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The Creationists by Ronald L. Numbers
Forty-seven percent of the American people, according to a 1991 Gallup Poll, believe that God made man - as man is now - in a single act of creation, and within the last ten thousand years. Ronald L. Numbers chronicles the astonishing resurgence of this belief since the 1960s, as well as the creationist movement's tangled religious roots in the theologies of late-nineteenth - and early twentieth century Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Adventists, and other religious groups. Even more remarkable than Numbers's story of today's widespread rejection of the theory of evolution is the dramatic shift from acceptance of the earth's antiquity (even for William Jennings Bryan the biblical "days" of Genesis represented long geological ages) to the insistence of present-day scientific creationists that most fossils date back to Noah's flood and its aftermath, and that the earth itself is no more than ten thousand years old. The author focuses especially on the rise of this "flood geology, " popularized in 1961 by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris's book, The Genesis Flood, which defended the theory that creation took place in six literal days, and updated the old arguments purporting to prove that a geologically significant worldwide flood actually took place. Numbers gives particular attention to the development of creation research institutes and societies, and to those creationists - including the half of the founders of the Creation Research Society with doctorates in biology - who possessed, or claimed to possess, scientific credentials. On the basis of dozens of interviews and scores of little-known manuscript collections, Numbers delineates the competing scientific and biblicalinterpretations, and reports on the debates between creationists and evolutionists - in courthouses, legislative halls, and on school boards - over the boundaries between science and religion. He traces the evolution of scientific creationism up to our own time and shows how the creationist
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First published September 1, 1992
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December 22, 2012
Numbers offers a fascinating account of the history of Young Earth Creationism. Before reading this book, I was under the impression that YEC had dominated orthodox Christian belief back to its inception. Instead, Numbers recounts that YEC had largely been abandoned by most Christian groups in the early 1900's. Its modern resurgence was due to the work of George McCready Price, a Seventh Day Adventist, and later though Henry Morris and John Whitcomb Jr., who wrote the Genesis Flood.
Numbers shows that the scientific credentials of all three are dubious at best, at least as far as their authority on geology and paleontology. Also, importantly, I believe most Evangelicals would cringe at the fact that the survival of YEC was sustained by someone who was a member of a group they would consider heretical.
Aside from the tit-for-tat argumentation between YEC and modern scientists, the history Numbers recounts of YEC undermines its validity. I hope people who hold to a Creationist view point read this book and discern for themselves the credibility of YEC, just based on the history of its proponents and intellectual development.
An excellent book by someone who is obviously an expert in the field of history of science. It is a long and somewhat dense tale, but well worth the time of anyone who is interested in this area.
Numbers shows that the scientific credentials of all three are dubious at best, at least as far as their authority on geology and paleontology. Also, importantly, I believe most Evangelicals would cringe at the fact that the survival of YEC was sustained by someone who was a member of a group they would consider heretical.
Aside from the tit-for-tat argumentation between YEC and modern scientists, the history Numbers recounts of YEC undermines its validity. I hope people who hold to a Creationist view point read this book and discern for themselves the credibility of YEC, just based on the history of its proponents and intellectual development.
An excellent book by someone who is obviously an expert in the field of history of science. It is a long and somewhat dense tale, but well worth the time of anyone who is interested in this area.
September 3, 2012
A fascinating and very detailed history of the "Creationist" movement from the mid-19th Century to the close of the 20th. Ronald L. Numbers is particularly qualified to author such a history. Not only is he a well-published historian of science and medicine, but also of Adventism and whose father was a popular Adventist anti-evolution speaker and evangelist. I'd come across several references to this book over the years, most recently in Mark Noll's "Scandal of the Evangelical Mind". Since I've been preaching through the book of Genesis and have spent the last several years reading widely on the subjects of Creation, Evolution, and the relationship between science and faith, I was intrigued by this history. Numbers himself describes his approach as unbiased and he really is unbiased. The promotional "blurbs" on the book's jacket seem to suggest as much, coming from leading men on both sides of the debate and even some in the middle. And yet after reading the book I was truly surprised that a leading Flood Geologist--no less than Henry M. Morris himself--endorsed a book that so dramatically portrays the Creationist movement as a train-wreck.
Numbers begins in the mid-19th Century, focusing primarily on Christian responses to Darwin. It's interesting that there was none of what today passes as "Creation Science" or "Young Earth Creationism". Based on the evidence presented by geologists, everyone acknowledge the old age of the earth. From Darwin's time through the writing of "The Fundamentals", the debate was over biological evolution. Most Christians accepted some form of evolution, the debate was simply over the scope: did all life evolve from a common ancestor or from a small number of distinct species into greater variety. The primary issue of concern was human origins and virtually everyone affirmed at least the "special creation" of humanity. But even Hodge, the most staunch anti-Darwinian of the time, granted the old age of the earth based on the scientific evidence. The age of the earth was harmonised with Genesis either by means of Scofield's "Gap Theory" or by the "Day-Age Theory".
What's particularly interesting about this is that Christians were readily granting validity to the scientific consensus. We can see this in their accommodation of the biblical text with the scientific consensus by means of concordist interpretations of Genesis 1. Many Christians were already doing the same thing in terms of biological evolution and it seems that the Church was clearly on a trajectory eventually to accept the evolutionary origins of life just as it had the old age of the earth based on scientific evidence. By the late 19th Century many Christians were already arguing that the problem wasn't evolution as a natural process, but evolutionism as an unscientific, atheistic teleological system. The primary obstacle was a "literalistic" interpretation of Genesis--an interpretation that in the last couple of decades has been shown by many Old Testament scholars simply to be unfaithful to the text itself when taken in cultural, literary, and historical context. Why did it take a century to get where we are today? What derailed the trajectory?
This is where Numbers' book becomes particularly interesting. Ellen G. White and Seventh Day Adventism derailed the trajectory. In her "prophecies" White gave a considerable number of details regarding the Creation and the Noahic flood. Interestingly, none of the early Creation vs. Evolution debates addressed the Flood. In fact, the flood was considered by almost everyone to have been local and of no geological significance. White, however, gave it enormous significance and enumerated quite a few details regarding what it did: burying huge forests, for example, that produced coal deposits, the explosion of which produced modern-day volcanoes. White's "prophecies" were absurd in the extreme, but since Adventists considered them to have the same authority as the Bible, they were bound to defend them against the Evolutionists. For Adventists it wasn't enough to allow for an old earth so long as evolution of life was ruled out. No, to defend White it was necessary to defend a 6000-year-old earth and her bizarre ideas about the flood. Out of this was born what we know today as "Flood Geology", first detailed and presented by George McCready Price, a zealous Adventist with no formal training in geology. Despite having no formal geological education and relying on charity jobs offered by various Adventist institutions, Price was often billed as one of America's leading geologists. His books were printed and popularised in Adventist circles.
Price's Flood Geology crossed over from Adventism to Evangelicalism thanks to several Missouri Synod Lutherans who were exposed to his writings and found in him a kindred spirit. Having only recently abandoned Ptolemaic cosmology and geocentrism, the Lutherans found evolution particularly threatening and latched onto Price's theories, letting White's interpretation of Genesis become their own. Lutheran authors published their own books, regurgitating Price's Flood Geology, but without the references to White or to Adventism and in so doing took Flood Geology "mainstream".
