Soon the 2021 Origins Conference will be taking place in three physical locations, as well as online. All three Creation societies (Creation Theology Society, Creation Biology Society, and Creation Geology Society) will participate and welcome attendees in St. Louis MO, Dayton TN, and Santa Clarita CA starting at 4:00 PM PDT (7:00 PM EDT) on Wednesday, July 28. The conference will adjourn at 2:30 PM PDT (5:30 PM EDT), Saturday, July 31. If you have not yet registered, please go to this registration link to do so.
During the conference a number of the attendees will present papers on a variety of topics and conduct a Q&A following each paper. A special Interdisciplinary Session will feature three papers and a panel discussion on The Fountains of the Great Deep and the Windows of the Heavens in the Genesis Flood Narrative.
The full schedule of the sessions and locations for the physical meetings will be published soon online — watch for it on our CTS website, as well as on the Creation Biology Society website.
A signal feature of the Creation Theology Society (CTS) is highly valuing interdisciplinary collaboration in creation research. This is immensely beneficial in both directions: the scientific, grammatical, and hermeneutical breakthroughs that can occur by proceeding from an accurate understanding of the biblical text; and the results which can obtain by applying scientific, linguistic, and mathematical methodology to the text—as the following testimony proves.
I’ve been involved in several interdisciplinary creation research projects and have seen firsthand the excellent results which can come from such undertakings. First, the RATE project (Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth), which was very successful in looking at the problem of radioisotopic dating from a number of different perspectives: geology, geophysics, and physics and then my work on the genre of Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 using statistical methodology. (Employing such atypical techniques to the text has been the hallmark of my approach, beginning with my dissertation). In this case, instead of being satisfied with the usual qualitative approach to distinguishing genre from genre, I worked with two statisticians to develop a quantitative model (a logistic regression model) for predicting genre. The best model was based on the relative frequency of wayyiqtol (which traces the flow of the events in a narrative). At a statistical confidence level of 99.5% the model predicts that the probability that Genesis 1:1–2:3 is prose, not poetry, is between .999942 and .999987.
Second, was the FAST project (Flood Activated Sedimentation and Tectonics), which led to the third such effort, the Cataclysm Chronology Research Group, an ongoing collaboration between a team of Hebraists and a geologist, Dr. Andrew Snelling, in which a close reading of the text in terms of the real world implications of what it is saying show that there is temporal discontinuity in the text at points. This then led to challenging the long-standing understanding of the dominant Hebrew narrative form and developing a semantic methodology for ascertaining sequence based on ‘temporal reasoning’, which will be applied to the 261 verbs in the Flood account. In addition, set theory and the concepts of general functions can be applied to the mapping of the recounting of Divine pronouncements and commands in the Flood account to their later reports of actualizations and compliance, respectively, by considering each verb as a point with multiple coordinates representing essential characteristics.
The fourth example is the documentary Is Genesis History?, which exemplifies a presentation to the public of the evidence from a range of disciplines for the historicity of Genesis 1-11.
And finally, in the fall of 2019 at the inaugural Bulwarks and Frontiers Conference scientists and scholars from diverse specialties had an opportunity to listen to, learn from, and query one another as they each presented their assessment of the status of creation research in their particular discipline.
The birth of CTS promises such interdisciplinary collaboration on a grand scale between rigorous study in the Hebrew text and the hard sciences and consequent amazing results. Come join us and experience the thrill of discovering how God’s Word and world interface!
Shortly after my salvation my pastor introduced me to The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris. At the time I was a lab assistant for my high school biology teacher. After graduation I received a National Science Foundation grant to perform ecological research at Pingree Park, the science camp for Colorado State University. I pursued a potential career in wildlife management in junior college before the Lord led me into biblical studies at a Bible college and on into seminary and a Doctor of Theology degree in Old Testament and Hebrew from Grace Theological Seminary, where I sat under Dr. Whitcomb as one of my mentors. Two other creationist mentors had also made a huge impact on my interest in the book of Genesis, Dr. Leo Lapp and Dr. Bernard Northrup. Through a half century of teaching, along with several decades of involvement in Bible translation ministries overseas and Stateside, I’ve been invited to write an exegetical commentary on Genesis, which is a work in progress.
In addition to research, writing, and publishing in the area of biblical creationism, I have been actively involved with co-leading biblical creation trips in Grand Canyon with Canyon Ministries for the past 13 years. I am currently the chairman of that ministry’s board of directors. My background has prepared me to understand the importance of creation theology.
