Henry M. Morris

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Henry M. Morris
Henry M. Morris

Henry Madison Morris, Ph.D. (October 6, 1918 – February 25, 2006) was an American young earth creationist, Christian apologist and hydraulic engineer. As founder of the Creation Research Society and the Institute of Creation Research, he is considered by many to be the "father of modern creation science."

Contents

[edit] Biography

Morris grew up in Texas in the 1920s and 1930s and was a religiously indifferent youth. He graduated from Rice University with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1939. Shortly afterwards he became a Christian and adopted Biblical inerrancy.

He married Mary Louise on January 24, 1940, and they later had six children. After his graduation in 1939 thru 1942 he was a hydraulic engineer working with the International Boundary and Water Commission. He then returned to Rice teaching civil engineering from 1942 until 1946. In 1946 he wrote a short book entitled That You Might Believe (1946) to help him answer the challenges of supporters of evolution.


Then 1946 thru 1951 he worked at the University of Minnesota, where he was awarded a master's degree in hydraulics in 1948 and a Ph.D. in hydraulic engineering (with a minor in geology and mathematics) in 1950.

In 1951 he became professor and head of civil engineering at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, holding that position until 1956. He was then professor of applied science at Southern Illinois University, 1956–1957. Following that he was professor of hydraulic engineering and chairman in civil engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

In 1961, Morris, with Bible scholar John C. Whitcomb, wrote a book entitled The Genesis Flood that brought to attention to creationism and flood geology. In it he cited an influenced by George McCready Price, a Seventh-day Adventist schoolteacher was an early defender of creationism in the early 20th century. In 1963 Morris founded the Creation Research Society with nine others. In 1970, he founded the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). His son John D. Morris took over presidency of ICR when his father retired.

While the greater bulk of his published writings address creation science and evolution themes, he had also written Many Infallible Proofs, and The Bible Has The Answer, which are both works of general Christian apologetics.

On February 1, 2006, Morris suffered a minor stroke and was hospitalized. Reports from ICR said that his mind was functioning very well, but he could not stand without getting dizzy. Morris was moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility near his son's home (and ICR) in Santee, California where he died.[1]

[edit] Beliefs

[edit] Theory of Evolution

Morris wrote:

  • "The fact is that evolutionists believe in evolution because they want to. It is their desire at all costs to explain the origin of everything without a Creator. Evolutionism is thus intrinsically an atheistic religion." [2]
  • "The idea of particles-to-people evolution does not meet the criteria of a scientific theory." [ibid]

[edit] Philosophy of science

Morris made a distinction between "operational science" and "origins science". He believed that operational science cannot be used to prove or disprove God's creative act, but that evidence of past events must be viewed through an interpretive framework. For example, in his book Scientific Creationism Morris stated:

" ... it must also be emphasized that it is impossible to prove scientifically any particular concept of origins to be true. This is obvious from the fact that the essence of the scientific method is experimental observation and repeatability. A scientific investigator, be he ever so resourceful and brilliant, can neither observe nor repeat origins!
This means that, though it is important to have a philosophy of origins, it can only be achieved by faith, not by sight."

In this, Morris set himself against many philosophers of science such as Robert Pennock and Michael Ruse. These philosophers see no important distinction between past and present data, but claim to use falsifiability and testability as the demarcation criteria for science. Intelligent design proponent Stephen Meyer agrees with Morris.

Even though Morris claimed that science cannot completely answer the question of whether the Bible's creation story is literally and historically true, he had written several books about scientific evidence that he believed fits better into a creationist framework than the mainstream science framework. Many creationists (for example, Answers in Genesis) have followed Morris' lead.

The mainstream scientific community rejected both his philosophy of science and his evidence in favor of creationism as pseudoscience, and claimed that Morris' representation of evolution as a complete religious system is a straw man. Morris' position had also been the subject of debate among Evangelical scholars of the Old Testament and among Evangelicals working in various fields of science.

Morris also strongly defended the use of the King James Bible but he was not a member of the King-James-Only Movement [3]

[edit] Controversy and criticism

The work The Genesis Flood by John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris has been criticized for taking quotes out of context and completely misquoting sources.[4] For example, in one infamous instance, a source which read "the sea which vanished so many million years ago" was quoted as "the sea which vanished so many years ago."[4]

John G. Solum has criticized the work for being inaccurate.[5] Solum noted "Whitcomb and Morris are mistaken about the nature of the rocks associated with thrust faults. Their claim about fossils is based on a YEC misunderstanding of how rocks are dated relative to each other, and how the geologic column was constructed."[5] In fact Solum noted, "Morris' explanation of relative dating is not "somewhat oversimplified" it is entirely incorrect."[5]

Also, when bringing up Morris' claims of racism in evolutionary thinking, it has been questioned if Morris himself showed racism for asserting that the descendants of Ham "were marked especially for secular service to mankind".[6]

In 1991, Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) granted the Institute for Creation Research accreditation. This created controversy because the TRACS "board of directors was none other than Henry Morris, founder of ICR."[7] Four years later TRACS' government recognition was put on probation for 18 months until it complied with staff and accreditation changes.