Numbers goes on to detail the histories of groups like the American Scientific Association, the Deluge Geology Society, the Creation Research Association, and other similar groups, all of which began with the aim to promote Flood Geology as the only proper from of Creationism. What's interesting about most of these groups is that they purported to be "scientific"--hence the term "creation science"--and yet they all struggled to find scientists qualified in the fields crucial to Flood Geology--geologists in particular. Those trained and studied in geology simply would not sign on because they understood the movement to be a farce. The organisations would end up recruiting scientists or engineers instead from tangentially related fields. A number of the scientists recruited later turned out to be frauds or to have diploma-mill degrees. Many of the properly qualified geologists who signed on were eventually driven away into full-blown evolutionism as a result of their studies and work in Flood Geology. And yet the movement soldiered on. Numbers' details the story of Henry Morris and John Whitcomb whose book, "The Genesis Flood", finally pushed Flood Geology into the view of Evangelical laymen. The book continues, detailed much of the Creation vs. Evolution debate as it played out in the American public square and as it was exported to the rest of the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
While Numbers presents an unbiased look at the Creationist movement, that unbiased look is horribly damning to the movement. As James R. Moore's endorsement sums the book up well: "A riveting exposé, based on prodigious research and written with verve and tact. Numbers's gypsy train of pious mountbanks, tin-pot demagogues, and invincible cranks reminds—and warns—us that today's fanaticism may be tomorrow's science."
Numbers begins in the mid-19th Century, focusing primarily on Christian responses to Darwin. It's interesting that there was none of what today passes as "Creation Science" or "Young Earth Creationism". Based on the evidence presented by geologists, everyone acknowledge the old age of the earth. From Darwin's time through the writing of "The Fundamentals", the debate was over biological evolution. Most Christians accepted some form of evolution, the debate was simply over the scope: did all life evolve from a common ancestor or from a small number of distinct species into greater variety. The primary issue of concern was human origins and virtually everyone affirmed at least the "special creation" of humanity. But even Hodge, the most staunch anti-Darwinian of the time, granted the old age of the earth based on the scientific evidence. The age of the earth was harmonised with Genesis either by means of Scofield's "Gap Theory" or by the "Day-Age Theory".
What's particularly interesting about this is that Christians were readily granting validity to the scientific consensus. We can see this in their accommodation of the biblical text with the scientific consensus by means of concordist interpretations of Genesis 1. Many Christians were already doing the same thing in terms of biological evolution and it seems that the Church was clearly on a trajectory eventually to accept the evolutionary origins of life just as it had the old age of the earth based on scientific evidence. By the late 19th Century many Christians were already arguing that the problem wasn't evolution as a natural process, but evolutionism as an unscientific, atheistic teleological system. The primary obstacle was a "literalistic" interpretation of Genesis--an interpretation that in the last couple of decades has been shown by many Old Testament scholars simply to be unfaithful to the text itself when taken in cultural, literary, and historical context. Why did it take a century to get where we are today? What derailed the trajectory?
This is where Numbers' book becomes particularly interesting. Ellen G. White and Seventh Day Adventism derailed the trajectory. In her "prophecies" White gave a considerable number of details regarding the Creation and the Noahic flood. Interestingly, none of the early Creation vs. Evolution debates addressed the Flood. In fact, the flood was considered by almost everyone to have been local and of no geological significance. White, however, gave it enormous significance and enumerated quite a few details regarding what it did: burying huge forests, for example, that produced coal deposits, the explosion of which produced modern-day volcanoes. White's "prophecies" were absurd in the extreme, but since Adventists considered them to have the same authority as the Bible, they were bound to defend them against the Evolutionists. For Adventists it wasn't enough to allow for an old earth so long as evolution of life was ruled out. No, to defend White it was necessary to defend a 6000-year-old earth and her bizarre ideas about the flood. Out of this was born what we know today as "Flood Geology", first detailed and presented by George McCready Price, a zealous Adventist with no formal training in geology. Despite having no formal geological education and relying on charity jobs offered by various Adventist institutions, Price was often billed as one of America's leading geologists. His books were printed and popularised in Adventist circles.
Price's Flood Geology crossed over from Adventism to Evangelicalism thanks to several Missouri Synod Lutherans who were exposed to his writings and found in him a kindred spirit. Having only recently abandoned Ptolemaic cosmology and geocentrism, the Lutherans found evolution particularly threatening and latched onto Price's theories, letting White's interpretation of Genesis become their own. Lutheran authors published their own books, regurgitating Price's Flood Geology, but without the references to White or to Adventism and in so doing took Flood Geology "mainstream".
Numbers goes on to detail the histories of groups like the American Scientific Association, the Deluge Geology Society, the Creation Research Association, and other similar groups, all of which began with the aim to promote Flood Geology as the only proper from of Creationism. What's interesting about most of these groups is that they purported to be "scientific"--hence the term "creation science"--and yet they all struggled to find scientists qualified in the fields crucial to Flood Geology--geologists in particular. Those trained and studied in geology simply would not sign on because they understood the movement to be a farce. The organisations would end up recruiting scientists or engineers instead from tangentially related fields. A number of the scientists recruited later turned out to be frauds or to have diploma-mill degrees. Many of the properly qualified geologists who signed on were eventually driven away into full-blown evolutionism as a result of their studies and work in Flood Geology. And yet the movement soldiered on. Numbers' details the story of Henry Morris and John Whitcomb whose book, "The Genesis Flood", finally pushed Flood Geology into the view of Evangelical laymen. The book continues, detailed much of the Creation vs. Evolution debate as it played out in the American public square and as it was exported to the rest of the world in the 1980s and 1990s.
While Numbers presents an unbiased look at the Creationist movement, that unbiased look is horribly damning to the movement. As James R. Moore's endorsement sums the book up well: "A riveting exposé, based on prodigious research and written with verve and tact. Numbers's gypsy train of pious mountbanks, tin-pot demagogues, and invincible cranks reminds—and warns—us that today's fanaticism may be tomorrow's science."
September 27, 2018
Numbers, a lapsed 7th Day Adventist and current academic science historian, himself has produced a history of Christian creationisms--for it comes in many varieties--from the mid-19th century, when Darwin published (1859) his theory of evolution, to the end of the 20th. Interestingly, he essays to demonstrate that biblically-based objections to Darwin and to geological uniformitarianism never really took off until the 1960s when it became a political force, particularly in the USA.
The essence of all creationist positions is biblical, amounting basically to the proposition that all science must reconcile itself to revealed text. Of course, this is hardly clear as such 2k+ year old documents do not concern themselves with what we think of as geology or biology. Creationists, however, perceive various problems such as the 6-day creation and Noah's flood stories, debating among themselves how to interpret such texts.
What was most remarkable to me is how unsophisticated most of the biblical literalists have been in their handling of the various sets of 'canonical' texts defined by and subscribed to by the various denominations of Christian belief. Some of them are noted as holding advanced degrees in biblical studies but Numbers does not get at all deeply into the nature of their studies or to how any such serious study would necessarily call into doubt all notions of special revelation so based. Instead, he focuses on how the various creationist efforts have tried to enlist scientists to defeat normative science on behalf of their respective Christian beliefs.
The essence of all creationist positions is biblical, amounting basically to the proposition that all science must reconcile itself to revealed text. Of course, this is hardly clear as such 2k+ year old documents do not concern themselves with what we think of as geology or biology. Creationists, however, perceive various problems such as the 6-day creation and Noah's flood stories, debating among themselves how to interpret such texts.
What was most remarkable to me is how unsophisticated most of the biblical literalists have been in their handling of the various sets of 'canonical' texts defined by and subscribed to by the various denominations of Christian belief. Some of them are noted as holding advanced degrees in biblical studies but Numbers does not get at all deeply into the nature of their studies or to how any such serious study would necessarily call into doubt all notions of special revelation so based. Instead, he focuses on how the various creationist efforts have tried to enlist scientists to defeat normative science on behalf of their respective Christian beliefs.
