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Creationists, The
by Ronald M. Numbers
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Knopf (1992-09-01)
ISBN: 0679401040
EAN: 9780679401049
Dewy Decimal #: 231.765
Hardcover: 458 pages
Edition: 1st
Release Date: 1992-09-01
SKU: V078CXP
Condition: Used: Acceptable
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
A chronicle of the scientific creationism movement explains the beliefs of recent creationists--who believe that the earth's history is only ten thousand years old--and surveys the scientific and religious responses to evolutionary theory.
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Customer Reviews
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Not really trustworthy (What do Science, Religion, and History mean to Numbers?)
Rating  (1)
Date: 2008-06-13
2 out of 19 customers found this reveiw helpful
Number's understanding of "religion" is, by his own admission, merely what his family taught him as 7th-day adventists. Mainstream, modern, orthodox theology as presented by well-respected figures such as Martin Buber (Jewish theologian), Paul Tillich (Christian theologian), Karl Barth (Christian theologian), or Thomas F. Torrance (Christian theologian) are not something he seriously considers (and would even seem beyond his intellectual capacity).
Nevertheless, he never bothers to genuinely and seriously state the extent of his own shortcomings.
Equally shallow appears to be Number's understanding of "science" as biology polemic, which is so far removed and different from physics and its technological fruits that one wonders how long it will be before Number's readers realize that this slimeball is nothing more than one of the slightly skilled, yet mostly ignorant little Ph.D. emperors hailing from UC Berkley who are all metaphorically walking around with no clothes. Respectable historians of science (e.g. H. Floris Cohen) rarely could and rarely would include all these topics as one subject called "Science". Yet Numbers somehow does.
"Numbers is in the rare position of being widely respected by both scientists and creationists." (from Salon dot com ) This statement assumes a uniformity in what science and creation beliefs are that is total fiction. From the perspective of the work and perspective of someone like H. Floris Cohen (e.g., The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, University of Chicago Press 1994), Numbers as a historian of science is definitely far from 1st rate.
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The best history and explanation of modern creationism
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-11-15
3 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ronald Numbers's classic work The Creationists has now been reissued in an expanded edition. For many years the earlier edition of this book has been hard to obtain, fetching high prices in the secondary market. Harvard Press has done us a favor in issuing this updated edition of an important text.
Numbers defines the "creationists" as those holding to a very literal interpretation of Genesis 1, a very recent creation of the universe (on the order of about 10,000 years ago or less), and flood geology (the idea that the various geological layers were formed by a global flood in the days of Noah). He tells us that he himself was brought up believing in this form of creationism in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but that over the years scientific evidence has persuaded him to abandon those beliefs; he describes himself as now a theological agnostic.
The primary purpose of the book is to carefully describe and document the rise of modern day creationism. At the beginning of the twentieth century orthodox and fundamentalist Christians usually held to the doctrine of creation along with belief that the earth was very old. They interpreted Genesis 1 with a "day-age" interpretation or with a "gap" interpretation that allowed for billions of years of earth history. The Seventh-day Adventist Church, however, followed a "revelation" to its founder, Ellen G. White, that the flood of Noah caused the rock layers with their fossils, giving an apparent age to the earth, and that the creation days of Genesis were 24-hour periods with no gaps--the belief of modern creationism.
From that humble beginning creationism has blossomed out in the second half of the twentieth century to become the majority position among fundamentalist Protestant churches in America, and now in many churches around the world. Numbers traces this amazing growth and carefully follows the careers and struggles of the movement's primary leaders. From the Adventist George McCready Price, to the early creationist organizations to the popularizing work of John C. Whitcomb and Henry Morris (The Genesis Flood, 1961), to the explosion of flood geology and recent creationism in fundamental churches and schools, to its present dominance in many evangelical and fundamental churches and institutions and rapid spread overseas--Numbers gives the names, dates, and issues involved. He also details the aggressive and militaristic methods and mindsets of many of creationism's promoters, and their controversies with evangelicals who believed in an old earth.
The new expanded edition provides some minor changes and updating of the previous edition. But more importantly it includes two entirely new chapters: "Intelligent Design" and "Creationism Goes Global." Many of the familiar names in the ID movement are identified here, with a summary of the development of this new front in the creation wars. Numbers shows the connection of creationism with the ID movement, but also the differences. At the point this book was written the ID movement was neutral on the time of creation, receiving much of its support from creationists. Unfortunately, he does not include any detailed discussion of active groups that oppose Darwinian evolution but yet believe in an old earth. It appears to this reviewer that the ID movement is moving in the old earth direction, and will more and more distance itself from modern creationism.
The strength of Numbers's book is not only in its thorough coverage of the creationist movement, but in its detailed documentation. He has provided us with an authoritative reference source as well as a plausible account of the complicated history of modern creationism. In spite of his own personal viewpoint, he has treated the actors in this history fairly, going out of his way to understand their thinking. This book will have value for the historical study of creationism for years to come.
