Creationism - National Center for Science Education

Creationism:
Intellectual Origins, Cultural Context, and Theoretical Diversity
by
Thomas Allen McIver
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology
University of California, Los Angeles, 1989
Professor Philip L. Newman, Chair
A study of creationism as a belief system, examining the intellectual background and
origins of creationist theory, its cultural context, including its relationship to other
fundamentalist beliefs and to scientific theory, and its theoretical diversity. Given the
presuppositions on which it is based, creationism forms a coherent, generally selfconsistent
and logical system of belief, though contradicted by modern (evolutionist)
science. Fundamentalist attitudes towards science and fundamentalist opposition to
evolution are largely a consequence of particular religious beliefs and doctrines. Despite
necessary agreement on core concepts (biblical inerrancy, supernatural creation by God),
creationism is especially subject to diversification and proliferation of competing lowerlevel
theories and subsidiary hypotheses. These theories differ widely regarding the
extent and application of biblical literalism, the date of creation (the age of the earth and
of mankind), the nature of the Genesis Flood, the relation of biblical truth to scientific
evidence, underlying eschatological assumptions and doctrines, biblical hermeneutical
principles, and attitudes regarding science and external evidence. Creationist theories are
therefore continually elaborated on, diversifying and proliferating as a result of the
development of their own cultural logic and as a response to evolutionist challenges and
reactions.