January 26, 2025
This book is a history of creationism, the attempt to align the scientific quest for understanding of human and earth origins with "literal" readings of Genesis. It is also, by association, a history of the specific culture within which scientific creationism grew, that is American and Canadian Evangelicalism in the 19th and 20th century as it grappled with positivism, rationalism and modernism and transformed from its postmillenial to premillenial variant as a result. A shift that occured over the 20th century which is also narrativised clearly is the change of the main enemy of fundamentalism from evolution to geology.
During the 19th century it seems that uniformitarianism was accepted rather without a fight. Although it was vehemetly disputed by Louis Agassiz, this was an intra-geological as opposed to the debate over evolution which was more universal in its reach, pehaps due precisely to its more personal resonances. It makes sense therefore that defenders of the fundamentals would focus on this front, where they could count on popular increduality towards having a "monkey grandfather", and where the arraigned theory itself was more tendentious. Mendelian genetics was largely unknown before 1900 and so in the absence of a satisfactory mechanism for the inheritance of characteristics, criticism was levelled at the theory of evolution even within mainstream science. In this environment, many Christian anti-evolutionists did not have misgivings about science as such, as they had horses to back within the academy. As the "modern synthesis" developed during the early 20th century, fundamentalist anti-evolutionists slowly found themselves being pushed further and further outside secular society. Biology is not the only realm where this occured and this marginalisation of evangelism is likely responsible for the shift from optimistic postmillenialism to lugubrious pre-millenialism at the same time.
Within evangelical circles cynicism towards science grew. An interesting view of how one evangelical scientist named James Bole reconcilled themselves with the problem of the overwhelming support in scientific circles for evolution is given in the book. It quotes Boles saying "from the point of view of specialised knowledge it would seem that the greater authority rested with the evolutionists"but that also "The evolutionist has faith in his hypothesis; the Christian has faith in his God". There was a wide view amongst evangelicals that science was limited to the accumulation of facts, and that the interpretation of these facts was an ideologically informed exercise that happened afterwards. In this view there was no need for an evangelical biologist to accept evolution even after having grasped the facts. In fact it would be heretical to interpret them that way as interpretation was purely a question of belief, in which evolution or christianity were two competing confessions of faith.
Slowly this skepticism towards the accepted interpretations expanded from biology to the other half of creationism: Geology. And it is on the question of creationist geology that the majority of the book is focussed. The book seperates creationism into three groups defined by the different ways they read the six day creation "literally". These are, in order of increasing fundamentalism: the day-age theory, where each "day" can last as long as neccesary to fit the time required for a geological process; the gap or "ruin and restoration theory", where between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there is an interminable gap within which all geological history occurs; and Flood Geology, where the geological history of the earth occurs after the six-day creation (where each day is 24 hours) and is a result of an extremelly rapid erosion and sedimentation during the Noahic flood.
The day-age theory was favoured during the latter half of the 19th century by evangelical geologists like John William Dawson and George Frederick Wright who held high academic positions. It continued to be held even by leading evangelicals associated with the beginning of the fundamentalist movement such as William Jennings Bryan and William Bell Riley. The Gap theory was associated with the ealy pre-millenialists and was included in the glosses of the Scofield Reference Bible from which it went on to have a large circulation. The Flood Geology view began as a very isolated and denominational view among two groups that were marginal to the wider evangelical movement: Seventh Day Adventists, and conservative Lutherans. For the Adventists, their interest in flood geology was prompted by the writings of Ellen G White, especially those concerning her visions of the creation which explicitly followed such a chronology. For conservative Lutherans on the other hand, their interest in flood geology was prompted by Lutheran biblical hermaneutics which following a "is means is" philosophy, would be loath to interpret the days of creation as anything other than days.
The earlier day-age theory was later viewed by the flood geologists as having conceeded too much ground to the modernists. By granting an avowedly metaphorical reading (even if it were one backed up explictly by scripture) to Genesis they had destroyed the foundation of the entire story of salvation, from which not one word could be taken without the whole edifice falling. And so they began a rear-guard action to capture the evangelical educational institutions for Flood Geology, a campaign that has largely been successful, if not completely overwhelming.
The first systematic consideration of Flood Geology was by George McCready Price, a Seventh Day Adventist, whose book The New Geology (1923) was an inspiration for a generation of flood geologists including Henry Morris & John C Whitcomb, whose influential book The Genesis Flood (1961) eventually won the day for their interpretation in Evangelical circles. Price's innovation was to postulate that the apparent ordering of fossils into sequences that were recognisable across the globe was actually due to the self-sorting of fossils during the inundation period due to their specific gravities. Here agreed facts were given a new Christian interpretation. Morris and Whitcomb also added extra sophistication to the theory. Morris was a hydraulic engineer and interpreted the firmament described in Genesis as a "Vapour Canopy" in the sky which crashed down to earth and caused the Noahic flood. The vapour canopy also had the effect of reducing harmful cosmic radiation reaching the earth and explained the old ages of Noah and his ancestors.
The rationale for an ever more tortuous reading of the book of nature from evangelicals may seem like simple obscuritanism, and to a certain extent it is. However it is worth understanding the motivation behind their intransigence. In a time of extreme social change and unrest which was viewed as leading up to the tribulation and eventual second coming of Jesus (and especially in the Seventh Day Adventist tradition which was especially sensitive to the influence of Satan in contemporary society), modernism in its religious, scientific and political forms was viewed as the solvent of Christian society, the harbigner of the end times, and therefore the ground on which the final battle between good and evil was to be thought.
Something that is stressed repeatedly in the book is the way in which pseudoscientific views of human and earth origins often fitted neatly with racist and reactionary views (with the notable exception of Walter E Lammerts who in many ways was extremely idiosyncratic). Frank Lewis Marsh (1899-1992), another Seventh Day Adventist, wrote in 1941 that "hybridisation" between the original and seperately created races of man had been "the principal tool used by Satan in destroying the original perfection and harmony among living things" and that black skin was one of many "abnormalities" that resulted in this diabolical way. Bernard Acworth (1885-1963), a British creationist wrote that "the goal of evolution, through psycho-analysis, is moral degradation; through organised mass birth-control and sterilisation, extinction; and through its social creed of communism, revolution". Douglas Dewar (1875-1957), a British colonial officer in India, recollected that he grew increasingly concerned about the harm that evolution was doing "to the morality of the white race". John N. Moore (1920-????), a natural science lecturer at Michigan State University and member of the Creation Research Society established in the 60s, was reported to criticise evolution becaue it was "a theory he linked to left-wing politics". David A Warriner (1922), who worked with Moore at MSU and in the CRS was noted as being openly racist.
More peverse perhaps (but the obvious result nonetheless) was the attempts by creationists to utilise the philosophy of science of Karl Popper to invalidate evolution as a scientific theory. They argued that it failed Popper's test of falsifiability as one could not conduct an experiment to falsify evolution. Popper protested but could obviously not offer a rebuttal, his dehistoricisation of the field in order to make science and knowledge apolitical had left himself defenceless. Contradictions notwithstanding, they even used Thomas Kuhn's idea of paradigm shifts to argue for the validity of their position as a minoritarian view.
It may seem odd to pay so much attention to such a fundamentally irrational body of thought. But in an age of irrationality, such ideologies can become more appealing to a ruling class that needs to deflect from the uncomfortable truths of science. The logic of unreason is therefore worth studying.
