I am working my way through John Walton's Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology and really enjoying it. I would say that if you are already familiar with his writing this book may leave you wishing for more as I was hoping for a greater expansion of his ideas outlined in The Lost World of Genesis... Continue Reading →
Rediscovering the Science of the Middle Ages
Here at Naturalis Historia we hope to bring a greater awareness of the importance of science and religion in the 17th and 18th century. A time when many discoveries were being made that impacted our views of the earth and its history. Such an emphasis may unintentionally perpetuate the myth that the Middle Ages where... Continue Reading →
The Strange Rubbing Boulders of the Atacama
The worlds largest rock tumbler? This story caught my eye this morning. GSA press release - The Strange Rubbing Boulders of the Atacama. It seems that every other day I read about some place on earth that has a strange story to tell and usually that story is difficult to understand without an earth that... Continue Reading →
What is a Species? Tasmanian Devil Transmissible Tumors
Can cancer become an infectious disease? Usually with think of cancer as limited to the individual in whom the cancer formed. But what if cancerous cells could infect other individuals. Here is a link to a story on the sad case of what happens when cancer "learns" to infect more than one individual: BBC News... Continue Reading →
Mather on Genesis 1:21: What is the great sea creature?
A note on Genesis 1:21 and the creation of the great sea creature From page 328 of the 2011 translation of Cotton Mather’s Biblia Americana vol 1 we find the following question and answer: “Q. What are the Creatures intended in the Original, where our Translation reads, Great Whales? V.21. A. Job Ludolphus ha’s demonstrated,... Continue Reading →
A New Old Genesis Commentary – The Mather Project
An interesting new resource for research into 17th century natural history has been made available this year in the form of the first of what will be 10 volumes of the monumental work Biblia American by Cotton Mather (1663-1928). The first volume coves this American puritan's commentary on Genesis. Unfortunately the book is rather expensive... Continue Reading →
John Ray: Testing Knowledge with Observation
The following quote is from page 152 of the 1735 edition of Wisdom of God, Ray's best known book. He is bemoaning the fact that so few professors have any experience from observation but appear to be content with the knowledge of the past which they have gained from books. Let us not suffice us... Continue Reading →
The History of an Asteroid Family
A press release yesterday from NASA (HERE) was picked up by various news outlets because it referenced problems with a prior work that attempted to identify the source of an asteroid that may have killed off the dinosaurs. While the release and the related research paper is interesting in itself I was more interested in... Continue Reading →
Thoughts on John Walton’s The Lost World of Genesis One
There have been a number of commentaries on Genesis 1 and 2 by conservative evangelical scholars. Many of these can be found in my literature review (Modern Creation Debate Books). In the case of John C. Collins, John Sailhamer and John Walton, all three see their views as representing the literal reading of Genesis 1. ... Continue Reading →
Apparent Age: Craters on Mars
This is the first in what will be a series of posts on the "apparent age" or "appearance of age" theory as an explanation for some of the features of the earth and cosmos. There is a long tradition of those that have espoused various forms of apparent age including probably the most famous proponent... Continue Reading →
Covered in Shells: How many fossils are there?
SUMMARY: Below I calculate the number of fossils in the Midwest region from some of my own observations and knowledge of the area. I conclude that at a minimum there are enough fossils in just this one set of rock strata in the Midwest US to cover the entire earth with 20 small shells (little... Continue Reading →
Volcanic Ash (Tephra): Evidence of the Passage of Time
The following example is derived from several articles involving sediment cores from explosion craters (maars) and their subsequent analysis (See refs at end). I will assume little geological background in writing this example. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Summary: Pollen profiles from a 46 meter core from the center of a small explosion crater in South Central France suggest... Continue Reading →
Thoughts on Baraminology
A month ago or so I read an interesting article that got me thinking about the young earth creationists (YEC) view of the extent of the biblical term “kind.” I wrote up some comments which you can see below. Apparently there has been a creation study group that has actively been asking the question what... Continue Reading →
Tas Walker’s Biblical Geology Model
In reading about the transformation of Creation Science Foundation into Creation Ministries International (there site can be found at: http://www.creationontheweb.com/ ) I happened onto one of their affiliated sites which is Tas Walker’s Biblical Geology web page (www.biblicalgeology.net). I had forgotten about his particular model of all of earth’s geological history which he presented in... Continue Reading →