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A Quintessential History of a Controversial Subject Written by a Skilled and Non-Partisan Historian
Rating (5)
Date: 2007-05-29
10 out of 11 customers found this reveiw helpful
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 evangelical Christians, as they sought to compress the age of the Earth into less than 10,000 years during the second quarter of the twentieth century. They did so by attributing the fossil record and geological disjuncture to the biblical flood and its aftermath. Thus was born the idea that humans and dinosaurs roamed the Earth together. By denying that the record of flora and fauna in the stratified rocks did not represent millions of years of the Earth's history, and that the flood explained everything found by scientists, the creationists found an argument for a young Earth convincing to many evangelicals. George McCready Price first developed the primacy of flood geology in creationism, publishing the "New Geology" in 1923 to lay out this position.
Price's argument, with modification and elaboration over time, became the dominant theory for most creationists. As the book "Scientific Creationism" argued in 1974, "The Genesis Flood is the real crux of the conflict between evolutionist and creationist cosmologies. If the system of flood geology can be established on a sound scientific basis, and be effectively promoted and publicized, then the entire evolutionary cosmology...will collapse" (p. xi). Numbers documents the manner in which Price's "new catastrophism" gained adherents among the creationists and became the dominant theory among those questioning evolution in the middle part of the twentieth century. As Numbers concluded, "By the 1980s the flood geologists had virtually co-opted the name creationism to describe the once marginal views of Price" (p. xi).
A recent update of this book allowed Numbers to add material on the recent intelligent design argument that emerged in the 1990s. Building on the concept of a young Earth and flood geology, this idea suggests that evolution cannot explain the ultimate complexity of many features of the universe and of living things, those are best explained by deliberate causation.
"The Creationists" goes far toward helping readers understand how creationism has come to its present status in the United States, as well as elsewhere. Ron Numbers is to be congratulated on a superb historical--as opposed to a polemical--study of this important subject in science and society. It is a model of historical scholarship and a testament to the enlightenment non-partisan analyses offer to the reading public.
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The complex legacy of creationism
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-04-10
9 out of 17 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is an excellent history of the emergence of Creationism in America. It is actually a somewhat complicated subject, no doubt the reason its critics and Darwinists tend to underestimate its force. It is interesting to see how the tenor of religious challenges to Darwin changed near the beginning of the twentieth century. Many religious critics of Darwin in the nineteenth, such as Agassiz and Mivart where not so unreasonable compared to the fundamentalists to come, in the triumph of crackpot theories. In fact Darwinism itself went into 'eclipse' toward the end of the century, and somewhere in this interlude the new strains of creationism emerge. The legacy of William Jennings Bryan remains of great interest, and he is rarely understood. In some fashion his conviction that the First World War was connected to Darwinism energized his opposition, and this long second phase of the Creationists. This is connection is often denied, but the we discover that Mencken in the Scopes trial period was promoting his Nietzschean selectionism Social Darwinism,rubbing salt into these wounds. So the picture is complex, and one wonders to what degree the rigidity of biologists isn't feeding their own nemesis.
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An enlightening history
Rating (5)
Date: 2005-02-06
18 out of 25 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have been reading about the scientific research of the earth's origins interpreted through the worldview of creation for many years now, primarily through the writings of the Institute for Creation Research. In general, I am interested in history and how thoughts and cultural assumptions develop. Since I am also interested in the evolution vs. creation debate, this book was a goldmine for me, learning how Christian scientists responded to Darwin in the nineteenth century, continuing from there all the way up to the time this book was written in the early 1990s. It was fascinating to learn how the response to evolution has changed through the years, not only from scientists, but the book even gives some glimpses into the responses of the laity. Through this book I have learned of some important historical figures in the creationist movement, and of the differing viewpoints of creationists throughout time.
I have been very interested in the political skirmishes in the schools and courts regarding this issue, but these are only mentioned in passing in this book because it's not about the politics of society but about the people who were key in influencing the development of current creationist thinking.
Considering that the author clearly states in the introduction that he does not believe in creation in any kind, the book is quite objective, I think. There wasn't that condescending smirking so often found in the writings of evolutionists when they discuss creationists and creation science. The history was reported quite even-handedly, I think. Some reviewers have claimed that the book is devastating to creationists, but I don't see it as such. If they see it as so devastating, then I think they must not have much knowledge about similar disagreements and politicking that goes on in the secular scientific community. It's amazing how much scientific research results in desired outcomes in order to get more grant money from the government or make the researchers or institution famous. Science is not so pure as some people who want to put it on a pedestal imagine.
While the sentence-by-sentence wording of the book sounds objective, by the time I finished the book I did have a feeling, though, that the important challenges creation science have brought against evolution were largely ignored, giving the implicit impression that creation science is weak and less scientific than evolution science. But this is a minor point, for the book is not really about the comparison of the two branches of study on the origins of the earth and life, but rather a history of the development of creationist thought, and in that regard, I think this book did a splendid job.
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