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February 12, 2006
Happy Birthday Charles Darwin
Today would have been Charles Darwin's 197th birthday. I don't have much to add to the celebration. However, I did find a small religious tract that represents an interesting chapter in the history of the relationship between science and religion that I see as somehow relevant to the day.
While cleaning out our garage a week or so ago, we found a box of books. This is not so unusual around here, but this particular box of books contained old high school and college year books plus a religious tract, printed in red ink, call "The Bible Creation Story and Grand Canyon" by the Reverent George W. Wahlin. It was published in 1957.
It was with some trepidation that I started reading it. And at first I was somewhat relieved,
Visiting the Grand Canyon, one of the greatest wonders of the world, one finds oneself overwhelmed at the beauty and speechless at its vastness. After "coming to" a little, the first question that enters the mind is: "What happened?"The answer is a long story of millions of years. "What happened" is really the big thing about the Grand Canyon. The hugeness and inexpressible beauty are only a very small, superficial significance of the wonder of wonders.
No young earth creationism here, no flood, but rather a "long story of million of years." But wait a minute.
The Grand Canyon is the only place in the world that contains the five chapters of the earth's history. Several other parts of the earth reveal these geological eras, but not all five in one place.The grandest thing about the Canyon is that it confirms the creation story of the Bible. These five chapters, or eras, fit perfectly into the periods of creation presented in the beginning of the Book of Genesis. To anyone who visits the Canyon and looks beyond the surface there can be no doubt of the Fatherhood of God and His handiwork.
The Reverent Wahlin goes on to explain his belief in the following set of equations each represented in the geology of the Grand Canyon:
The Archean Era = the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6-8)
The Algonkian Era = the third day of creation (Genesis 1:9-13)
The Paleozonic Era = the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:14-19)
The Mezonzoic Era = the fifth day of creation (Genesis 1:20-23)
The Cenozoic Era = the sixth day of creation (Genesis 1:24-31)
How quaint!
Wahlin's geology is based on Ancient Landscapes in the Grand Canyon Region, The Geology of Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce, Petrified Forest, and Painted Desert, 1931, by Edwin D. McKee, the Grand Canyon Park Naturalist. Wahlin specifically mentions this work as one of his sources. And the Biblical synchronism is based on Wahlin's desire to reconcile science and the Bible.
Wahlin certainly doesn't see twenty four hour days in these "days" of creation. He is not a Biblical literalist. He is a Biblical synchronist.
Ignoring the archaic terminology and the outdated geology of the Grand Canyon, (he got these from McKee) and ignoring an exegesis of Genesis 1 that would traumatize most modern Hebrew Bible scholars, what can we say about of his attempts to equate the geological eras with the "days" of creation? Perhaps the best thing to say is, "mission impossible."
To avoid being too hard on the Reverend, I will look at only one of the many problems he faced. Wahlin equated the sixth day of creation with the Cenozoic era. He tells us that "'The age of Mammals' is a name often applied to the last Era" and it is exactly mammals and humankind that are created on this sixth day. But, here's the problem. Mammal fossils are known from the Mesozoic era. It is true that mammals did not come to prominence until the Cenozoic era but our mammalian ancestors were present long before then. And how about those "creeping things" that Genesis 1:24-25 also mentions as part of God's work in this "age of mammals?" The simple fact is Genesis 1:24-31 refers to all land animals of all classes, not just mammals, creatures of the sea and of the air having been created on the fifth day (Genesis 1:20-23).
This effort to show that modern science and the Bible actually told the same story was very popular in some Christian religious circles at the time this track was written. In part it was an attempt to co-op science into the evangelistic mission of the church and in part is was an attempt to save religious revelations from the onslaught of scientific revelations. In the end, the effort was a failure. In order to maintain the synchronist's quest both science and the Bible were compromised. The whole project involved finding the results of scientific inquiry encrypted in the Bible. And even the most fanciful decryption cannot find most of these results.
Postscript: Our copy of this track has the following handwritten note on the title page,
To my friend
James Allen DD
with best wishes!
Yours,
Ernie Zimmerman
4-3-58
As far as we can remember, neither Shirley or I have ever heard of George W. Wahlin or James Allen DD or Ernie Zimmerman and we have no idea how this 16 page booklet got in that box with our yearbooks. If anyone knows, or has even heard of, James Allen DD or Ernie Zimmerman, please let me know.
Posted by Duane Smith at February 12, 2006 8:05 AM | Read more on Religion |
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Comments
Maybe it's a gift from God. He works in mysterious ways, you know.
Posted by: Glen Griffith at February 12, 2006 6:18 PM
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