During the 19th century it seems that uniformitarianism was accepted rather without a fight. Although it was vehemetly disputed by Louis Agassiz, this was an intra-geological as opposed to the debate over evolution which was more universal in its reach, pehaps due precisely to its more personal resonances. It makes sense therefore that defenders of the fundamentals would focus on this front, where they could count on popular increduality towards having a "monkey grandfather", and where the arraigned theory itself was more tendentious. Mendelian genetics was largely unknown before 1900 and so in the absence of a satisfactory mechanism for the inheritance of characteristics, criticism was levelled at the theory of evolution even within mainstream science. In this environment, many Christian anti-evolutionists did not have misgivings about science as such, as they had horses to back within the academy. As the "modern synthesis" developed during the early 20th century, fundamentalist anti-evolutionists slowly found themselves being pushed further and further outside secular society. Biology is not the only realm where this occured and this marginalisation of evangelism is likely responsible for the shift from optimistic postmillenialism to lugubrious pre-millenialism at the same time.
Within evangelical circles cynicism towards science grew. An interesting view of how one evangelical scientist named James Bole reconcilled themselves with the problem of the overwhelming support in scientific circles for evolution is given in the book. It quotes Boles saying "from the point of view of specialised knowledge it would seem that the greater authority rested with the evolutionists"but that also "The evolutionist has faith in his hypothesis; the Christian has faith in his God". There was a wide view amongst evangelicals that science was limited to the accumulation of facts, and that the interpretation of these facts was an ideologically informed exercise that happened afterwards. In this view there was no need for an evangelical biologist to accept evolution even after having grasped the facts. In fact it would be heretical to interpret them that way as interpretation was purely a question of belief, in which evolution or christianity were two competing confessions of faith.
Slowly this skepticism towards the accepted interpretations expanded from biology to the other half of creationism: Geology. And it is on the question of creationist geology that the majority of the book is focussed. The book seperates creationism into three groups defined by the different ways they read the six day creation "literally". These are, in order of increasing fundamentalism: the day-age theory, where each "day" can last as long as neccesary to fit the time required for a geological process; the gap or "ruin and restoration theory", where between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 there is an interminable gap within which all geological history occurs; and Flood Geology, where the geological history of the earth occurs after the six-day creation (where each day is 24 hours) and is a result of an extremelly rapid erosion and sedimentation during the Noahic flood.
The day-age theory was favoured during the latter half of the 19th century by evangelical geologists like John William Dawson and George Frederick Wright who held high academic positions. It continued to be held even by leading evangelicals associated with the beginning of the fundamentalist movement such as William Jennings Bryan and William Bell Riley. The Gap theory was associated with the ealy pre-millenialists and was included in the glosses of the Scofield Reference Bible from which it went on to have a large circulation. The Flood Geology view began as a very isolated and denominational view among two groups that were marginal to the wider evangelical movement: Seventh Day Adventists, and conservative Lutherans. For the Adventists, their interest in flood geology was prompted by the writings of Ellen G White, especially those concerning her visions of the creation which explicitly followed such a chronology. For conservative Lutherans on the other hand, their interest in flood geology was prompted by Lutheran biblical hermaneutics which following a "is means is" philosophy, would be loath to interpret the days of creation as anything other than days.
The earlier day-age theory was later viewed by the flood geologists as having conceeded too much ground to the modernists. By granting an avowedly metaphorical reading (even if it were one backed up explictly by scripture) to Genesis they had destroyed the foundation of the entire story of salvation, from which not one word could be taken without the whole edifice falling. And so they began a rear-guard action to capture the evangelical educational institutions for Flood Geology, a campaign that has largely been successful, if not completely overwhelming.
The first systematic consideration of Flood Geology was by George McCready Price, a Seventh Day Adventist, whose book The New Geology (1923) was an inspiration for a generation of flood geologists including Henry Morris & John C Whitcomb, whose influential book The Genesis Flood (1961) eventually won the day for their interpretation in Evangelical circles. Price's innovation was to postulate that the apparent ordering of fossils into sequences that were recognisable across the globe was actually due to the self-sorting of fossils during the inundation period due to their specific gravities. Here agreed facts were given a new Christian interpretation. Morris and Whitcomb also added extra sophistication to the theory. Morris was a hydraulic engineer and interpreted the firmament described in Genesis as a "Vapour Canopy" in the sky which crashed down to earth and caused the Noahic flood. The vapour canopy also had the effect of reducing harmful cosmic radiation reaching the earth and explained the old ages of Noah and his ancestors.
The rationale for an ever more tortuous reading of the book of nature from evangelicals may seem like simple obscuritanism, and to a certain extent it is. However it is worth understanding the motivation behind their intransigence. In a time of extreme social change and unrest which was viewed as leading up to the tribulation and eventual second coming of Jesus (and especially in the Seventh Day Adventist tradition which was especially sensitive to the influence of Satan in contemporary society), modernism in its religious, scientific and political forms was viewed as the solvent of Christian society, the harbigner of the end times, and therefore the ground on which the final battle between good and evil was to be thought.
Something that is stressed repeatedly in the book is the way in which pseudoscientific views of human and earth origins often fitted neatly with racist and reactionary views (with the notable exception of Walter E Lammerts who in many ways was extremely idiosyncratic). Frank Lewis Marsh (1899-1992), another Seventh Day Adventist, wrote in 1941 that "hybridisation" between the original and seperately created races of man had been "the principal tool used by Satan in destroying the original perfection and harmony among living things" and that black skin was one of many "abnormalities" that resulted in this diabolical way. Bernard Acworth (1885-1963), a British creationist wrote that "the goal of evolution, through psycho-analysis, is moral degradation; through organised mass birth-control and sterilisation, extinction; and through its social creed of communism, revolution". Douglas Dewar (1875-1957), a British colonial officer in India, recollected that he grew increasingly concerned about the harm that evolution was doing "to the morality of the white race". John N. Moore (1920-????), a natural science lecturer at Michigan State University and member of the Creation Research Society established in the 60s, was reported to criticise evolution becaue it was "a theory he linked to left-wing politics". David A Warriner (1922), who worked with Moore at MSU and in the CRS was noted as being openly racist.
More peverse perhaps (but the obvious result nonetheless) was the attempts by creationists to utilise the philosophy of science of Karl Popper to invalidate evolution as a scientific theory. They argued that it failed Popper's test of falsifiability as one could not conduct an experiment to falsify evolution. Popper protested but could obviously not offer a rebuttal, his dehistoricisation of the field in order to make science and knowledge apolitical had left himself defenceless. Contradictions notwithstanding, they even used Thomas Kuhn's idea of paradigm shifts to argue for the validity of their position as a minoritarian view.
It may seem odd to pay so much attention to such a fundamentally irrational body of thought. But in an age of irrationality, such ideologies can become more appealing to a ruling class that needs to deflect from the uncomfortable truths of science. The logic of unreason is therefore worth studying.
July 9, 2015
Ronald Numbers' "The Creationists" is a universally acknowledged classic in the world of scholars who focus on science-faith questions. That reputation is well-deserved. Numbers expertly and coherently weaves together the many strands of creationism from the 1860s to the 1980s; even more impressive, he manages to do so while being fair and judicious to all comers.
The result is a work that makes an effort to understand creationism on its own terms. It's refreshingly devoid of smugness or condescension, which provides significant credibility for its unvarnished assessments of creationist shortcomings.
Make no mistake, these shortcomings are legion. If anything, Numbers undersells them: the backward reasoning that led biblical literalists to invent scientific reasoning to justify their theological priorities; the overwhelming numbers of creationist students who rejected the movement as they earned Ph.Ds in their relevant fields; the alarming reliance on misconstrued, misstated or downright fabricated evidence that was then propagated to millions of unsuspecting followers; the general culture of persecution that fed off a handful of usually inaccurate anecdotes. Creation science presents itself as a legitimate alternative to evolution, yet Numbers estimates in "The Creationists" that fewer than 5 percent of American scientists are actually subscribe to it.
