The Genesis Flood
Encyclopedia
The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and its Scientific Implications is a 1961 book by young earth creationists
John C. Whitcomb
and Henry M. Morris
that "produced a stunning renaissance of flood geology
," elevating the hypothesis "to a position of fundamentalist orthodoxy" while both polarizing evangelicals and carrying young-earth creationism "to an ever wider Protestant audience."
, the belief that the six days of Genesis represented vast ages, or by separating the original creation from a later Edenic creation: the so-called gap theory. The primary promoter of "flood geology
" during the early twentieth century was George McCready Price
, but he had comparatively little influence among evangelicals because he was a Seventh-day Adventist
, a sect treated warily by many conservative Protestants.
(founded 1941), an evangelical organization that gradually shifted from strict creationism to progressive creationism
and theistic evolution
. In 1954, Bernard Ramm
, an evangelical apologist and theologian closely associated with the ASA, published The Christian View of Science and Scripture, which attacked the notion that "biblical inspiration implied that the Bible was a reliable source of scientific data." Ramm ridiculed both flood geology and the gap theory, and one ASA member credited Ramm with providing a way for a majority of Christian biologists to accept evolution.
Ramm's book sparked a young Bible teacher and seminarian, John C. Whitcomb, Jr., to challenge what he considered its "absurdities." Whitcomb had earlier studied geology
and paleontology
at Princeton University
, but by the 1950s, he was teaching Bible at Grace Theological Seminary
. At the 1953 ASA meeting, Whitcomb had been impressed by a presentation of Henry M. Morris
—a hydraulic engineer with a PhD from the University of Minnesota
—called "The Biblical Evidence for Recent Creation and Universal Deluge." Following publication of Ramm's book, Whitcomb decided to devote his ThD dissertation to defending flood geology.
Berated almost from the beginning of his project by influential evangelicals such as Edward John Carnell
, the newly installed president of Fuller Theological Seminary
, Whitcomb completed his dissertation in 1957 and began condensing it for publication. With no illusions about his scientific expertise, Whitcomb sought a collaborator who had a PhD in science. He could find no geologists who took Genesis seriously, and even teachers at evangelical schools at best expressed distaste for flood geology. Eventually Henry Morris agreed to be Whitcomb's collaborator for the scientific portions of the book. Despite his heavy teaching load and administrative duties at Virginia Tech, where he had just become head of a large civil-engineering program, Morris made steady progress on his section of the book, eventually contributing more than twice as much material as Whitcomb.
As the manuscript neared completion, Moody Press, which had expressed initial interest, now hesitated. The proposed book was a long work, insisting on six literal days of creation, certain to be criticized by segments of Moody's constituency. Whitcomb and Morris instead published with the small Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, whose owner Charles H. Craig had long wanted to acquire a manuscript that supported catastrophism
.
Morris introduces his section on geology with the frank statement that Bible-believing Christians face "a serious dilemma" because contemporary geologists present "an almost unanimous verdict" against the biblical account of creation and the Flood. Nevertheless, Morris assures believers that "evidences of full divine inspiration of Scripture are far weighter than the evidences for any fact of science." Morris then argues that "fossil-bearing strata were apparently laid down in large measure during the Flood, with the apparent sequences attributed not to evolution but rather to hydrodynamic selectivity, ecologic habitats, and differential mobility and strength of the various creatures." He also dismisses the theory of "thrust faults," the mainstream geological theory by which "old" rocks were presumed to have come to rest on "young" rocks. Morris argues that commonly accepted geological theories do not truly depend on scientific data but are rather a "moral and emotional decision," in which evolutionists seek "intellectual justification for escape from personal responsibility to his Creator and escape from the 'way of the Cross' as the necessary and sufficient means of his personal redemption
." Finally, in the longest chapter of the book, Morris addresses "problems in biblical geology," which include commonly used dating methods (such as Carbon-14
measurements) as well geological formations, such as coral reefs, petrified forests, and varves, all of which imply great age for the earth.
