Todd's Blog

I'm trying a new video series.  Let me know what you think. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com. If you enjoyed this article, please consider a contribution to Core Academy of Science. Thank you. Have you read my book?  You should check that out too!

I got a text message this morning that sent me down the rabbit hole of public commentary and reviews of my recent books The Quest: Exploring Creation's Hardest Problems  and The Fool and the Heretic .  I don't really recommend reading a lot of reviews of your own work because inevitably you start doubting your basic ability to communicate ("Why would they think I meant that ?!").  You also start squabbling with the reviewers in your head ("I'm not wrong, you are! "), and it can spiral pretty quickly.  On the other hand, I think it's highly instructive in ways that people don't intend.  Consider this not so much a rebuttal as a reflection on the state of communication in the creation/evolution debate. The biggest thing I notice is that everyone frames their reception of my work in terms of their own experiences.  I guess that's obvious, but with a work as personal as The Quest , the reviews can meander off and become a review of me as a p...

And it's about human origins. Usually, I like to keep my work to myself and surprise people with the finished product, but I'm working on something so big now that I can benefit from additional advice and even encouragement.  This book started out as a short work that was going to be like The Quest , where I mercilessly cut material out so that I could craft a good, light, compelling narrative.  I was hoping to pop out a nice quick book(let) on human origins that I could give to people wanting to understand what I research and why.  And I was hoping to finish in six weeks. As I continued writing, I realized three important things.  First, my plan was too ambitious.  I was working very hard to write the creationist book about human origins that I always wanted to read.  I want the book to integrate science and theology, and I want it to address issues that are typically ignored by everyone.  I also want it to be beautiful, with great artwork and...

I have some thoughts on the new skull of Australopithecus anamensis  over at Human Genesis.  Just click that pic. Photo: Dale Omori, Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Feedback? Email me at toddcharleswood [at] gmail [dot] com. If you enjoyed this article, please consider a contribution to Core Academy of Science. Thank you. Have you read my book?  You should check that out too!

Sometimes God moves in surprising ways. Our mission at Core Academy is to nurture the next generation of faithful, Christ-like creation researchers to explore the hardest problems in creation.  We focus on mentoring students and young scholars, and we encourage them to go after the toughest questions out there.  We host annual retreats, sponsor a scholarship fund, and keep in personal contact with students all over the country.  We even stay connected with a few young scholars in Europe. Lately though, we’ve been hearing another call.  First, we were contacted by a zoology professor from Ethiopia who heard about our work and wanted to learn more about creation research.  He had only ever heard the evolution side of the story.  Some of you know we sent him a packet of creationist books, and we have kept in touch.  He is eager to learn more, and we’ve been trying to figure out a way to meet in person. More recently, as my own study of human foss...

The Antikythera Mechanism, by Tilemahos Efthimiadis, wikimedia In the spring of 1900, a crew of sponge divers returning to their home in the Greek isles happened to take shelter from a storm off the northeastern coast of the tiny island of Antikythera.  After the storm, the divers decided to explore the sea floor beneath them in hopes of finding sponges in the unexplored waters.  They found instead one of the richest and most celebrated shipwrecks from ancient Greece.  Their initial explorations retrieved a bronze arm dislodged from a statue, and subsequent explorations brought to the surface many celebrated statues of bronze and marble.  Along with these artworks came many small fragments of encrusted bronze that were thought to be broken statue pieces that could be used in their reconstruction.  Explorations led by Jacques Cousteau more than 75 years later would uncover coins from the wreck dated to the mid-first century before Christ.  The wrec...

I thought some of you might like to read my abstract from the conference last weekend.  So here you go. After Adam: Thoughts on the Integration of Biblical and Human History Todd Charles Wood During his lifetime, Leonardo da Vinci witnessed the beginning of a remarkable and ongoing expansion of knowledge about human history.  As Leonardo entered middle age, Christopher Columbus brought the “New World” of the American continents to the permanent attention of western Europe, sparking the Age of Exploration.  These explorations disrupted the European view of the world, as exemplified by the medieval Mappa Mundi (map of the world).  The typical medieval map integrated geography with biblical history, showing the continents of Asia, Africa, and Europe corresponding to the lands settled by Shem, Ham, and Japheth respectively.  Leonardo produced his own Mappa Mundi in 1514, which included representations of the Americas.  The discovery of whole contin...