The Creationists

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The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design is an authoritative history of the origins of anti-evolutionism, first published in 1992 by Ronald Numbers as The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism. It was revised and expanded in 2006; the subtitle was changed to From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design.

The book has been described as "probably the most definitive history of anti-evolutionism".[1] It has received generally favorable reviews from both the academic and the religious community.[2]

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

The expanded edition covers the history of creationism from the time of Darwin to the present day. It first describes early opposition during Darwin's lifetime, then George Frederick Wright's conversion from Christian Darwinist to Fundamentalist opponent and how creationism influenced the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy and the rise of prominent populist creationists such as William Jennings Bryan. It then narrates the careers of two early, self-taught, 'scientific' creationists, Harry Rimmer and George McCready Price.

It then chronicles the growth of creationist organisations in the mid 20th century, such as the Religion and Science Association, the Deluge Geology Society, the Evolution Protest Movement (in the United Kingdom), and the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA), the latter moving almost immediately in the direction of theistic evolution.

The book then narrates the young Earth creationist backlash against the ASA's modernism, with Henry M. Morris and John C. Whitcomb, Jr.'s publication of The Genesis Flood and the forming of the Creation Research Society, which created the creation science movement. It continues with Morris' founding of the Institute for Creation Research‎ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church's founding of the Geoscience Research Institute.

The book finally describes the influence of creationism in churches and in countries outside the United States, then the rise of the intelligent design movement, before returning to the subject of creationism's global impact.

[edit] Editions

[edit] Notable reviews

Original edition
  • Stephen R. L. Clark, New York Times Book Review, Jan. 10, 1993
  • Francis B. Harrold, National Center for Science Education
  • J. David Hoeveler, Jr., Science
  • Roger Lewin, Washington Post Book World
  • James A. Mathisen, "Review, The Creationists and When Time Shall Be No More", Sociology of Religion, v.55, n.1, "Religious Experience" (Spring 1994), pp. 94-97.
  • Mark A. Noll, Ignorant Armies: Review, The Creationists, First Things: The Journal of Religion, Culture and Public Life, April 1993
  • Publishers Weekly
  • James A. Gavan, Review, American Journal of Physical Anthropology, v.91, n.1, pp.135-136 (June 7, 2005) DOI 10.1002/ajpa.1330910112
  • The New Republic
  • Christian Century
2006 edition

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Steve Paulson, "Seeing the light -- of science", Interview with Ronald Numbers, Salon.com, Jan. 2, 2007.
  2. ^ See references in "notable reviews".
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