How will these resources help you?

A six-day creation 6,000 years ago has never been the orthodox Christian view. From early church father Irenaeus onwards, Christian thinkers throughout history have interpreted the ‘days’ of the Genesis account as longer time periods and have recognised the conflicting Genesis accounts as poetic explanations of God’s relationship to humans and the earth. These resources explore the origins of the ‘Young Earth Creation’ movement in the early-mid twentieth century and help students understand its historical and philosophical context as a reaction to the growing secularisation of the establishment, especially in the USA. These attempts to create new theodicies and defend God against science have ultimately backfired and fed into today’s culture wars, leading many to see religion itself as anti-academic. My students find this perspective fascinating and considering it helps them to hone their critical skills, feel more sympathy with unusual views, and find levels of meaning in arguments that are often more emotive than factual.