Journal: Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal
Volume: DBSJ 25:1 (NA 2020)
Article: The Role of Biblical Creationism In Presuppositional Apologetics
Author: Kyle C. Dunham

DBSJ 25 (2020) p. 3

The Role of Biblical Creationism In Presuppositional Apologetics

Kyle C. Dunham1

The doctrine of biblical creation is often viewed as incidental, if not detrimental, to the task of defending the Christian faith.2 Young earth creationism in particular is relegated frequently to the fringes of respectable society, even vilified, as Kevin Bauder has stated elsewhere of Christian fundamentalism, as tantamount to the cryptozoology of scientific and biblical studies.3 Conrad Hyers, for example, contends that young earth creationism is comparable to flat-earth and geocentric worldviews, prompting many sensible people to embrace atheism.4 Hugh Ross, astrophysicist and founder of Reasons to Believe, argues that young earth creationism invariably creates an impediment to the gospel. While the doctrinal statement of Reasons to Believe affirms that “Scripture is our supreme and final authority on all matters it addresses,”5

DBSJ 25 (2020) p. 4

Ross insists that a realistic understanding of science compels thoughtful Christians to reject young earth creationism as a bogeyman driving myriads from Christianity:

Many skeptics who need solid evidence to resolve their doubts remain untouched by the claims of Christ. Such people (educators, politicians, community leaders, and others) perceive evangelical Christians as nonthinkers or even as antiscience or anti-rational…. The young-earth viewpoint and the desire to avoid science have inoculated a large segment of society from taking seriously the call to faith in Christ. Thus, because of a belief in a universe and Earth only thousands of years old, the groundwork has been laid to discount the Bible’s credibility and remove ‘religious notions’ from public education and the public arena.6

Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke has likewise warned that “if the data is overwhelmingly in favor of evolution, to deny that reality will make us a cult…, some odd group that is not really interacting with the world. And rightly so, because we are not using our gifts and trusting God’s Providence that brought us to this point of our awareness.”7 The repercussions from these and similar statements continue to reverberate across evangelicalism.8 Biblical creationism is viewed with embarrassment as a relic of fundamentalism and as...