The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism

Originally published in 1992, this superb history of the evolution of creationism, mostly in the United States, by University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Ronald L. Numbers fills a major gap in the literature on the subject. The landscape of the evolution/creationism debate is filled with polemical works attacking evolution and advancing the cause of creationism/intelligent design, or vice versa, but there are few serious, sophisticated, and dispassionate histories of the debate. "The Creationists" is the gold standard if one is seeking to understand the history of the interplay between competing world views--evolutionary biology versus Judeo/Christian understandings of human origins--rather than learn arguments for the polemical battles currently taking place. While complete objectivity is beyond the capability of anyone, Numbers seeks to tell the story of this debate impartially as possible. To a very great degree he succeeds, and we all benefit. In "The Creationists" Numbers pulls back the curtain beyond the high-profile Scopes Trial of 1925 and the recent textbook battles to focus on a less well-known but a remarkably interesting and complex story of how those firmly believing in the inerrancy of the Bible sought to deal with Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory. There is an extraordinary cast of characters in this effort ranging from George Frederick Wright, who published "Man and the Glacial Period" in 1892, to Wendell R. Bird who developed a political strategy to demand the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in the public schools in the 1970s. These divergent characters, the organizations they created, and the religious traditions they represented all competed amongst themselves on how best to counteract the effects of evolution. One of the virtues of this book is Numbers' commitment to unraveling the complex differences among those advocating creationism. He found a stormy history as creationists fought among themselves to define their ideas and make their arguments to others. One of the revelations of "The Creationists" is that for the three-quarters of a century after the publication of Darwin's "On the Origins of Species" in 1859 most of those involved in the creationist debate sought to rationalize the two belief systems. As Numbers' concludes, "by the late nineteenth century even the most conservative Christian apologists readily conceded that the Bible allowed for an ancient earth and pre-Edenic life. With few exceptions, they accommodated the findings of historical geology either by interpreting the days of Genesis 1 to represent vast ages in the history of the earth (the so-called day-age theory) or by separating a creation `in the beginning' from a much later Edenic creation in six literal days (the gap theory)" (p. x). As an example, William Jennings Bryan, the creationist advocate in the Scopes trial, subscribed to the day-age theory. This approach changed, slowly at first but then with accelerating support among

The point that many reviewers seem to miss is that this is the work of an historian, not someone that wishes to engage actively in the debate (such as it is). Hence the emphasis on the politics and personalities that shaped scientific creationism. Numbers succeeds admirably in decribing the many disagreements within the several creationist movements, and its problematic relation with mainstream science. Having edited an important source publication on the subject, hardly anyone is more qualified to pass judgment on the creationist movement than Numbers, but he remains careful not to get entangled, which is not always easy. If you think the book is too much anti- this or pro- that, let that be your loss, because you will never appreciate the fascinating history of one of the more enigmatic popular culture movements of recent time.

This is an astonishingly evenhanded, objective history of the scientific creationist movement. As Numbers points out, this is one of those areas where it seems very difficult to carry on a rational discussion.Despite how many fundamentalist creationists and humanists view the controversies over creation and evolution, the issue is not either a simple religion vs. humanism or religion vs. science struggle. As the author points out,"Rather than finding clerics arrayed in simple opposition to scientists, we discover conflicts of a different sort: psychological, as creationists struggled to reconcile the apparently conflicting claims of science and Scripture; and social, as they quarreled with one another over competing scientific and biblical interpretations or contested the boundaries of science and religion with evolutionists in courthouses, legislative halls, and school-board rooms." (p. 10)And, despite the ad hominem arguments employed by some earlier customer reviews, that is what Numbers deals with in an objective, historical fashion. He seldom betrays his own sympathies, and has received compliments from eminent creationists as well as historians and scientists.It is eminently clear that the creationists have never been able to agree on their interpretations of the first creation story in Genesis. These disagreements between the young earth and old earth creationists are delineated in great detail. From my point of view, I should also point out that they do not agree with competent biblical scholars, either, who will place Genesis in the cultural context of the ancient Middle East. The first creation story in Genesis is fairly obviously a religious counterstatement to other ancient myths, not a scientific treatise. Besides the second creation story in Genesis, there are at least three other major ones, and a host of other creations texts generally ignored, which have quite different concepts of creation.One of the main difficulties the creationists have faced is the lack of credible scientific support for their views. In the Arkansas trial, for example, the defendants could produce no peer reviewed articles in scientific journals which supported them; moreover, they had not even written any which they had tried to have published in such journals.Of course, the scientists opposing creationishm in the schools also had their own political agenda, to compete for scarce resources to fund research. As I said, Numbers is quite even handed.For anyone interested in the origins and development of old and young earth creationism, the creationist societies and their internal conflicts, and the attempts to introduce so-called creation science into the public school classrooms, this gives a detailed overview.Creationists may find this book a useful resource to examine the background of their beliefs. For others, it will enable them to see better what the various varieties of creationists believe and why. For myse

A previous reviewer stated that this work focused too much on the "personalities and politics of creationism." However, that is the way the book was intended. It is a history, not so much, of creationism, but of creationists (thus the title of the book). And knowing that, I found it to be an information-laden investigation of the people behind creationism. The book chronicles the rise of creationism following Darwin's discoveries (for the first 50 years after Darwin the move to evolution was so overwhelming that, so it seems, Christianity had no effective response) up until the beginning of the nineties. Though the book does not detail much in the way of creationist "research" it does detail some of the the scientific problems that Old-Earth creationists had with Young-Earth creationism and vice versa. And even though, a previous reviewer wrote that the book is too biased against creationism, it's interesting to note that on the back of the book is a recommendation from Henry M. Morris, one of the biggest names in YEC.

A superb, comprehensive, and magisterial presentation of the history (and evolution) of the creationist movement in America by a noted historian of science. Professor Numbers is not unsympathetic with creationists, in spite of the fact that he knows better than to believe what they believe. He tells us that, in the interests of humility, he keeps on his desk an announcement of an anti-evolution speech that his father, a Seventh-Day Adventist preacher, gave some six decades ago. For anyone who wants to know about this peculiarly American movement, Numbers is the place to start. Extensive bibliography for further reference