Green Eye of the Storm

The theory of evolution burst like a great storm cloud on the intellectual world of the mid-nineteenth century, and brought widespread public controversy and debate with it. Soon, however, the evolutionary way of viewing life became almost all-pervasive; scientists of all kinds, historians, sociologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, anthropologists and many others would all adopt its tenets in order to interpret the world in general and the human race in particular.

Reactions in the Christian church varied from immediate acceptance to long-term hostility. Today the controversy continues unabated and is the subject of many debates, seminars and publications.

Green Eye of the Storm offers a unique and fascinating introduction to this debate, seeing it through the lives of four distinguished men who struggled with the evolutionary theory in very different contexts: Philip Henry Gosse, George John Romanes, Arthur Rendle Short and his son John Rendle-Short the author of this book. It provides a fascinating glimpse into the life, times and intellectual development of these men and will be of interest to all who have an interest in them or the religious and scientific movements with which their names are associated.

About the Author

Professor Tyndale John Rendle-Short A.M., M.A., M.B., B.Chir., M.D. (Cantab.), F.R.C.P., F.R.A.C.P. was born in England in July 1919, and moved from his home in Sheffield to Australia in 1961. He was appointed Foundation Professor and Head of the Department of Child Health at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, that same year, a position he held for the next 24 years. During that time he established the first autism therapy centre in Queensland. In 1981 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to medicine and infantile autism. He wrote 18 books and hundreds of papers. His book, A Synopsis of Children’s Diseases, is still being used as a paediatric textbook at the University of Queensland Medical School.

Dr. Rendle-Short was married to Angel until her death in 2006. They had five daughters and one son, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He suffered a stroke and died in January 2010 at Toowoomba, aged 90.

After meeting the biblical creationist and scientist, the late Dr. A. E. Wilder-Smith, and being challenged by him concerning the Genesis account of six literal days of creation, Rendle-Short changed his position and became an ardent six-literal-day, young-earth creationist. His book The Green Eye of the Storm (Banner of Truth, 1998) looks at the lives of four distinguished men who struggled with evolutionary theory.