, the most important evangelical magazine of the period, published a tepid review that did not address issues raised by the book but instead criticized the authors for using secondary sources and taking arguments out of context. The American Scientific Affiliation
featured two hostile reviews, and in 1969, the ASA Journal published a highly critical commentary by J. R. van der Fliert, a Dutch Reformed geologist at the Free University of Amsterdam, who called Whitcomb and Morris "pseudo-scientific" pretenders. "To ensure that no readers missed his point," the journal "ran boldfaced sidebars by evangelical geologists applauding van de Fliert's bare-knuckled approach."
Outside conservative religious circles, The Genesis Flood created "hardly a ripple of recognition." Not surprisingly, it was ignored by mainstream geology journals; less accountably, it also remained unreviewed in any of the dozens of periodicals covered by Book Review Digest. At a talk given to the large Houston Geological Society, Morris was ridiculed by the president in his introduction, and Morris's call for questions at the conclusion produced none, because as one member said, the audience was "too stunned to speak."
Whitcomb and Morris "attributed the impasse between themselves and their critics to competing cosmologies
." They argued that the term science could refer only to "present and reproducible phenomena" and that contemporary geologists who discussed the history of the earth were thereby operating as non-scientists.
world and polarized Evangelical opinion." In 25 years, The Genesis Flood went through 29 printings and sold more than 200,000 copies. An old-earth creationist book, written specifically to challenge young-earth geological theories, called the late twentieth-century revival of interest in flood geology "astonishing and perplexing," especially "in the face of increasing geologic and astronomical evidence for the vast antiquity of the Earth and the universe." Again, in the words of a critic, Arthur McCalla, the growth in young-earth creationism occurred not only because modern fundamantalists were more ignorant than in previous generations, but also because young-earth creationism "better defended a plain-sense reading of the inerrant Bible than did the old-Earth creationism of Ramm and the earlier Fundamentalists....Legions of Bible believers responded gratefully to Whitcomb and Morris because their system eliminated once and for all the need for interpretative contortions that twist and bend the words of the Bible in order to reconcile them with the findings of modern science."
Publication changed the lives of both the authors. Morris especially was deluged with speaking invitations, and his notoriety became an embarrassment to Virginia Tech. In 1963, Morris became a founder of the Creation Research Society
and then, in 1970, the Institute for Creation Research
. He wrote many more books devoted to young-earth creationism.
During the late twentieth century, young-earth creationism sparked by The Genesis Flood was regularly featured on Christian radio
and became a staple of the home-school movement. An International Conference on Creationism, held every fourth year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
, produced papers of "considerable scientific and mathematical sophistication," and the movement attracted younger scholars with PhDs in the sciences, including even a few in geology. Ken Ham
, perhaps the best known young-earth creationist of the early twenty-first century, the founder of Answers in Genesis
and the Creation Museum
near Cincinnati
, called Morris “one of my heroes of the faith. He is the man the Lord raised up as the father of the modern creationist movement. The famous book The Genesis Flood...was the book the Lord used to really launch the modern creationist movement around the world.”
Young Earth creationism
Young Earth creationism is the religious belief that Heavens, Earth, and all life on Earth were created by direct acts of the Abrahamic God during a relatively short period, sometime between 5,700 and 10,000 years ago...
John C. Whitcomb
John C. Whitcomb
John Clement Whitcomb, Jr. is an American Old Testament theologian and young earth creationist. Whitcomb is sometimes credited for establishing the modern young earth creationist/creation science movement by authoring with Henry M...
and Henry M. Morris
Henry M. Morris
Henry Madison Morris was an American young earth creationist and Christian apologist. He was one of the founders of the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research...
that "produced a stunning renaissance of flood geology
Flood geology
Flood geology is the interpretation of the geological history of the Earth in terms of the global flood described in Genesis 6–9. Similar views played a part in the early development of the science of geology, even after the Biblical chronology had been rejected by geologists in favour of an...
," elevating the hypothesis "to a position of fundamentalist orthodoxy" while both polarizing evangelicals and carrying young-earth creationism "to an ever wider Protestant audience."