Numbers thus manages to tell a pair of stories quite well – he puts together a compelling narrative, using in many cases interviews and private papers from some of the most significant creationists of the 20th century, at the same time as he assesses the intellectual assumptions and deceptions that have made the movement so popular and, I'd argue, so dangerous to a proper understanding of both science and scripture.
The result is a work that makes an effort to understand creationism on its own terms. It's refreshingly devoid of smugness or condescension, which provides significant credibility for its unvarnished assessments of creationist shortcomings.
Make no mistake, these shortcomings are legion. If anything, Numbers undersells them: the backward reasoning that led biblical literalists to invent scientific reasoning to justify their theological priorities; the overwhelming numbers of creationist students who rejected the movement as they earned Ph.Ds in their relevant fields; the alarming reliance on misconstrued, misstated or downright fabricated evidence that was then propagated to millions of unsuspecting followers; the general culture of persecution that fed off a handful of usually inaccurate anecdotes. Creation science presents itself as a legitimate alternative to evolution, yet Numbers estimates in "The Creationists" that fewer than 5 percent of American scientists are actually subscribe to it.
Numbers thus manages to tell a pair of stories quite well – he puts together a compelling narrative, using in many cases interviews and private papers from some of the most significant creationists of the 20th century, at the same time as he assesses the intellectual assumptions and deceptions that have made the movement so popular and, I'd argue, so dangerous to a proper understanding of both science and scripture.
September 29, 2009
An excellent accounting of the rise of young-earth literal Creationism and its development through the American evangelical movement from its Seventh-Day Adventist roots. A compelling read for those who suffered through the late-80s-early-90s when this stuff was front and center in many churches, and now when the debate has shifted slightly.
May 20, 2018
It is to Ronald L. Number’s high credit that he has been able to write a book about the history of contemporary Creationism and receive praise for it from both sides of a highly polemical controversy. While I am not a Young Earth Creationist, the endorsement from Henry Morris certainly piqued my interest in this book as being a fair and neutral account of a most interesting phenomena that has dominated conservative Evangelicalism in the last few decades. I was not disappointed.
For many in the developed world, the issue of Creationism (along with the more recent rise in Intelligent Design) can seem somewhat baffling. Why, despite all prediction of the triumph of secularism, has Creationism not only retained a strong presence in the deep South of the USA, but also appears to be growing outside the geographical confines of the so-called Bible-Belt? Recent surveys suggest that approximately 45% of Americans believe that God created the world in six days only 6000 years ago, which must surely confuse, terrify or delight depending on your perspective. In tracing the history of the modern-day Creationist movement, Ronald Numbers brings some clarity to this question as he narrates the growth of a campaign once felt to be on the verge of extinction to a wide-spread, high-financed and influential network of often extremely intelligent people committed to a literal reading of the book of Genesis.
Creationism is, of course, not a monolithic entity as Numbers is keen to emphasize. While the publication of the Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ was the pivotal moment in the debate on origins, Fundamentalist Protestants had already had to deal with the challenge of uniformitarian geology, suggesting that the world was far older than indicated by a literal reading of Genesis. While divided on the issue, by the turn of the 20th Century, the majority of prominent evangelicals (Catholics are not given much mention) had adopted the mainstream geological account of the earth’s history and committed themselves to the consensus that the earth is billions of years old. With Darwinism becoming firmly established in the scientific mainstream, and a number of embarrassing public relation defeats for Creationists—the Scopes’ Monkey’ trial in 1925 being the most famous example—those committed to defending Genesis found themselves either retreating from public life or willing to compromise with mainstream opinion. Fragmented, bruised and seemingly on the way out, Numbers is able to explain the ready evangelical audience that would eventually embrace 'Creation Science'. Pioneered by George McCready Price and then popularized in the 1961 book, ‘The Genesis Flood’, authored by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb, this concept aggressively challenged the prevailing consensus, arguing that a literal 6 day creation could be defended with scientific arguments. The challenge not only to evolution, but to any supposed compromise with mainstream science, especially the departure from Usher’s date of creation of 40004BC, found an eager following amongst the Faithful desperate for a unified opposition to, as they saw it, the godless scientific mainstream. Looking at the history of the anti-evolution movement, it is quite incredible that a view once a minority even amongst Fundamentalists (Williams Jennings Bryan, as an example, dismissing the notion of the days in Genesis as 24 hours) has now become the most prominent understanding of Genesis, almost to the point of a standard of orthodoxy amongst mainstream conservative evangelicals. While political victories are shortcoming, the influence and resources of Young Earth Creationist groups such as the Institute for Creation Research or Answers in Genesis are plain to see.
Ronald Numbers does a splendid job in capturing the spirit amongst Creationists through the late 19th and 20th Century, from the decline and defeatism of the early years to the enthusiastic pushback of the latter part. He is able to describe and put forward the mentality amongst evangelicals that opened them up to an uncompromising Creationism, which owes as much to culture wars as it does to theology or science. While Creationism is very much a grassroots movement, it is clear that it has been fueled a number of extremely capable and often colourful characters. The influence of Henry Morris, for example, has been immense, and Numbers is excellent in describing the beliefs, motivations and actions of the men who have shaped the Creationist movement.
This is an excellent biography of a how an exceptionally interesting movement, at least from a sociological perspective, has developed. Whether you view Creationism as revealed truth or pseudo-scientific nonsense, this is a book that should be read by all who want to understand the history of contemporary Creationism. Well-written and meticulously researched, this is an invaluable contribution to an extremely significant debate.
For many in the developed world, the issue of Creationism (along with the more recent rise in Intelligent Design) can seem somewhat baffling. Why, despite all prediction of the triumph of secularism, has Creationism not only retained a strong presence in the deep South of the USA, but also appears to be growing outside the geographical confines of the so-called Bible-Belt? Recent surveys suggest that approximately 45% of Americans believe that God created the world in six days only 6000 years ago, which must surely confuse, terrify or delight depending on your perspective. In tracing the history of the modern-day Creationist movement, Ronald Numbers brings some clarity to this question as he narrates the growth of a campaign once felt to be on the verge of extinction to a wide-spread, high-financed and influential network of often extremely intelligent people committed to a literal reading of the book of Genesis.
Creationism is, of course, not a monolithic entity as Numbers is keen to emphasize. While the publication of the Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’ was the pivotal moment in the debate on origins, Fundamentalist Protestants had already had to deal with the challenge of uniformitarian geology, suggesting that the world was far older than indicated by a literal reading of Genesis. While divided on the issue, by the turn of the 20th Century, the majority of prominent evangelicals (Catholics are not given much mention) had adopted the mainstream geological account of the earth’s history and committed themselves to the consensus that the earth is billions of years old. With Darwinism becoming firmly established in the scientific mainstream, and a number of embarrassing public relation defeats for Creationists—the Scopes’ Monkey’ trial in 1925 being the most famous example—those committed to defending Genesis found themselves either retreating from public life or willing to compromise with mainstream opinion. Fragmented, bruised and seemingly on the way out, Numbers is able to explain the ready evangelical audience that would eventually embrace 'Creation Science'. Pioneered by George McCready Price and then popularized in the 1961 book, ‘The Genesis Flood’, authored by Henry Morris and John Whitcomb, this concept aggressively challenged the prevailing consensus, arguing that a literal 6 day creation could be defended with scientific arguments. The challenge not only to evolution, but to any supposed compromise with mainstream science, especially the departure from Usher’s date of creation of 40004BC, found an eager following amongst the Faithful desperate for a unified opposition to, as they saw it, the godless scientific mainstream. Looking at the history of the anti-evolution movement, it is quite incredible that a view once a minority even amongst Fundamentalists (Williams Jennings Bryan, as an example, dismissing the notion of the days in Genesis as 24 hours) has now become the most prominent understanding of Genesis, almost to the point of a standard of orthodoxy amongst mainstream conservative evangelicals. While political victories are shortcoming, the influence and resources of Young Earth Creationist groups such as the Institute for Creation Research or Answers in Genesis are plain to see.