The Scriptures make it clear that creation came about through an all-powerful and all-wise Creator. Therefore, what we call “creationism” or “creation theology” really amounts to a study of the God who brought everything into existence. Whereas the hard sciences focus on evidence within the physical creation, the “queen of sciences,” theology, delves into the realm of the ultimate source of creation, the Creator Himself.
When we emphasize the Creator, we cannot escape dealing with His written Word by which He reveals to us how and why He created. For theologians the goal must be to exegete the Scriptures with accuracy so we might learn what God has revealed for us. Having thus expounded divine revelation, biblical scholars position themselves for supplying revelatory information with which believing scientists might guide their research and develop their models.
For years Kurt Wise has begged many of us to do just what we propose to do through this new society. We’ve designed CTS to link with sister societies like Creation Geology Society and Creation Biology Society for the academic cross-fertilization necessary to ongoing creation research. We might have responded slower than you desired, Kurt, but we’re ready to launch CTS and pour ourselves into the tasks at hand. We invite all of you reading this blog post to join us — get involved. Become a member of CTS now.
The Creation Theology Society (CTS) provides a venue for a Bible-believing community of scholars to perform research in the evidence contained in the biblical text, to prepare their resulting studies with the involvement of peer review, and to present to creation scientists significant biblical data to aid them in their examination of the physical evidence. Such operations closely parallel the way biblical scholars have acted as catalysts for archaeological research in Bible lands. With Bible in hand, theologians and historians walked over the geographical setting of biblical events in order to identify significant biblical sites for archaeological investigation. CTS scholars will walk through the biblical text to identify significant details that might instigate scientific investigation.
From the beginning of the modern creation movement—often associated at least in some way with the landmark publication of The Genesis Flood, by John Whitcomb and Henry Morris in 1961—there have been many challenges. Over the decades, one of the glaring issues with the creation community has been the lack of biblical scholars who have been willing to critically engage in creation research. To be clear, there have been some biblical scholars involved, but they have been the exception. Scientists, nevertheless, forged ahead with research, publications, and outreach, without much help from the field of biblical scholarship.
In the meantime, much of the field of biblical studies has been capitulating to the ideas of evolution and/or millions of years. While this is a valid general criticism of the history of the modern creation movement up to this point, this is in no way a criticism of the faithful scientists who have engaged in this important research. Rather, this is an indictment on the field of biblical scholarship as a whole, which, for various reasons, has not to this point taken the lead in creation studies.
In recent years, however, a number of scientists and biblical scholars have recognized this major lacuna in the scholarly creation community and are now seeking to address it. As a result, we have formed the Creation Theology Society. We believe that the Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity, forming the foundation for truth and knowledge. Thus, divine revelation must be the respected and authoritative lens through which we seek to understand the world around us. Consequently, theology, historically understood as the “queen of the sciences,” must inform scientific investigation, since correct interpretation of creation depends upon correct interpretation of God’s Word.
The purpose of this new society is as follows: “In the tradition of theology as the queen of the sciences, the Creation Theology Society seeks to develop a community of biblical scholarship that initiates and undergirds interdisciplinary creation research.” We are glad to come alongside the Creation Biology Society and the Creation Geology Society to, hopefully, set the standard and to model interdisciplinary creation research for the creation community as a whole. We believe that we work most effectively when we work together in interdisciplinary fashion. In my own experience of working with creation scientists, whether co-leading teaching trips through Grand Canyon, doing conferences, or collaborating on research, I have always found it mutually beneficial and enriching for biblical scholars and scientists alike when we work together. We all benefit when we work together, that is, when we function as the body of Christ as it pertains to creation research and education. We look forward to all that God will do through this society and we hope that you will be a part of this ongoing work.
First of all, thank you for your interest in the founding of the Creation Theology Society (CTS). We announced the new society back on July 22 and our website has made its debut. As of September 1, registration of the society is moving forward with the help of the Secretary of State of Georgia. Taking memberships in the society requires a bank account, which requires the registration of the society. We obtained legal help and stay occupied with each step of the process. Watch our Blog for announcements regarding the successful completion of registration and a firm date for opening the website for receiving members to CTS. Meanwhile, please subscribe to this website to receive automatic updates.
In recent years, however, a number of scientists and biblical scholars have recognized this major lacuna in the scholarly creation community and are now seeking to address it. As a result, we have formed the Creation Theology Society. We believe that the Bible is God’s self-revelation to humanity, forming the foundation for truth and knowledge. Thus, divine revelation must be the respected and authoritative lens through which we seek to understand the world around us. Consequently, theology, historically understood as the “queen of the sciences,” must inform scientific investigation, since correct interpretation of creation depends upon correct interpretation of God’s Word. 