Andrew Sach
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Andrew Sach is a contemporary evangelical Christian pastor, speaker and author. He is an ordained Church of England minister and holds a doctorate in neuroscience. He has written several Christian books and is a regular speaker at Word Alive and other conferences. As an 18-year-old Sach was an atheist and viewed Christians as "naive, superstitious and ignorant". Whilst reading Natural Sciences as an undergraduate at St John's College,
University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...
, Sach was contacted by the Christian Union who challenged him to think about whether or not the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a historical fact or not. He eventually concluded that it was, and became a Christian. After his degree, Sach worked as an apprentice for a year at the church of St Andrew the Great, Cambridge. Sach then did a doctorate in neuroscience at the University of York. He published three scientific papers on auditory spatial attention. He then worked for
St Helen's Bishopsgate St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. Several notable figures are buried there, and it contains more monumen ...
in London for three years. Whilst there he studied part-time at the
Cornhill Training Course Cornhill can refer to: * Cornhill, Aberdeen *Cornhill, Aberdeenshire *Cornhill, Boston, formerly a street in Boston *Cornhill, London, a street and ward in the City of London *Cornhill Magazine, literary publication in print until 1975 * Cornhill-o ...
. From there went to Oak Hill Theological College (with a six-month exchange to Moore Theological College, Sydney) to train for ordination in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
. He then worked as a curate at St Helens for several years, leading the 6pm and then the 10:30am congregations. Sach is currently a minister at Grace Church Greenwich and a tutor on the Cornhill Training Course. Sach has co-authored a number of books on biblical exegesis in the "Dig Deeper" series. He authored a booklet titled "Has Science Disproved God?" published by UCCF, which aimed to "explain why I think it is reasonable to believe in God in the face of science". Sach opposes Neo-Darwinian
evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
viewing it at variance with the first books of the Bible. Sach, however, challenges the notion that the Hebrew word "Yom" (
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: יום) in the creation account, according to
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
, refers to a literal day (24 hours), therefore denying that creation occurred in a period of six days (6 x 24 hours). Rather, Sach proposes that the Genesis creation account is a poetic way of speaking about the careful ordered way in which God made the universe.Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God's Word .105/ref> In 2014, at the Christian youth festival
Newday Newday is an annual Christian youth festival for Churches from all denominations, initially organised by the Newfrontiers family of churches. Established since August 2004, the event is aimed at young people between the ages of 12 and 18. Visi ...
, Sach was questioned by the scholar Thomas Alberto on his knowledge of the
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
language regarding the first book of the Bible,
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
. Alberto held that Sach was incorrect over his
Old Earth Creationist Old Earth creationism (OEC) is an umbrella of theological views encompassing certain varieties of creationism which may or can include day-age creationism, gap creationism, progressive creationism, and sometimes theistic evolutionism. Broadly sp ...
standpoint, which Alberto believed could not be supported by the Hebrew, and was in conflict with theistic
Evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
. Alberto discusses Sach’s position in the revised edition 2022 of his seminal work
Liberal Theology Religious liberalism is a conception of religion (or of a particular religion) which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion (as opposed to criticism of religion from a secular position ...
.


Book Titles

* ''Dig Deeper: Tools to Unearth the Bible's Treasure'' (IVP, 2005) (co-authored with Steve Jeffery) * ''Pierced for Our Transgressions'' (IVP, 2007) (co-authored with Dr Steve Jeffery and Dr
Mike Ovey Michael John Ovey (9 December 1958 – 7 January 2017), known as Mike Ovey, was a British Anglican clergyman, academic, and former lawyer. From 2007 until his death, he was Principal of Oak Hill College, a conservative evangelical theological co ...
) * ''Dig Even Deeper: Unearthing Old Testament Treasure'' (IVP, 2010) (co-authored with Richard Alldritt) * ''The Cross'' (10Publishing, 2012) (co-authored with Steve Jeffery)) * ''Dig Deeper into the Gospels: Coming face to face with Jesus in Mark'' (IVP, 2015) (co-authored with Tim Hiorns) * ''The Weirdest Nativity'' (10Publishing, 2019) (co-authored with Jonathan Gemmell) * ''Are You 100% Sure You Want To Be an Agnostic?'' (10Publishing, 2022) (co-authored with Jonathan Gemmell)


References


External links


Review of ''Dig Deeper'' in ''Evangelicals Now''

Review of ''Pierced for Our Transgressions

DigDeeper.tools website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sach, Andrew Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Oak Hill College Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of York English evangelicals English male writers 21st-century English Anglican priests