Progressive Creation is the Christian view of creation which maintains God created progressively, by steps, over time (Newman, 1999, p.106).
- Is Christian
- Is creation
- Is by steps
- Is over time
- Is "mere creation"
Progressive Creation is Christian. While there may be Jewish, Islamic or other versions of progressive creation, I am not aware of them, with the possible exception of the Jewish physicist Schroeder's version of what seems to be the Day-Age theory (Schroeder, 1990). I may make use of the evidence and arguments of non-Christian progressive and old-Earth creationists, but the Progressive Creation proposed here is specifically Christian, and stands or falls with the truth of Christianity. Distinctives of Christian creation include
:
1. Affirmation of the Old Testament teachings on creation: God is the Creator (Mk 13:19; Mt
19:4 = Mk 10:6; Acts 4:24; Rom 1:25; 1Tim 4:31; Pet 4:19); by command of God (Heb 11:3;
2Pet 3:5); by will of God (Rev 4:11); beginning (Mt 19:4; Lk 11:50; 2Pet 3:4), foundation
[Gk. katabole] (Mt 13:35; 25:34; Jn 17:24; Eph 1:4; Heb 4:3; 9:26; 1Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8;
17:8); ex nihilo (Heb 11:3); universe [Gk. kosmos] (Mt 13:35; 25:34; Mk 13:19; Rom
1:20; Heb 4:3; 9:11), [Gk. aion] (Heb 1:2); all things (Acts 4:24; 14:15; 17:24; Col 1:16; Rev
4:11; 10:6; 14:7); Earth (2Pet 3:5); man (Mt 19:4 = Mk 10:6; Lk 3:38; Acts 17:26; Rom
5:12-19; 9:20; 1Cor 11:9; 1Cor 15:45; Eph 3:9; 1Tim 2:13-15; Jde 1:14; Jas 3:9); creation
good (1Tim 4:4); the creation (Mk 10:6; 13:19; 16:15; Rom 1:25; 8:21-22,39. Cf. Col 1:23;
Heb 4:13), not eternal (Heb 12:26-27); natural growth (1Cor 3:61; Tim 4:3); general
revelation (Rom 1:19-20); 2. Creation was through Christ (Jn 1:3,10; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2);
prexistence of Christ (Jn 17:24; Eph 1:4; 1Pet 1:20; Rev 13:8). 3. Creation for Christ (Col
1:16). 4. Creation ruled by Christ (Rev 3:14). 5. Creation sustained by Christ (Col 1:17;
Heb 1:3); 6. New creation (2Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15; Eph 2:10,15; 4:24; Col 3:10; Jas 1:18); new
heaven and earth (2Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1; Isa 65:17. Cf. Mt 19:28).
The first defining characteristic of Progressive Creation is that it is Creation. That is, it is supernatural (Ratzsch, 1996, pp.11-12; Geisler, 1999, p.233; Presbyterian Church in America, 2000; Pennock, 1999, p.27). However Progressive Creation need not be wholly supernatural, in that creation in the Bible also includes God working through the regular laws and processes of nature (general providence) and also by supernaturally guiding or directing those laws and processes of nature (special providence) (Davis, 1998; Newman, 1999, pp.105-106; Berkhof, 1949, pp.168-169; Hodge, 1892, p.I:609). That is "second class miracle" (Geisler, 1995, p.277-283; Brown, 1984, pp.210-211). All natural processes and events are here assumed to be fully contingent on the free choice of God (Mt 10:29-30 = Lk 12:6-7) (Wilcox, 1990, pp.2:20-21; Wilcox, 1994, p.215).
The second defining characteristic of Progressive Creation is that it is progressive. That is, it is by steps, or degrees, which was the original meaning of progress: prograde, to go forward by grades or steps ("progress," Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2000). That is, God's activity in creation occurred in a progression-a number of steps over a long period of time (Newman 1999, p.106). While `blind watchmaker' naturalistic evolutionary theory is unable to adequately account for large jumps in complexity (Dawkins, 1991, pp.73-74, 232-233, 317-318), or long series of improbable complex events (Huxley, 1942, pp.473-474), such as were involved in the origin of humans (Mayr, 1988, p.5), a supernaturalistic theory of Progressive Creation can. As Darwin himself realised, "nature makes no jumps, but God does"! (Gruber, 1974, p.125; Denton, 1985, p.58).