Ronald Numbers does a splendid job in capturing the spirit amongst Creationists through the late 19th and 20th Century, from the decline and defeatism of the early years to the enthusiastic pushback of the latter part. He is able to describe and put forward the mentality amongst evangelicals that opened them up to an uncompromising Creationism, which owes as much to culture wars as it does to theology or science. While Creationism is very much a grassroots movement, it is clear that it has been fueled a number of extremely capable and often colourful characters. The influence of Henry Morris, for example, has been immense, and Numbers is excellent in describing the beliefs, motivations and actions of the men who have shaped the Creationist movement.
This is an excellent biography of a how an exceptionally interesting movement, at least from a sociological perspective, has developed. Whether you view Creationism as revealed truth or pseudo-scientific nonsense, this is a book that should be read by all who want to understand the history of contemporary Creationism. Well-written and meticulously researched, this is an invaluable contribution to an extremely significant debate.
June 4, 2018
The Creationists by Ronald Numbers is a classic and comprehensive exposition of the history of modern creationism by a well-regarded historian of science and a recognized authority on creationism. This book has been on my reading list for a long time so it was a joy to finally sit down and absorb this large tome.
Numbers lets us know at the beginning that his work isn't about exposing the flaws of creationism and he lays his cards on the table by admitting that, although he grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist and held to young earth creationism in his youth, his current position is that of an agnostic. With that he begins his work.
The first two chapters Numbers outlines the history of creationism from the time of Darwin up to the 1920s and focuses his attend on the importance of George Frederick Wright.
Chapters three and four cover the fundamentalist controversy including the Scopes Monkey trial and especially William Jennings Bryan. We are also introduced to the creationist stalwart Harry Rimmer.
The main person responsible for the rise of modern creationism is the Seventh-Day Adventist George McCready Price and he's the subject of chapter five. Price will come up again in nearly every succeeding chapter. Price, following the Adventist prophetess Ellen G. White, claimed that most of the geological strata was a result of Noah's flood. Through his influence and subsequently John Whitcomb and Henry Morris in their book The Genesis Flood created what has become known as "flood geology" and is one of the hallmarks of modern young earth creationism. Numbers recounts the importance of Whitcomb and Morris in chapter ten.
We learn a lot about various creationists and the early associations and societies that were created in chapters six through nine. The first of such organizations was the Religion and Science Association (RSA) and then the Deluge Geology Society. Along the way we also hear about non-flood geology groups like the Evolution Protest Movement and the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). Those early creationist groups ultimately bring us to the Creation Research Society (chapter eleven) soon after the publication of Whitcomb and Morris's book. Eventually we have the founding of the Institute for Creation Research and finally Answers in Genesis.
The expanded edition of the book includes a chapter on intelligent design where we learn about how that movement got its start and culminates with the 2005 Dover trial. Numbers ends the book with a discussion about the explosion of creationism throughout the world.
This is the go to book on the history of modern young earth creationism and one that I highly recommend.
Numbers lets us know at the beginning that his work isn't about exposing the flaws of creationism and he lays his cards on the table by admitting that, although he grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist and held to young earth creationism in his youth, his current position is that of an agnostic. With that he begins his work.
The first two chapters Numbers outlines the history of creationism from the time of Darwin up to the 1920s and focuses his attend on the importance of George Frederick Wright.
Chapters three and four cover the fundamentalist controversy including the Scopes Monkey trial and especially William Jennings Bryan. We are also introduced to the creationist stalwart Harry Rimmer.
The main person responsible for the rise of modern creationism is the Seventh-Day Adventist George McCready Price and he's the subject of chapter five. Price will come up again in nearly every succeeding chapter. Price, following the Adventist prophetess Ellen G. White, claimed that most of the geological strata was a result of Noah's flood. Through his influence and subsequently John Whitcomb and Henry Morris in their book The Genesis Flood created what has become known as "flood geology" and is one of the hallmarks of modern young earth creationism. Numbers recounts the importance of Whitcomb and Morris in chapter ten.
We learn a lot about various creationists and the early associations and societies that were created in chapters six through nine. The first of such organizations was the Religion and Science Association (RSA) and then the Deluge Geology Society. Along the way we also hear about non-flood geology groups like the Evolution Protest Movement and the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA). Those early creationist groups ultimately bring us to the Creation Research Society (chapter eleven) soon after the publication of Whitcomb and Morris's book. Eventually we have the founding of the Institute for Creation Research and finally Answers in Genesis.
The expanded edition of the book includes a chapter on intelligent design where we learn about how that movement got its start and culminates with the 2005 Dover trial. Numbers ends the book with a discussion about the explosion of creationism throughout the world.
This is the go to book on the history of modern young earth creationism and one that I highly recommend.
July 13, 2021
I finished this book because I thought I should. I was impressed but didn't especially enjoy the compulsively detailed account of the history of the creationist movement. Before I unpack that reaction a little more, some takeaways:
-I have tended to imagine the relationship between evolution and religion as a gradual surrender by the latter to the former, a progression from intense and total opposition to partial acceptance and attempts at reconciliation. Numbers shows that, if anything, the progression has gone the opposite directions, from partial acceptance to militant rejection (with an interim in which creationism seemed to be rather endangered).
-While the flooding of the world with creationist thinking in the past two decades or so coincides roughly with the emergence of Intelligent Design, the prevailing forms of creationism seem to reject ID as much as they do Darwin, gravitating instead toward insistence on a young Earth and catastrophe-driven geology.
-To contradict my earlier statement about the progression of thinking, I was struck through Numbers' book by the tendency of the same lines of argument to recur decade after decade. I often got the feeling that those who have pitted themselves against Darwin have, to a large extent, run round in circles. (Likewise, I found myself rather amused by how often those critics believed that they or someone had dealt evolution a "death blow.")
The Creationists is impressive for the depth and intensity of Numbers' research, illustrated by the fact that the book's back matter (notes, sources, index) pushes 200 pages. But that's also my main complaint: The book was just more than I bargained for. It told me more than I wanted to know about its various characters and their arguments. I was frequently engaged, but I also got repeatedly bogged down and mostly slogged through because...
This book was loaned to me and highly recommended to me by my most respected mentor, a good friend and cherished former teacher. That fact prompts me to soften my impatience with the book's excesses. So does the fact that my sense of being bogged down is a personal response, not a reasoned one, and probably reflects my own shortcomings more than the author's. Most of all, I find my criticism tempered by my admiration for Numbers' sincere understanding and fair treatment of the human beings and issues (both scientific and religious) on all sides of this ongoing, crucial argument.
So, I recommend The Creationists, but only to those who are really interested in a serious look at the parameters and evolution of this controversy.
-I have tended to imagine the relationship between evolution and religion as a gradual surrender by the latter to the former, a progression from intense and total opposition to partial acceptance and attempts at reconciliation. Numbers shows that, if anything, the progression has gone the opposite directions, from partial acceptance to militant rejection (with an interim in which creationism seemed to be rather endangered).
-While the flooding of the world with creationist thinking in the past two decades or so coincides roughly with the emergence of Intelligent Design, the prevailing forms of creationism seem to reject ID as much as they do Darwin, gravitating instead toward insistence on a young Earth and catastrophe-driven geology.
-To contradict my earlier statement about the progression of thinking, I was struck through Numbers' book by the tendency of the same lines of argument to recur decade after decade. I often got the feeling that those who have pitted themselves against Darwin have, to a large extent, run round in circles. (Likewise, I found myself rather amused by how often those critics believed that they or someone had dealt evolution a "death blow.")
