A Critical Analysis of the Doctrine of Creation with a Particular Emphasis on Hugh Ross’s Interpretation of Progressive Day-Age Creationism

Since the early 1800s, the evangelical community has sought to determine the appropriate age of the universe by harmonizing the scientific interpretations of long periods of time with the early chapters of Genesis. Two primarily groups exist. The first group consists of those who believe the universe is billions of years old. The second group consists of those who believe the universe is thousands of years old. One view within the former group is called Progressive Day-Age Creationism. The Progressive Day-Age Creationism (PDAC) view is taught by Hugh Ross and is quite popular within the evangelical community.

The dissertation consists of six chapters that analyze primarily the writings of Ross, church history’s understanding of the early chapters of Genesis, the intertextual commentary of the Scripture on the creation account, and the implications that Ross’s view may have towards orthodox Christianity.

Chapter one develops the framework by which the writer evaluates Ross’s view. The writer compares PDAC against a historical overview of Christian interpretations of the earth’s age by comparing and contrasting PDAC with Six-Day Creationism (SDC).

Chapter two reveals that the accepted view between the period of the Early Church Fathers through the eighteenth century was that God created the earth in six days. Each day was approximately twenty-four hours, and the age of the universe was approximately 6,000 to 10,000 years old. The church’s consensus view changed because of James Hutton, Charles Lyell, and Charles Darwin. These men popularized uniformitarianism, which led to an old-earth geological system. The Christian community responded by rejecting, for the most part, Darwinian biology, but they accepted Lyellian uniformitarianism.

Chapter three evaluates the central tenants of the PDAC view and contrasts them with the SDC view. The PDAC view argues that the creation event did not happen over six twenty-four-hour periods but billions of years. SDCs proponents affirm that God created the universe over six twenty-four-hour days. The most important part of the PDAC and SDC debate is each group’s presuppositions and biblical hermeneutics. PDACs elevates their understanding of general revelation above special revelation. In contrast, the SDC view affirms the supremacy of special revelation over general revelation, which means their scientists and theologians gave primacy to the Scripture as authoritative regarding the universe’s origins.

In chapter four, the writer summarizes the biblical theology of select passages in the Old and Testament about the earth’s age. The intertextual commentary within the Bible reinforces the SDC view of the earth’s age. Scriptural support for the PDAC view lacks a biblical and theological basis.

In chapter five, the writer extrapolates the theological implications of Ross’s view. Ross’s view leads to various affirmations and denials of orthodox Christianity. For example, in the area of bibliology, Ross affirms his interpretations of the creation event above the straightforward, literal reading of Genesis. In practice, he grounds his personal beliefs upon the presuppositions that scientific observations were more accurate than the classic interpretation of Genesis. In essence, he conferred magisterial authority to the philosophy of science over Scripture.