Background
By the late nineteenth century, organic evolution was adopted by most European and American scientists, and evolutionary notions "were infiltrating even the ranks of evangelical Christians." Although some conservative Christians continued to support a traditional reading of Genesis, most "readily conceded that the Bible allowed for an ancient earth and pre-Edenic life." With very few exceptions they accommodated the new geological theories either with Day-Age creationismDay-Age Creationism
Day-age creationism, a type of old Earth creationism, is an interpretation of the creation accounts found in Genesis. It holds that the six days referred to in the Genesis account of creation are not ordinary 24-hour days, but rather are much longer periods...
, the belief that the six days of Genesis represented vast ages, or by separating the original creation from a later Edenic creation: the so-called gap theory. The primary promoter of "flood geology
Flood geology
Flood geology is the interpretation of the geological history of the Earth in terms of the global flood described in Genesis 6–9. Similar views played a part in the early development of the science of geology, even after the Biblical chronology had been rejected by geologists in favour of an...
" during the early twentieth century was George McCready Price
George McCready Price
George McCready Price was a Canadian creationist. He produced several anti-evolution and creationist works, particularly on the subject of flood geology...
, but he had comparatively little influence among evangelicals because he was a Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, a sect treated warily by many conservative Protestants.
Origins
By the 1950s, most evangelical scientists scorned flood geology, and those who accepted the theory were increasingly marginalized within the American Scientific AffiliationAmerican Scientific Affiliation
The American Scientific Affiliation is a Christian religious organization of scientists and people in science-related disciplines. The stated purpose is "to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science." The organization publishes a journal, Perspectives of Science and Christian Faith...
(founded 1941), an evangelical organization that gradually shifted from strict creationism to progressive creationism
Progressive creationism
Progressive creationism is the religious belief that God created new forms of life gradually, over a period of hundreds of millions of years. As a form of Old Earth creationism, it accepts mainstream geological and cosmological estimates for the age of the Earth, but posits that the new "kinds" of...
and theistic evolution
Theistic evolution
Theistic evolution or evolutionary creation is a concept that asserts that classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution...
. In 1954, Bernard Ramm
Bernard Ramm
Bernard L. Ramm was a Baptist theologian and apologist within the broad Evangelical tradition. He wrote prolifically on topics concerned with biblical hermeneutics, religion and science, Christology, and apologetics...
, an evangelical apologist and theologian closely associated with the ASA, published The Christian View of Science and Scripture, which attacked the notion that "biblical inspiration implied that the Bible was a reliable source of scientific data." Ramm ridiculed both flood geology and the gap theory, and one ASA member credited Ramm with providing a way for a majority of Christian biologists to accept evolution.
Ramm's book sparked a young Bible teacher and seminarian, John C. Whitcomb, Jr., to challenge what he considered its "absurdities." Whitcomb had earlier studied geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
and paleontology
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, but by the 1950s, he was teaching Bible at Grace Theological Seminary
Grace Theological Seminary
Grace Theological Seminary is an evangelical Christian seminary located in Winona Lake, Indiana. GTS is joined with Grace College and is associated with the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. The seminary enjoys a history that dates back to its 1937 organization by Alva J. McClain, the...
. At the 1953 ASA meeting, Whitcomb had been impressed by a presentation of Henry M. Morris
Henry M. Morris
Henry Madison Morris was an American young earth creationist and Christian apologist. He was one of the founders of the Creation Research Society and the Institute for Creation Research...
—a hydraulic engineer with a PhD from the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
—called "The Biblical Evidence for Recent Creation and Universal Deluge." Following publication of Ramm's book, Whitcomb decided to devote his ThD dissertation to defending flood geology.
Berated almost from the beginning of his project by influential evangelicals such as Edward John Carnell
Edward John Carnell
Edward John Carnell was a prominent Christian theologian and apologist, was an ordained Baptist pastor, and served as President of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He was the author of nine major books, several of which attempted to develop a fresh outlook in Christian...
, the newly installed president of Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary
Fuller Theological Seminary is an accredited Christian educational institute with its main campus in Pasadena, California and several satellite campuses in the western United States...
