a lesson designer/creator of a course on SchoolhouseTeachers.com that my daughter had taken and really enjoyed last year (Apologetics: Creation vs. Evolution). I was curious about the book and interested to give it a try.

The book is a short-looking softcovered book with seventeen chapters and 151 pages. It has little line-drawings throughout which are nice little beginnings to each chapter.

Pursued to Eternity is several stories within a larger story--not the story of the author, but a fictional man and his brother. The man in the story, Connor, is a Bible-believing Christian and his brother (a phD geologist) named Alan, is an athiest for much of his life. 

The stories within the story show how God orchestrated things and set things up centuries prior to Alan's life to convince him of the Truth of Scripture. Also spread throughout the book are conversations that Connor has with Alan, sharing the Gospel and Bible Truth with him. Connor includes Scripture, quotations from people in the past, and more in his discourses with Alan.

The stories-within-the-story are fictional historical happenings, with actual dates and historic references mixed in with the fictional stories. These fictional historical stories were written about someone living in different times of history.

One story is about a group of men hunting and fighting a large creature and another one is about a family during the time of the Exodus from Egypt. Eventually the 21st geologist finds artifacts from stories at different points in history (that then mysteriously or mystifyingly disappear), but they somehow bring him more to a belief in the God that his brother follows.

Also interspersed in the book are some vignettes about the narrator, Connor, and how he lost his teaching job by encouraging his students to question the norm. There is also a lengthy list of 68 questions that the narrator's students came up with in their questioning of the teachings of evolution--this list includes things such as historical scientists and their beliefs, examples of things within nature that seem to go against traditional Darwinistic teachings, and other questions which can be raised when one looks critically at theories of evolution. 

As the book proceeds, Connor's brother Alan makes some interesting geologic/ archaeologic discoveries. Connor has the opportunity to experience these with his brother. Connor does not give up on talking and writing to his brother about Scripture and God's presence throughout history and today as well. Connor and Alan have a very pleasant positive relationship throughout the story. 

The stories, Biblical exposition, and questions about evolution-within-a-story were a bit disjointed for my liking and I did not care for it.  I do know other readers who really enjoyed this book.  Be sure to read other readers' reviews, however, by clicking on this link or the graphic at the bottom of the page to get a more balanced view of the book. It is not the type of reading that I generally enjoy, though I'm sure others do. 

Please click on the link below to read others' reviews of this book and to get a more complete feel for it!