Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
though harsh rhetoric is by no means a modern invention, for centuries few considered
science and religion mortal enemies. Most early geologists were clergy who believed that
stories preserved in rock revealed the nature of God's works as surely as the Bible revealed
His Word. Scientifically inclined clergy had faith that discoveries about the natural world
would illuminate biblical interpretation. They knew their efforts could only enhance bib-
lical authority because a deeper understanding of the workings of nature led to a deeper
understanding of God.
Exploring the history of geologic thinking about the biblical flood reveals how cultural
friction generated conflict and change within both scientific and religious circles. After all,
the story of Noah's Flood provided the first geologic theory to be tested against field ob-
servations. Perplexing questions, like the origin of valleys and marine fossils found with-
in mountains, became fodder for a grand debate over Noah's Flood. And arguing about
evidence for a global flood likewise helped shape how biblical interpretations adapted to
scientific advances. Today, unraveling the origin of traditional flood stories involves not
only the interpretation of foundational Judeo-Christian traditions but understanding con-
flict between visionaries and orthodoxy within scientific and religious establishments.
Scientifically inclined creationists tend to be engineers, chemists, and physicists with
little to no geological training. Perhaps this helps explain why the creationist view of Earth
as only a few thousand years old contrasts with geology textbooks based on decades of
research confirming that we live on a planet that is four and a half billion years old. Re-
jecting conventional geology out of hand, creationists selectively interpret the rock record
to support their view that Noah's Flood deposited all the fossil-bearing rocks and sculpted
the world's topography over the course of a single year. In such a short span of time a flood
of epic proportions is the only geological mechanism that could do it. It's all creationists
have that can explain earth history, and without it their intellectual house of cards comes
crashing down.
Whatever you may think about evolution, the creationist belief in a several-thousand-
year-old Earth shaped by Noah's Flood is as scientifically illiterate as the idea that the Sun
circles us. Both have been known to be wrong for centuries. And to embrace the creationist
view of earth history is to deny Earth's autobiography inscribed on pages of stone.
