Origins Conference 2023

Please register. For what? For the annual Origins Conference meeting at Cedarville University in Cedarville, OH, Saturday, July 15. Registration is available at this Eventbrite link. Please register so you can join either in person or via livestream (TBA).

As with previous Origins Conference meetings, papers will be presented by members of all three societies (Creation Biology Society, Creation Geology Society, and Creation Theology Society). An Interdisciplinary Session will be led by the Creation Theology Society on the topic of Created Kinds. The Interdisciplinary Session presentations will be published as papers in the third issue of the Journal of the Creation Theology Society (2024/2025).

Following the Saturday sessions, the Creation Theology Society will hold its Annual Members Business Meeting. Please be certain your CTS membership is up to date so you can vote.

From July 16–19 Cedarville University will also host the 9th International Conference on Creationism (follow the link for information).

An Irenic Society in a Polemical World

The small arboreal eyelash viper (Bothriechis schlegelii) coiled in a tree or bush might appear relatively harmless. Its venom, though rarely fatal, can cause a lot of pain and discomfort. Our words, though sometimes flowery and eloquent, also can generate a lot of pain. When we use labels to identify others with unbiblical positions or beliefs, the damage we create can cause more than personal pain—a label can spur some people to ostracize the person thus labeled. The best sounding labels might actually be inaccurate, unfair, and maligning. Labels and classifications may be unavoidable, especially in theological circles (consider the labels “Calvinist” and “Arminian,” for example), but the creator or user of a label must make certain the label is not a serious misrepresentation due to a lack of adequate and honest research.

When we think we have accurately and fairly identified someone with regard to their ideas, their interpretations, or their models, the best way to confirm our conclusions involves talking with them personally or engaging in one-on-one email conversations. We might find out that we just plain misunderstood the other person. Or, we might discover that an editor failed to catch a problematic sentence or word that the author had not intended to use. Just consider how often our “smart phones” and our “smart computer programs” alter words that produce ridiculous statements. A word processing program automatically changes “pericope” to “periscope.” A publishing program inverts the Hebrew text so that even a solo word reads backward. A researcher fails to read the context of an excerpt from a book before passing the selection on to someone else out of context and misrepresenting the author’s viewpoint. These things happen. It is one reason professors insist on firsthand sources.

In the Creation Theology Society’s (CTS’s) “Principles and Values” we focus on being a community characterized by Christian ethics and activity. CTS, therefore, purposes to promote “agreement and unity” and to provide “opportunities for irenic discussion in areas of disagreement.” Our “Goals” include:

  • To set a standard for interdisciplinary research, in which collaboration models how the body of Christ operates.
  • To exhibit Christian character by irenic interaction should disagreement arise due to different research findings.

CTS believes A Call to Unity further advances those principles, values, and goals. The statement clarifies what we mean by “irenic interaction.” CTS is not the first to observe the need for the biblical creationist community to renew our commitment to unity, civility, and respect. Dr. Randy Guliuzza, President of the Institute for Creation Research, called all of us to these values in three different issues of Acts & Facts over the past three years. In “The Power of the Next Idea,” Acts & Facts 49, no. 11 (Nov 2020): 5–7, he wrote, “Unfortunately, in our August issue we were harsh in our criticism of several fellow creation scientists and called them some names. I regret that we did that and am truly sorry for the hurt it inflicted. We will endeavor to not engage in those behaviors in the future. Please forgive us” (ibid., 6). Then he published “Unity Worthy of Our Creationist Heritage” in Acts & Facts 50, no. 1 (Jan 2021): 5–7, in which he identified the practice of demeaning someone with whom we have a disagreement:

Academic leaders’ playbook for dispensing professional sorrow includes several effective means. A few actions they regularly attempt are suppressing opposing views by simply ignoring contrary research or killing it through an abusive peer review process; ruining another scientist’s credibility or assassinating their character by public humiliation either in person, in blogs, or in so-called “peer reviewed” papers; and bringing on professional exile by shunning rogue scientists at conferences or in employment. (p. 6)

CTS recommends Dr. Guliuzza’s most recent article, “The ICC and a Covenant for Civility and Respect,” Acts & Facts 52, no. 3 (May-June 2023). The humility and integrity exhibited in these three separate articles over a three-year period stands out particularly in regard to apologizing three times for the publication of an article ICR admits violated the principles of unity, civility, and respect. That remarkable action exemplifies for all of us the way we should be interacting with one another. No other biblical creationist organization or publication has made such an apology in recent memory. It is time for more of us to live up to the biblical instructions God gave us in His Word for our obedience to His standards of unity, civility, and respect.

If you agree with our commitment to unity, civility, and respect, please follow the instructions below the heading Signatories at the end of “A Call to Unity” to become a signatory.

Also, please consider becoming a member of CTS to help us continue

  • To publish the Journal of the Creation Theology Society
  • To organize the annual Origins Conference Interdisciplinary Sessions
  • To provide opportunities for member interaction through occasional online symposiums
  • To encourage interdisciplinary research cooperation

JCTS First Issue Published

The premier issue of the Journal of the Creation Theology Society has been published! For a first issue, this one is packed! — over 200 pages! Thanks to the labors of our Senior Editor Steve Boyd and his staff (Lee Anderson and Doug Smith) CTS members will soon be receiving their hard copy of JCTS in the mail (snail mail).

In the near future we will establish a members-only page on our website so a digital copy can be viewed. Stay tuned for that future announcement, right here on the CTS blog.

In addition, we will soon be making it possible for anyone to purchase a digital copy of CTSJ articles or the full issue online.

Creation Theology Society 2021 Call for Papers — UPDATE

The newly-minted Creation Theology Society (CTS) requests the honor of your contribution to the 2021 Origins Conference to be held July 28–31. Please see more details about the restructured meetings under Conferences. Any topics dealing with the text, philology, hermeneutics, theology, and apologetics of Genesis 1–11 and any other texts dealing with primeval history will be gladly accepted for peer review. Accepted conference papers may then be submitted to be reviewed for publication in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Creation Theology and Science (Series A). The special topic for this year’s annual Interdisciplinary Themed Session is “The Fountains of the Great Deep and the Windows of the Heavens in the Genesis Flood Narrative.” This interdisciplinary session of the conference will comprise two invited papers dealing with the biblical text, an invited paper providing a historical review of the geological/geophysical mechanisms proposed for initiating the Flood, and a panel discussion. The submission of papers related specifically to this topic are encouraged as we seek to move research forward at this year’s conference and in the journal. 

The style of the papers must conform to the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. Submissions shall be made in Times New Roman 12 pt. font, double-spaced, and shall include an abstract (under 300 words), keywords, and bibliography. The new, extended deadline for submission is May 3, 2021. Questions should be directed to the executive editor of CTS at sboyd@creationtheologysociety.org. We look forward to receiving your submissions.