>
> In response to Terry G. & Paul Adams,
>
> Now I want a button like this.
> ___________
> / Evolutionary\
> | Creationist |
> \___________/
>
> if I were to dare wear it.
>
> The problem with the term "Progressive Creationist" is that it is simply not
> catchy enough for a lapel button. It is jargon, and few observers would get
> the point.
>
> "Old Earth Creationist" is rather vague, so it could cover gap theory, but I
> wouldn't think of it as doing so. If I were inventing this term, then as
> the inventor, I would include PC (Progressive Creation) and TE (Theistic
> Evolution). As a term, it seems to specifically address geology, and to be
> indifferent to biology.
>
> Dennis Sweitzer
This brings up something that has bothered me for a while. How do people
writing on these issues define "Progressive creationist?" The YEC people
tend to say that PC = TE. However, some OECs say that PC not = TE. I
thought that PC was used to describe the position that God created the
basic natural kinds (in the sense of an Aristotelian natural kind) of
living organisms instantaneously at different points over long ages of
time, and then these basic kinds could differentiate into the various
species found that exemplify the basic kind. (For example, the dog kind
might have been created ex nihilo and poodles and Great Danes came from
that basic kind, or even God creating ex nihilo a basic kind that
diversified into all the dog species, all the wolves, etc.) This
differentiation from the basic kind is by what is commonly called "micro"
evolution rather than "macro" evolution.
If my concept is correct then PC is a sub class of Day-Age theories (One
could hold to a theory that every organism was created ex nihilo over
eons, except for the races of men, which all must come from Adam).
Furthermore, if one neglects the age issue, then PC is YEC minus the YE.
I know that labels are not necessarily a good thing, but they are used as
short-cuts to make communication easier, and if we are going to use them,
then we should be precise about what we mean. The concept that I have
outlined above is radically different from TE. How should we define PC,
and should we come up with another term for the concept that I delineated
above?
Another thing that bothers me is that the secular world has defined
"scientific creationism" and even "Creationist" or "creationism" with the YEC
people, when it equally could apply to OEC people whether TEs or not. I
think that we have lost the term "scientific creationism" forever to the
YECers, but I hope we have not lost the terms "Creationist" or
"creationism" forever. I do, however, think that if a person who
believes in descent with modification of life forms from a common
ancestor uses the term "Creationist" or "creationism" to denote their
beliefs, then they will highly confuse the issue, especially with the
seculars, but perhaps there is no way around that other than to very
carefully delineate what one believes and hope it is not misrepresented.
Jeff