Creationism

"The Creation of Light" by Gustave Doré.

Creationism, in its most widely used sense, is the extension of the religious doctrine of creation to controversies over materialistic views of the origin of the universe and of living things. In an unrelated sense, creationism is also a religious doctrine about the origin of the human soul. Both senses are described here.

In controversies over materialistic views of cosmic and biological origins, creationism takes two general forms: young-Earth creationism (YEC) and old-Earth creationism (OEC). The former interprets Genesis to mean that God created the universe and the basic kinds of living things in six 24-hour days a few thousand years ago; the latter holds that the universe is much older and that God created it and living things through a long process of change.

Regarding the origin of the human soul, Christian theologians have debated whether it is created directly by God (“creationism”) or produced by human parents (“traducianism”). The former is more consistent with the immaterial and eternal nature of the soul, while the latter is more consistent with the transmission of original sin.

Young-Earth Creationism

Old-Earth Creationism

Origin of the Soul

References
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Select Bibliography

B. J. Alters and S. M. Alters. 2001. Defending Evolution: A Guide to the Creation/Evolution Controversy. (Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.) ISBN 0-7637-1118-7.

R. L. Numbers. The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. Expanded Edition. (Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.) ISBN 0-674-02339-0.

M. Ruse. 2005. The Evolution-Creation Struggle. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.) ISBN 0-674-01687-4.

E. C. Scott. 2004. Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.) ISBN 0-520-24650-0.

External links

Pro-YEC Internet Sites

Pro-OEC Internet Sites

Anti-Creationist Internet Sites