Todd's Blog

I'm hatching a little scheme especially for young-earth creationist high school biology teachers.  I'm especially interested in high school teachers who have experience using one of the several Christian biology textbooks currently available.  The project I envision will involve a bit of work, and the only reward I can offer is the satisfaction of helping your fellow teachers (and home school parents). If I've piqued your curiosity, and you'd like to know more, send me an email. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

CORRECTIONS:  Next year's panel discussion at ETS is on the role of ancient near eastern literature in biblical interpretation, not the historical Adam as indicated.  Also I've  informed that Gregg Davidson is not a fellow of BioLogos. Marcus Ross (Liberty University paleontologist) attended last week's meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, where there was a debate about young-earth vs. old-earth.  Since this debate greatly interested me, I asked him to write up a summary for my blog.  So here's Marcus: Fossils, Rocks, and Plate Tectonics: I must be at ETS! Marcus Ross I’m a fossils and rocks guy, so when I go to professional meetings, I usually go to the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.  But instead of being at GSA, this year I’m at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and I’m sitting in on a 3-hour long debate between two geologists.  Cool. And I mean that sincerely....

This week, the Bryan College Arboretum welcomed two new additions to the campus tree population.  Read all about it: Bryan joins effort to restore American chestnut Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

A couple months ago, I posted a response to a reader's question about what it would take to convince me to accept evolution. It was an interesting way to think about it, and it really forced me to think more carefully about why I take the position that I do. In that first post, I responded to criticisms that I'm a fideist or suffering from cognitive dissonance, which prompted another reader to write in to tell me that I write about myself too much. And here I'm doing it again. Sorry. Anyway, ironic emails aside, the initial question that prompted this series was If somebody convinced you that evolution (and an old earth) and Christianity were compatible, would you give up Young Earth Creationism? Now I suppose one could read that as a fishing expedition for what scientific arguments convince me that creationism is correct, but I read it a different way: Would biblical compatibility alone be enough to convince me to accept evolution or an old earth? To that questi...

I've been pretty busy lately, and I don't think that busy-ness is going to let up any time soon.  In lieu of actual content written by me, I refer you to this interesting little post I just stumbled across: Protein Evolution - Two Responses I'm not sure who's blogging at that site, but the author cites an interesting contrast that's worth thinking about.  I often wonder how two creationists can look at the same exact data and come to diametrically opposed conclusions.  We can't fall back on the old "viewing through different worldviews" excuse that we use for genuine evolutionists.  So what gives? Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com.

You probably recall the interesting evidence of hybridization between humans and Neandertals initially discovered when a (very) rough draft of the Neandertal genome was published.  I believe this evidence of hybridization has significant consequences for the Christian debate over origins, especially for those who believe that Adam and Eve were Homo sapiens , to the exclusion of other species.  If you took that position, you now have four basic options: 1. Deny that humans and Neandertals are separate species, which strikes me as possible but quite difficult given the morphological, developmental, and genetic differences between the two. 2. Abandon your insistence that humans are only one species and allow for human speciation (either within a human "created kind" or as macroevolution from non-human ancestors). 3. Maintain your belief in a single human species separate from Neandertals by affirming the possibility of offspring from bestiality, a position that I critiqued i...

I've hinted for a while that I've been cooking up some exciting projects, and here at last is one of them.  During the 2011 Origins conference in South Dakota, my compatriots and I talked about how to improve our online journal JCTSB .  One of the ideas we kicked around was having theme issues, which we've already begun working on.  The current issue focuses on biological change, and we issued a Symbiosis and Relationship call for papers  (due January 31, 2013).  Another idea we had was to devote an issue to reviews of an important book, preferably with a response from the author.  That's what I have for you today. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? As most of you know, Jack Collins of Covenant Seminary published a book in 2011 called Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? Who They Were and Why You Should Care .  I previously blogged about the paper on which this book was based right here .  When I read the book, I thought it was a really significant con...