The third defining characteristic of Progressive Creation is that it is over time, (Ramm, 1955, p.78) specifically over long (Hamilton, 1931, p.195; Mixter, 1962, p.19; Moreland, 1989, pp.219-220; Erickson, 1983, pp.367,383,482; Ross, 1994, p.83) but indefinite (Pun, 1982, p.254; Moreland, 1987, p.215) periods of time. Progressive Creation is also known as Old-Earth Creation (Newman, 1999), Old-Age Creation (Pearcey, 2000), or the Day-Age theory (Bohlin, 1996; Moreland, 1987, p.215; Lubenow, 1992, p.232). Although, strictly speaking, Progressive Creation need not positively claim that the Earth is old. Progressive Creation does not limit God's creating to any particular duration of earthly time, as Young-Earth Creation does. Progressive creationists maintain that God could have created over any period of time, from no time, six 24-hour days, or billions of years (Newman, 1999, p.105). So strictly speaking, this third defining characteristic of Progressive Creation is a lack of a defining characteristic! However, it is necessary in order to distinguish Progressive Creation from Young-Earth Creation which denies God created over any timespan greater than six literal 24-hour days (Davidheiser, 1969, p.290; Morris, 1985, p.225; Ham, 1987, p.54; Ham & Taylor, 1988, 1989, p.59). [top]
Indeed the label "Progressive Creation" is used with reluctance since it smacks of the divisiveness rebuked by the Apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 1:12. However, with different views on the creation-evolution spectrum, there is no real alternative but to use the label to distinguish Progressive Creation from those other positions. I personally regard Progressive Creation as "mere creation", after C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" (Lewis, 1952, p.vi). That is, "what minimally must be included under a doctrine of creation" (Dembski, 1998, p.13) [top]
There are two main forms of Progressive Creation, Progressive (Fiat) Creation and Progressive (Mediate) Creation.
- Progressive (Fiat) Creation
- Progressive (Mediate) Creation
There are two forms of progressive creation. The first is Progressive (Fiat) Creation, where God ex nihilo or de novo created whole new organisms which have no common ancestry with existing or previous organisms (Erickson, 1983, pp.481-482; Pun, 1982, p.250). So, apart from the timeframe, Progressive (Fiat) Creation is virtually identical in its mode of creation with Young-Earth Creation (Ramm, 1955, pp.191,205; Erickson, 1983, pp.479-480; Pun, 1982, p.250). This is probably the most common form of progressive creation.
The second form of progressive creation is Progressive (Mediate) Creation, where after the original immediate creation ex nihilo of the raw materials of the universe, God created mediately, both supernaturally and naturally, using existing materials and processes (Hodge, 1892, pp.I:556-557; Thiessen, 1949, pp.111-113; Henry, 1957, pp.251,282; Kaiser, 1978, p.73; Erickson, 1983, pp.367-368,373-374). This distinction between immediate primary creation in Genesis 1:1 and mediate secondary creation from Genesis 1:2ff is standard evangelical theology (Hodge, 1869, p.82; Hodge, 1879, pp.238-239; Berkhof, 1949, p.128; McKay K.L., 1962, p.268; Milne, 1988, p.73), dating from Augustine (Ramm, 1955, p.77; O'Toole, 1944, p.20; Shedd, 1888, pp.I:475) and Calvin (Calvin, 1554, pp.70,82,89-90). While most of the evidence and arguments in this book will be compatible with the first form of progressive creation, Progressive (Fiat) Creation, it is this second form of progressive creation, Progressive (Mediate) Creation, hereafter just "Progressive Creation", which is regarded as the more Biblical position, and therefore is adopted here. [top]