The Creationists is impressive for the depth and intensity of Numbers' research, illustrated by the fact that the book's back matter (notes, sources, index) pushes 200 pages. But that's also my main complaint: The book was just more than I bargained for. It told me more than I wanted to know about its various characters and their arguments. I was frequently engaged, but I also got repeatedly bogged down and mostly slogged through because...
This book was loaned to me and highly recommended to me by my most respected mentor, a good friend and cherished former teacher. That fact prompts me to soften my impatience with the book's excesses. So does the fact that my sense of being bogged down is a personal response, not a reasoned one, and probably reflects my own shortcomings more than the author's. Most of all, I find my criticism tempered by my admiration for Numbers' sincere understanding and fair treatment of the human beings and issues (both scientific and religious) on all sides of this ongoing, crucial argument.
So, I recommend The Creationists, but only to those who are really interested in a serious look at the parameters and evolution of this controversy.
December 24, 2024
This book is the condensation of a monumental amount of research—decades in the making—on the history of creationism and creationists, including interviews, access to their letters, and hard-to-find public newsletters from the 1800s that reveal their ideological ups and downs throughout the 19th and 20th centuries until they finally went global late in this coverage. After Newton, traditional creationism was a standard perspective that adjusted to the new reality of physical science. Newton had nothing to say about “special creation” as God’s creation of humanity. As old earth evidence accumulated through geology and nascent paleontology, creation could accommodate this in a variety of ways, such as allegorical readings of the Bible that allowed each day of the six days of creation to be millions of years. Clerics and professors ameliorated the threats to Christian belief—almost all of whom had seminary backgrounds—who accepted evolution of the earth.
This all changed with Darwin. Suddenly, humans came from lower life forms, and special creation was in jeopardy of losing the faith people had in it and their chosen place. Feeling cornered, creationists splintered, got ultra-literal in their Biblical readings—except when it was too inconvenient—and offered revised allegories or demanded ultra orthodoxy. This, of course, created an internal war between believers in constant bickering about this or that verse and just who was more devout. The battles became rabid as some called the others satanic. Various factions tried barnstorming revivals, theistic “science,” creation “science,” Flood “geology,” Intelligent Design Creationism, think tanks, creationist museums, PR firms, politicians, and still secularization in the West just kept gaining. The more creationists were threatened, the more radically extremist they got. And yet, despite the rising dominance of some form of very approximate science-minded thinking among the public, the creationists were able to gain ground by going under it. After repeat losses in the courts, creationists went underground to organize, infiltrate churches, schools, and publish teaching materials for home schools. Finally, it broke out into Islam and Judaism to become a worldwide phenomenon against modernity.
This book is very interesting, revealing a well-sourced account (140 pages of reference notes) about a powerful player in the worldwide unraveling of Western civilization.
This all changed with Darwin. Suddenly, humans came from lower life forms, and special creation was in jeopardy of losing the faith people had in it and their chosen place. Feeling cornered, creationists splintered, got ultra-literal in their Biblical readings—except when it was too inconvenient—and offered revised allegories or demanded ultra orthodoxy. This, of course, created an internal war between believers in constant bickering about this or that verse and just who was more devout. The battles became rabid as some called the others satanic. Various factions tried barnstorming revivals, theistic “science,” creation “science,” Flood “geology,” Intelligent Design Creationism, think tanks, creationist museums, PR firms, politicians, and still secularization in the West just kept gaining. The more creationists were threatened, the more radically extremist they got. And yet, despite the rising dominance of some form of very approximate science-minded thinking among the public, the creationists were able to gain ground by going under it. After repeat losses in the courts, creationists went underground to organize, infiltrate churches, schools, and publish teaching materials for home schools. Finally, it broke out into Islam and Judaism to become a worldwide phenomenon against modernity.
This book is very interesting, revealing a well-sourced account (140 pages of reference notes) about a powerful player in the worldwide unraveling of Western civilization.
April 2, 2020
A fairly academic chronicle of the who, when, and where of Scientific Creationism. By "Scientific Creationism", Numbers restricts his focus to various attempts by English speaking Christians to reconcile the creation account in Genesis with modern Geology. These efforts include the day-age theory, the gap theory, and the more recent and headline-grabbing flood geology, which claims a literal six-day creation within the past ten thousand years and a global flood as the primary drivers of all of the Earth's features. Contrary to my initial hopes, this book doesn't cover the physical observations supporting or detracting from each of these theories, but rather describes the history, motivations, and actions of the individuals driving each theory. I now think that is the right choice. While informative, clearly written, and remarkably neutral and respectful in tone and scope, this is an academic book with a pretty narrow focus. It's really only for the keenly interested.
I think Numbers, a former Seventh Day Adventist who was taught flood geology from the cradle only to later embrace modern geology, has the right view of the situation. He writes,
I've certainly found this to be true. Another gem from the introduction,
I think Numbers, a former Seventh Day Adventist who was taught flood geology from the cradle only to later embrace modern geology, has the right view of the situation. He writes,
"What most distinguished the leading creationists from their evolutionary counterparts was not intellect or integrity but cosmology and epistemology."
I've certainly found this to be true. Another gem from the introduction,
"...although many scholars seem to have no trouble respecting the unconventional beliefs and behaviors of peoples chronologically or geographically removed from us, they substitute condemnation for comprehension when scrutinizing their own neighbors. I think it is profitable to get acquainted with the neighbors, especially so if we find them threatening."I agree that the best, and possibly most enlightening, approach to crank science is through humility, curiosity, and empathy.
June 9, 2019
This book is by far the best and most complete historical description of creationism in existence. Though the author is an agnostic, his father was a Seventh-day Adventist preacher who himself gave anti-evolutionary talks; so, Numbers is both comfortable with creationist language and worldview and is predisposed to treat the creationists with more scholarly dispassion than an average reader might anticipate. Numbers also writes well, which makes the book a joy to read. Though the last two chapters on Intelligent Design and the recent global impact of creationism have a “tacked on” feel, I prefer even tacked on information to no information at all.
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July 8, 2019Those of us who know nothing about evolution also know very little about the alarm with which those who accept evolution view us.
September 4, 2021
Tnhis is the definitive history of creationism. Very well researched and well written.
March 28, 2024
The ultimate guide for creationism in the United States!
February 7, 2016
Ronald Numbers, who grew up a devout Seventh Day Adventist, but became an evolution-believing agnostic in graduate school, writes an interesting history of the Creationist movement. Rather than pillorying creationists, he attempts to trace the origins of their movement and the social and political changes that guided it. (He concludes "What most distinguished the leading creationists from their evolutionary counterparts was not intellect or integrity but cosmology and epistemology" (p. 336). The creationist movement was also complex and caused strong disagreement within Christianity as well, with a small minority promoting their obscure beliefs into the position of Christian orthodoxy.
Numbers begins by outlining the origins beliefs of 19th Century American Christians. Many easily adapted the Bible and Darwin's new theory into a compatible mix that satisfied them. Others rejected evolutionary origin for man, but reconciled modern geology with the Bible via the "Gap Theory", "Day Age Theory", or other means. William Jennings Bryan, the populist agitator twice nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party, espoused these theories even while he argued against the teaching of evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. Although creationists today belittle Bryan for this "sell-out," the reality is at the time only the Seventh Day Adventist Church, constrained by the writings of its 19th Century prophetess Ellen G. White, held to a literal six day creation about 6,000 years ago.