, Whitcomb completed his dissertation in 1957 and began condensing it for publication. With no illusions about his scientific expertise, Whitcomb sought a collaborator who had a PhD in science. He could find no geologists who took Genesis seriously, and even teachers at evangelical schools at best expressed distaste for flood geology. Eventually Henry Morris agreed to be Whitcomb's collaborator for the scientific portions of the book. Despite his heavy teaching load and administrative duties at Virginia Tech, where he had just become head of a large civil-engineering program, Morris made steady progress on his section of the book, eventually contributing more than twice as much material as Whitcomb.
As the manuscript neared completion, Moody Press, which had expressed initial interest, now hesitated. The proposed book was a long work, insisting on six literal days of creation, certain to be criticized by segments of Moody's constituency. Whitcomb and Morris instead published with the small Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, whose owner Charles H. Craig had long wanted to acquire a manuscript that supported catastrophism
Catastrophism
Catastrophism is the theory that the Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events, possibly worldwide in scope. The dominant paradigm of modern geology is uniformitarianism , in which slow incremental changes, such as erosion, create the Earth's appearance...
.
Contents
After opening with the declaration that "the Bible is the infallible Word of God," Whitcomb's section provides biblical arguments for a universal flood as well as attempting to refute non-geological difficulties with the biblical account. Whitcomb specifically addresses the local flood theories of Bernard Ramm—who has far more entries in the index than any one else. Whitcomb concludes his section of the work with a review of how geological theories had influenced Christian views of the Flood since the beginning of the nineteenth century and draws the "one vitally important lesson," that the biblical doctrine of the Flood cannot be harmonized with "uniformitarian theories."Morris introduces his section on geology with the frank statement that Bible-believing Christians face "a serious dilemma" because contemporary geologists present "an almost unanimous verdict" against the biblical account of creation and the Flood. Nevertheless, Morris assures believers that "evidences of full divine inspiration of Scripture are far weighter than the evidences for any fact of science." Morris then argues that "fossil-bearing strata were apparently laid down in large measure during the Flood, with the apparent sequences attributed not to evolution but rather to hydrodynamic selectivity, ecologic habitats, and differential mobility and strength of the various creatures." He also dismisses the theory of "thrust faults," the mainstream geological theory by which "old" rocks were presumed to have come to rest on "young" rocks. Morris argues that commonly accepted geological theories do not truly depend on scientific data but are rather a "moral and emotional decision," in which evolutionists seek "intellectual justification for escape from personal responsibility to his Creator and escape from the 'way of the Cross' as the necessary and sufficient means of his personal redemption
Salvation
Within religion salvation is the phenomenon of being saved from the undesirable condition of bondage or suffering experienced by the psyche or soul that has arisen as a result of unskillful or immoral actions generically referred to as sins. Salvation may also be called "deliverance" or...
." Finally, in the longest chapter of the book, Morris addresses "problems in biblical geology," which include commonly used dating methods (such as Carbon-14
Carbon-14
Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
measurements) as well geological formations, such as coral reefs, petrified forests, and varves, all of which imply great age for the earth.
Reception
Several dozen small Christian magazines reviewed the book and generally praised its defense of the scriptural account of the Flood, although few seemed to understand that accepting Whitcomb and Morris meant rejecting the day-age and gap theories. Christianity TodayChristianity Today
Christianity Today is an Evangelical Christian periodical based in Carol Stream, Illinois. It is the flagship publication of its parent company Christianity Today International, claiming circulation figures of 140,000 and readership of 290,000...
, the most important evangelical magazine of the period, published a tepid review that did not address issues raised by the book but instead criticized the authors for using secondary sources and taking arguments out of context. The American Scientific Affiliation
American Scientific Affiliation
The American Scientific Affiliation is a Christian religious organization of scientists and people in science-related disciplines. The stated purpose is "to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science." The organization publishes a journal, Perspectives of Science and Christian Faith...
featured two hostile reviews, and in 1969, the ASA Journal published a highly critical commentary by J. R. van der Fliert, a Dutch Reformed geologist at the Free University of Amsterdam, who called Whitcomb and Morris "pseudo-scientific" pretenders. "To ensure that no readers missed his point," the journal "ran boldfaced sidebars by evangelical geologists applauding van de Fliert's bare-knuckled approach."
