Different Creationist Perspectives of Evolutionary Science in Conjunction with the Agency of God

Abstract

Creationism is the concept that there is a God, specifically the Christian one, who created the universe, Earth, and life on Earth. While this might sound like a rather straightforward answer to what creationism is, this topic is rather complex and comes in a variety of different iterations. The three major iterations of creationism are young earth creationism (YEC), old earth creationism (OEC), and evolutionary creationism (EC). The easiest way to think about these three types of creationism is on a single spectrum. The two different companies that I worked with for my project are BioLogos and Reasons to Believe (RTB). BioLogos is an evolutionary creationist company that is located in Grand Rapids, MI. RTB is an old earth creationist company that is located in Covina, California. There was a variety of methodology utilized in order to accomplish this project. Once the general topic was decided, it became necessary to construct survey questions. The goal of these survey questions was to help further my understanding of the two creationist groups by making clear the goals and beliefs of each group. A large part of the survey questions addressed the agency of God as well as personal questions and descriptions of basic creationist concepts. Full copies of the survey questions are attached in the appendix. Chapter 1 of this project addresses the literature that has been produced on creationist topics. In Chapter 2 of this project, the main concern is dealing with the agency of God from the three different creationist perspectives. In Chapter 3 of this project I will discuss the role of intelligent design in consideration of the three creationist perspectives. In the conclusion of this project, a variety of broader implications are brought to the surface. These include consequences for both the creationist/religious communities and the broader scientific communities. Thus, in this project it is my goal to explore the agency of God in the lives of primarily OECs and ECs in the creationist community.