Генезис, чудеса и предсказания согласно спиритизму.

Book by Allan Kardec

The Genesis, Miracles and Premonition According to Spiritism (La Genèse, les Miracles et les Preditions selon le Spiritisme in the original French) was the last book published (1868) by Allan Kardec, just before his death. It tries to reconcile science and religion, and develops a series of important scientific and philosophical topics, relating them to Spiritism.

The Genesis contains diverse articles on the creation of the universe, the formation of the world, the origins of spirits and the role of divine intervention in the order of nature.

Kardec argues that Spiritism is a "third revelation", the first being that of God to Moses and the second, the coming of Christ). This first chapter is a thorough rationalisation of the Spiritist theory and an attempt to justify it in face of harsh criticism:
They accuse it [Spiritism] of relationship with magic and sorcery; but forget that Astronomy has Astrology as an elder sister, not much removed from us. "(#19)

Good and evil are seen as inherent to human nature because they are both manifestations of our pursuit of perfection. "Good" things come from the use of intellect while "bad" things come from the prevalence of instinct.

Argues that scientific advancement is ultimately a human attempt to understand God and that the conflict between religion and science exists because most religions have surrendered to the will of power while science is blind to the spirituality of man. Approves a harmony of science and religion.

Explains that the (mis)conceptions about the world originated from the scarcity of information available to man in the past and that, as science advances, our worldview will change dramatically, affected by it.

Attempts to reconcile the then recent science of geology with legends from the Bible and from other ancient peoples. Accepts the flood as fact and ignores ice ages, attributing phenomena that are now known to have been caused by the later as evidences of the former.

Challenges, debunks or doubts many other oddball theories that circulated among occultists of the time. An entire section is dedicated to explain that the Earth does not have a "soul".

Describes cataclysms that affected life overall, failing to mention any that were not already known at the time.

Describes how life on Earth could have formed. This chapter accepts spontaneous generation as fact: a phenomenon that took place every day (which was according to mainstream scientific thinking of that time, only to be displaced decades later by the work of Louis Pasteur).

Explains how spirits were (and are) created and to what purpose.

Explains why the tale of the creation found in the Book of Genesis is contradicted by science.

The second part explains what a miracle is and discusses under which conditions it should happen.

According to contemporary science, there was a third nature, besides matter and energy, that was both immaterial, undetectable and capable of acting upon both matter and energy; as energy is capable of acting on matter and matter, of affecting energy. Such third kind was the basis for most religious theories and this theory was the bond that still allowed science and religion to have some common ground. In this chapter, Kardec explains "fluids" according to Spiritism and uses them to explain how spiritual phenomena worked.

Why and how did Jesus work wonders. This chapter states that most of the "miracles" narrated by the Gospels were either natural phenomena or manifestations of spirits.

The third and shortest part deals with the possibility of foretelling the future, its possible consequences for mankind, and why God would allow it to happen.

The book suggests a large amount of research effort on the part of Kardec and is generally considered the best written of his books, despite being dated in a number of places, especially where it accepts as final truth the established scientific knowledge of its time. Spiritists tend to regard The Genesis as the most complex of Kardec's works, and the one most demanding from the reader. Its popularity is a matter of dispute, as some publishers do not include it in their catalogs.