The main theme of Numbers' book is the ongoing conflict between doubters of evolution who wih to present creation as a valid belief to the world and the Adventist scientists and their eventual disciples who elevate six day young earth creationism to the status of a fundamentalist non-negotiable. In Numbers' telling, the creation/evolution battle is fought on two issues--the biological origins of life (divine creation vs. evolution) and the gelogic table (long time vs. Noah's flood). Creationists and evolutionists diverged over the biological origins, but then the Adventist "flood geology" proponents entered and then co-opted the creationist movement. Essentially banishing traditional old-earth creationists from their ranks by redefining flood geology as Christian orthodoxy.
Numbers' book would be a great read for any creationist seeking to understand the intellectual, religious, and social development of their movement. Millennials may also indeed be skeptical of the dogmatism that writes off old-earth creationism as heresy and ideologically identifies evolution with every evil social trend decried by fundamentalist leaders. For them, Numbers' book explains how creationism got where it is.
Numbers begins by outlining the origins beliefs of 19th Century American Christians. Many easily adapted the Bible and Darwin's new theory into a compatible mix that satisfied them. Others rejected evolutionary origin for man, but reconciled modern geology with the Bible via the "Gap Theory", "Day Age Theory", or other means. William Jennings Bryan, the populist agitator twice nominated for the presidency by the Democratic Party, espoused these theories even while he argued against the teaching of evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925. Although creationists today belittle Bryan for this "sell-out," the reality is at the time only the Seventh Day Adventist Church, constrained by the writings of its 19th Century prophetess Ellen G. White, held to a literal six day creation about 6,000 years ago.
The main theme of Numbers' book is the ongoing conflict between doubters of evolution who wih to present creation as a valid belief to the world and the Adventist scientists and their eventual disciples who elevate six day young earth creationism to the status of a fundamentalist non-negotiable. In Numbers' telling, the creation/evolution battle is fought on two issues--the biological origins of life (divine creation vs. evolution) and the gelogic table (long time vs. Noah's flood). Creationists and evolutionists diverged over the biological origins, but then the Adventist "flood geology" proponents entered and then co-opted the creationist movement. Essentially banishing traditional old-earth creationists from their ranks by redefining flood geology as Christian orthodoxy.
Numbers' book would be a great read for any creationist seeking to understand the intellectual, religious, and social development of their movement. Millennials may also indeed be skeptical of the dogmatism that writes off old-earth creationism as heresy and ideologically identifies evolution with every evil social trend decried by fundamentalist leaders. For them, Numbers' book explains how creationism got where it is.
December 14, 2018
Normally a serious history book about a rather niche topic (the rise of the theory of "special creation" as an alternative to evolutionary biology and geology) would sit at the 3-star mark just for being niche, but a couple factors push it to 4 stars.
First, it's very well done. Numbers goes after the sources of every little detail of "creation science" and "flood geology," with many, many quotes from the literature, letters, and journals involved. It's not as awe-inspiring as THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE MYSTERY---SOLVED, but then again that was explicitly a debunking book, whereas this is a very close reading of the creationist strain in American (etc.) Christian (etc.) religious thought.
Second, it's a great example of the history of ideas in action. Creationism is a funny thing in that on the surface it's supposed to not be a new idea (i.e., it goes back to "In the beginning" and stands in opposition to "modern," "liberal," relativistic/metaphorical/allegorical readings of the Bible) but beneath is a roiling sea of theological debate. It's interesting and surprising that this idea, germinating within the fringe sect of Seventh-Day Adventism, united so much (but not all!) conservative Christian denominations even when they would otherwise wildly disagree. On the scientific/skeptical side of things, it's yet another example of how bad the scientific community was at doing science communication for basically all of the 20th c. The "Velikovsky affair" is in the background while Numbers looks at the 1950s and 60s and 70s, but in general the elitist and reactionary nature of the scientific response (ironic, since creationism itself is a kind of reaction) was sad to read about.
Creationism vs. evolution has stomped ahead into the 21st c., and it's a very complicated issue, not easily boiled down to "ignorance of the evidence" or "lying for Jesus." But even if you're not interested in that per se, this book is a clear window into how a large group of people come to stand in opposition to multiple orthodoxies (theological and scientific).
First, it's very well done. Numbers goes after the sources of every little detail of "creation science" and "flood geology," with many, many quotes from the literature, letters, and journals involved. It's not as awe-inspiring as THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE MYSTERY---SOLVED, but then again that was explicitly a debunking book, whereas this is a very close reading of the creationist strain in American (etc.) Christian (etc.) religious thought.
Second, it's a great example of the history of ideas in action. Creationism is a funny thing in that on the surface it's supposed to not be a new idea (i.e., it goes back to "In the beginning" and stands in opposition to "modern," "liberal," relativistic/metaphorical/allegorical readings of the Bible) but beneath is a roiling sea of theological debate. It's interesting and surprising that this idea, germinating within the fringe sect of Seventh-Day Adventism, united so much (but not all!) conservative Christian denominations even when they would otherwise wildly disagree. On the scientific/skeptical side of things, it's yet another example of how bad the scientific community was at doing science communication for basically all of the 20th c. The "Velikovsky affair" is in the background while Numbers looks at the 1950s and 60s and 70s, but in general the elitist and reactionary nature of the scientific response (ironic, since creationism itself is a kind of reaction) was sad to read about.
Creationism vs. evolution has stomped ahead into the 21st c., and it's a very complicated issue, not easily boiled down to "ignorance of the evidence" or "lying for Jesus." But even if you're not interested in that per se, this book is a clear window into how a large group of people come to stand in opposition to multiple orthodoxies (theological and scientific).
July 9, 2015
This book unfortunately told me more than I wanted to know about the history of "creation science," though I don't think that's a fault in the impressively researched book (more an author/reader mismatch). Numbers does a very good job tracing the creationist view from Victorian times when a lot of Christians felt the right interpretation could harmonize Genesis and Darwin to the 20th century when a number of creationists began embracing a literal six-days interpretation (I was surprised to learn how relatively recent that view was). Numbers concludes that this approach became popular because it's simple and doesn't require any sort of compromise with secular science.
August 5, 2010
Numbers' book is a very detailed monograph about the history of the creationist movement in the 20th century. It serves as a good reference work but is hard to read straight through because it is encyclopedic. One interesting aspect is his description of the American Scientific Association, a group of professional scientists who profess Christian faith. Their views have largely been ignored by mainstream media, but they are one of the few voices of reason and intelligence in this whole ugly mess.
February 26, 2018
When the author of a history on creationism is an agnostic, and he get an endorsement by Henry Morris, one of the prominent figures in creationism, you know he did an excellent job. Morris said of the first edition of "The Creationists": "For those interested in the background of the modern revival of creationism, whether evolutionists or creationists, this book is a rich mine of information and historical insights."
January 5, 2008
Amazingly meticulous and accurate history of the creationist movement. No folks, "creation-ism" isn't much older than "evolution-ism".
I like the fact that this book is endorsed by Henry Morris, the father of American creationism.
Very interesting history that anyone interested in this topic, regardless of background, should read.
I like the fact that this book is endorsed by Henry Morris, the father of American creationism.
Very interesting history that anyone interested in this topic, regardless of background, should read.
November 14, 2014
I recommend this book to all my Young Earth Creation friends! A wonderfully researched and thoughtful book on the origins of modern day Creationist who take Genesis1 as 7/24 hour days and the universe being only 6000-10,000 yrs old.
January 18, 2012
Fascinating. Very detailed history of the young-earth creationist movement. I like to know who influenced who.
March 8, 2013
Comprehensive, important, and fair. Anyone (especially Christians) interested in debates over evolution should read this book.
February 22, 2016
Bon livre, permettant de comprendre l'apparition malheureuse et très récente du créationnisme aux États-Unis.
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