The excerpted sentences below were taken from creationary paleontologist Kurt P. Wise's review of the book entitled Faith, Reason, and Earth History: A Paradigm of Earth and Biological Origins (Berrien Springs, Michigan: Andrews University Press, 1997, 332 pp.), written by creationary mammalogist Leonard R. Brand, Ph.D. This book review appeared on pages 36, 37, and 38 of the scientific journal Origins & Design (Issue 38, Volume 20, Number 1, Spring 2000). I have purposely modified young-age creationist Kurt Wise's sentences in the review to show readers how the corresponding adjectives creationary and evolutionary ought to be used by all fair-minded evolutionists and creationists. The adjective creationary ought to be a part of the active core vocabulary of every educated English-speaking person and it should be used consistently alongside the parallel adjective evolutionary, especially in the context of the ongoing evolution-creation debate. (The form creation in creation model is an adjectival use of the noun creation. The form creationary in creationary model is an adjective derived from the noun creation.)
This book demonstrates a new and more sophisticated stage in [creationary] thinking. (p. 36 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary".)
Most [creationary] works, especially on the popular level, define science as the study of that which is directly observable and repeatable. (p. 36 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary".)
Most troubling, this definition brands [creationary] theories themselves as non-science. (p. 36 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
Although I might differ with Brand in placing even less importance on falsification (it is no absolute standard; in practice it can only function in choosing the better of two theories), Brand is to be commended for taking pains to correct a common error in [creationary] writings. (p. 36 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary".)
Brand's model (which he hopes will become a research paradigm, a la Thomas Kuhn) is not referred to as a "[creationary]" model but as an "informed intervention" model, a phrase borrowed from Thaxton. (p. 37 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
Chapters 7-11 of Faith, Reason, and Earth History discuss evolutionary and [creationary] ([interventional]) theories of biology. (p. 37 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary" and "interventionist" with "interventional".)
Brand devotes Chapters 7 through 10 to a review of the evidence for abiogenesis, microevolution, speciation, and megaevolution, re-interpreting the evidence in each case in light of his [creationary] model. (p. 37 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
Brand's summary of the evidence for megaevolution (Chapter 9), although brief, is excellent, and he offers a way to interpret that evidence (Chapter 10) from a [creationary] perspective. (p. 37 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
In Chapter 12, he summarizes the [creationary] ([interventional]) model of biology; yet the fact that earlier in the book he has already elaborated the evidence for evolution means he proceeds by re-interpreting that evidence, instead of developing his alternative model on its own terms from the ground up. (p. 37 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary" and "interventionist" with "interventional".)
That is, he resorts to the re-interpretation of evidence gathered and originally interpreted within an evolutionary paradigm (a problematic practice common in [creationary] literature, including some of my own writings. (p. 37 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary".)
To his credit, Brand realizes the problem and tries to regroup and present a positive [creationary] model of biology, but it would have been better to start there. (p. 37 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
His discussion of geology appraises both the strengths and weaknesses of the [creationary] model. (p. 38 - I replaced "creation" with "creationary".)
Faith, Reason, and Earth History makes a substantial contribution to [creationary] literature. (p. 38 - I replaced "creationist" with "creationary".)
Last Modified: 23 February 2002
Page Started: January 2001