Massimo Pigliucci criticized Morris for heading the ICR, and allowing it to leave out and ignore material from its self-published works that interferes with its "mission" and "beliefs".[8] Pigliucci also criticized Morris' intrepretation of thermodynamics.[9]

[edit] Quotes

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  • "The only way we can determine the true age of the earth is for God to tell us what it is. And since he has told us, very plainly, in the Holy Scriptures that it is several thousand years of age, and no more, that ought to settle all basic questions of terrestrial chronology." (Remarkable Birth, p. 94)
  • "When science and the Bible differ, science has obviously misinterpreted its data."

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Morris' writings

Morris wrote or edited some forty books, including:

  • That You Might Believe, self published, 1946
  • (with co-author John C. Whitcomb) The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications, Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing, Philadelphia, 1961. (ISBN 0-8010-6004-4)
  • Applied Hydraulics in Engineering, Ronald Press, New York, 1963.
  • Biblical Cosmology and Modern Science, Craig Press, Nutley, New Jersey, 1970. (ISBN 0-8010-5906-2)
  • The Remarkable Birth of Planet Earth, Dimension Books, Minneapolis, 1972. (ISBN 0-87123-485-8)
  • Many Infallible Proofs, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1974. (ISBN 0-89051-005-9)
  • (ed) Scientific Creationism, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1974. (ISBN 0-89051-003-2)
  • The Genesis Record, A scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1976. (ISBN 0-8010-6004-4)
  • and Martin E. Clark, The Bible Has The Answer, revised edition, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1976. (ISBN 0-89051-018-0)
  • and Duane T. Gish (eds) The Battle for Creation, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1976.
  • The Scientific Case for Creation, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1977. (ISBN 0-89051-037-7)
  • The Troubled Waters of Evolution, Creation-Life Publishers, San Diego, 1982. (ISBN 0-89051-087-3)
  • and Donald H. Rohrer (eds) Creation, the cutting edge, Creation Life Publishers, San Diego, 1982.
  • History of Modern Creationism, Master Books, San Diego, 1984. (ISBN 0-89051-102-0)
  • and Gary E. Parker, What is Creation Science?, revised edition, Master Books, El Cajon, 1987. (ISBN 0-89051-081-4)
  • The Long War Against God: the history and impact of the creation/evolution conflict, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1989. (ISBN 0-89051-291-4)
  • God and the Nations, Master Books, Green Forest, 2002. (ISBN 0-89051-389-9)
  • The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Master Books, Green Forest, 2002. (ISBN 0-89051-369-4)

[edit] Historical background and assessments

  • Ken Campbell, "Some Problems with Creation Science," St. Mark's Review 137 (Autumn 1989) pp. 12-19.
  • Livingstone, David N., Darwin's Forgotten Defenders: The Encounter Between Evangelical Theology and Evolutionary Thought, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1987.
  • Moore, James R., The Post-Darwinian Controversies: A Study of the Protestant Struggle to Come to Terms with Darwin in Great Britain and America 1870-1900, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1979.
  • Numbers, Ronald L., The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1993.
  • Numbers, Ronald L., Darwinism Comes To America, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1998.
  • Stempien, Richard., and Sarah Coleman, "Processes of Persuasion: The Case of Creation Science," Review of Religious Research 27 (2) (1985) pp. 169-177.
  • Van de Fliert, J. R., "Fundamentalism and Fundamentals of Geology," International Reformed Review 32/33 (April 1968), pp. 5-27.
  • Young, Davis A., "Some Practical Geological Problems in the Application of the Mature Creation Doctrine," Westminster Theological Journal 35 (1972-73) pp. 268-280.
  • Young, Davis A., "Another Look at Mature Creationism," Westminster Theological Journal 37 (3) (1975) pp. 384-389.
  • Youngblood, Ronald F. (ed) The Genesis Debate: Persistent Questions about Creation and the Flood, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1990.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Williams, Jack. "Henry M. Morris, 87 Obituary", The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 1, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  2. ^ Evolution Is Religion--Not Science by Henry Morris
  3. ^ A Creationist's Defense of the King James Bible by Henry Morris
  4. ^ a b "Quotations and Misquotations:Classic example from The Genesis Flood", talk.origins, February 7, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
  5. ^ a b c Solum, John. "Thrust faults", talk.origins, February 7, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-01-19.
  6. ^ Jim Lippard and, Richard Trott. "Creationism Implies Racism?", Talk.origins, July 17, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-12-11.
  7. ^ How the ICR got its accreditation by Ediacara
  8. ^ Massimo Pigliucci. Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002): ISBN 0878936599 page 46
  9. ^ Massimo Pigliucci. Denying Evolution: Creationism, Scientism, and the Nature of Science. (Sinauer, 2002): ISBN 0878936599 page 194

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