Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Good Historical Overview of Scientific Creationism

Over at BioLogos Ted Davis, professor of the history of science at Messiah College gives a quick overview of the history of Scientific Creationism. Among the many things he mentions that I didn't know:

"From the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century (roughly 1860 to 1960), most conservative Protestant writers in the United accepted the validity of an old earth and universe. This is reflected in the notes to Genesis One in the Scofield Reference Bible (1909), which was very widely used by conservative Protestants in North America and England for decades. I will say more about this in my next column; for the time being, please accept it as a fact.

Many conservative Protestant writers also believed that Noah’s flood had been geographically localized, covering part of the ancient Near East but not the whole globe, an interpretation popularized by the English abolitionist theologian John Pye Smith. Most writers in this period believed that the flood did not have very much geological significance, whether or not it was “local.” In short, they did not believe in Flood Geology.
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2 comments:

  1. The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism by Ronald Numbers is an excellent (and long) overview of the history. Or so I thought when I read it long ago, having since forgotten everything.

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  2. Thanks, JDB. I'll have to put that on my readig list.

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