Dr Terry Mortenson

Systematic Theology, History of Geology
Lecturer/Researcher, AiG (USA) Information on his book, The 19^th Century Scriptural Geologists

---

Biography

Like most people, Dr. Mortenson grew up in an education system that taught evolution as fact. During his first year at the University of Minnesota (where he majored in math) and shortly after becoming a Christian, he began to see the fallacy of the idea of millions of years of evolution. With a Ph.D. in the history of geology from the University of Coventry in England and an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Dr. Mortenson has lectured on the creation-evolution controversy in 21 countries since the late 1970s. He has spoken in homes, churches, schools (primary, middle and secondary), secular universities, Bible colleges and seminaries. Several of his popular lectures have been produced as DVDs and as TV programs. He has also participated in seven formal debates with Ph.D. evolutionary scientists in secular venues in four countries.

He is the author of numerous magazine and journal articles and several book chapters. The revised version of his PhD thesis was published as The Great Turning Point: the Church’s Catastrophic Mistake on Geology—Before Darwin (Master Books, 2004). With a deep burden for seminary professors and students, he co-edited and contributed two chapters to the scholarly 14-author book,Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth (Master Books, 2008). He is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, has presented six creation-related papers at ETS annual meetings, and spear-headed the formation of the “Creation Consultation” sessions at the ETS annual meeting beginning in 2008. He has also helped to lead two by-invitation-only 7-day rafts trips down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon for seminary and Bible College professors and other key Christian leaders. He and his wife, Margie, have been happily married since 1976 and have eight children and three grandchildren.

 

Born

• 1953 in Minnesota, USA

Converted to Christ

• April 1972, first year in the university

Family

• Married Margie in 1976, together they have 5 daughters and 3 sons

Education

• 1975, B.A. in math, Univ. of Minnesota, USA
• 1992, M.Div. in systematic theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Illinois, USA
• 1996, Ph.D. in history of geology, Coventry University, UK

Work

• 1975–2001: Campus Crusade for Christ staff
  • 1975–77: Campus staff, Purdue Univ., Indiana, USA
  • 1977–79: Campus director, Moorhead State University, Minnesota, USA
  • 1979–89: Country director, Czechoslovakia
  • 1989–92: Seminary staff at TEDS in Illinois, USA
  • 1992–96: Research staff in England
  • 1996–2001: Instructor, Institute for Biblical and Theological Studies, Hungary
• 2001–: Lecturer/Researcher, Answers in Genesis

Publications, refereed or professional

Books

• 7 Reasons Why We Should Not Accept Millions of Years
• Answers Academy - The Rocks Cry Out: The Earth Is Young!
• Coming to Grips with Genesis
• Exposing Progressive Creation
• The Great Turning Point: The Church’s Catastrophic Mistake on Geology—Before Darwin
• Millions of Years: Where Did the Idea Come From?
• Millions of Years & the Downfall of the Christian West
• Noah’s Flood: Washing Away Millions of Years
• The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and Christian Compromise (Parts 1 & 2)
• Origin of the Species: Was Darwin Right?
• Standing Against the Myth
• War of the Worldviews

TJ (Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal)

• British Scriptural Geologists in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century:
1. Historical Setting, 11(2):221–252, 1997.
2. Granville Penn (1761–1844), 11(3):361–374, 1997.
3. George Bugg (1769–1851), 12(2):237–252, 1998.
4. Andrew Ure (1778–1857), 12(3):362–373, 1998.
5. Henry Cole (1792?–1858), 13(1):92–99, 1999.
6. Thomas Gisborne (1758–1846), 14(1):75–80, 2000.
7. Rev. Samuel Best (1802–1873), 16(2):89–94, 2002.

Professional Society Papers

1. Boundaries on Creation and Noah’s Flood: Early 19^th Century British Scriptural Geologists, paper given at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society in Colorado Springs, CO, on Nov. 14, 2001, and posted on Zondervan’s website: http://www.zondervanchurchsource.com/convention/parallel.htm#DB.

Other articles and online forum

• Stop the brainwashing!
• Deifying Darwin?
• ‘The Way We Were: Human Origins Research in Ethiopia’
• Response to all-comers on the Washington Post Online Forum, 28 September 2001

---

The 19^th Century Scriptural Geologists

In the first half of the 19^th century, there were a number of Christian writers who raised Biblical, logical and geological objections to old-earth theories and to the reinterpretations of Scripture to harmonize with them. These men became known as the ‘Scriptural geologists,’ and were the focus of my Ph.D. research. The articles hyperlinked below outline the lives and key arguments of the Scriptural geologists. More detail can be found in my Ph.D. thesis, and many of its chapters have been republished in recent issues of TJ (above; and some are available online).

1. Historical Background
2. Historical Background (cont.)
   
3. George Young (1777–1848)
   
4. George Fairholme (1789–1846)
   
5. William Rhind (1797–1874)
   
6. John Murray (1786?–1851)
   
7. Andrew Ure (1778–1857)
   
8. The common views and objections of the Scriptural geologists
   
9. Summary of the Scriptural geologists’ objections to old-earth geology

• See also Dr Mortenson’s refutation of anti-creationist critic, Morton: short and long versions.