Outside conservative religious circles, The Genesis Flood created "hardly a ripple of recognition." Not surprisingly, it was ignored by mainstream geology journals; less accountably, it also remained unreviewed in any of the dozens of periodicals covered by Book Review Digest. At a talk given to the large Houston Geological Society, Morris was ridiculed by the president in his introduction, and Morris's call for questions at the conclusion produced none, because as one member said, the audience was "too stunned to speak."
Whitcomb and Morris "attributed the impasse between themselves and their critics to competing cosmologies
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
." They argued that the term science could refer only to "present and reproducible phenomena" and that contemporary geologists who discussed the history of the earth were thereby operating as non-scientists.
Importance
The Genesis Flood "became a best-seller in the FundamantalistFundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
world and polarized Evangelical opinion." In 25 years, The Genesis Flood went through 29 printings and sold more than 200,000 copies. An old-earth creationist book, written specifically to challenge young-earth geological theories, called the late twentieth-century revival of interest in flood geology "astonishing and perplexing," especially "in the face of increasing geologic and astronomical evidence for the vast antiquity of the Earth and the universe." Again, in the words of a critic, Arthur McCalla, the growth in young-earth creationism occurred not only because modern fundamantalists were more ignorant than in previous generations, but also because young-earth creationism "better defended a plain-sense reading of the inerrant Bible than did the old-Earth creationism of Ramm and the earlier Fundamentalists....Legions of Bible believers responded gratefully to Whitcomb and Morris because their system eliminated once and for all the need for interpretative contortions that twist and bend the words of the Bible in order to reconcile them with the findings of modern science."
Publication changed the lives of both the authors. Morris especially was deluged with speaking invitations, and his notoriety became an embarrassment to Virginia Tech. In 1963, Morris became a founder of the Creation Research Society
Creation Research Society
The Creation Research Society is a Christian research group that engages in creation science. The organization has produced various publications, including a journal and a creation-based biology textbook...
and then, in 1970, the Institute for Creation Research
Institute for Creation Research
The Institute for Creation Research is a Christian institution in Dallas, Texas that specializes in education, research, and media promotion of Creation Science and Biblical creationism. The ICR adopts the Bible as an inerrant and literal documentary of scientific and historical fact as well as...
. He wrote many more books devoted to young-earth creationism.
During the late twentieth century, young-earth creationism sparked by The Genesis Flood was regularly featured on Christian radio
Christian radio
Christian radio is a category of radio formats that focus on transmitting programming with a Christian message. In the United States, where it is more established, many such broadcasters play popular music of Christian influence, though many programs have talk or news programming covering...
and became a staple of the home-school movement. An International Conference on Creationism, held every fourth year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, produced papers of "considerable scientific and mathematical sophistication," and the movement attracted younger scholars with PhDs in the sciences, including even a few in geology. Ken Ham
Ken Ham
Kenneth Alfred Ham is the Australian President/CEO of Answers in Genesis USA. He is a vocal advocate for a young Earth and a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, and his cross-country speaking tours and many books make him one of the better known young-Earth...
, perhaps the best known young-earth creationist of the early twenty-first century, the founder of Answers in Genesis
Answers in Genesis
Answers in Genesis is a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry with a particular focus on supporting Young Earth creationism and a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis. The organization has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States...
and the Creation Museum
Creation Museum
The Creation Museum is a museum near Petersburg, Kentucky that presents an account of the origins of the universe, life, mankind, and man's early history according to a literal reading of the Book of Genesis...
near Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, called Morris “one of my heroes of the faith. He is the man the Lord raised up as the father of the modern creationist movement. The famous book The Genesis Flood...was the book the Lord used to really launch the modern creationist movement around the world.”
External links
- John Whitcomb, "The History and Impact of the Book, 'The Genesis Flood'"