Hugh Ross (creationist)

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Hugh Ross

Hugh N. Ross (born 1945) is a Canadian-born Old Earth Creationist. An astronomer by training, he has established his own ministry called Reasons To Believe that promotes the form of Old Earth creationism known as progressive creationism. Ross accepts the scientific evidence of the age of the earth and the age of the universe, but he rejects evolution and abiogenesis as explanations for the history and origin of life.^[1]

1 Biography
2 Thought
- 2.1 Creationism
3 Ross' critics
4 Bibliography
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Biography

Ross earned a BSc in physics from the University of British Columbia and an MSc and PhD in astronomy from the University of Toronto, and he was a postdoctoral research fellow at Caltech, studying quasars and galaxies. Ross was the youngest person ever to serve as director of observations for Vancouver’s Royal Astronomical Society, and before starting Reasons to Believe, he was on the staff of Sierra Madre Congregational Church. In addition to apologetics writing, Ross speaks regulary in academic venues and churches, as well as hosting a weekly radio webcast.

[edit] Thought

Ross' overall philosophy is that science and religion are not only compatible but complementary and, with Thomas Torrance, that the scientific method itself springs from the Reformation and the Bible. He adopts the view that there are two "books" of revelation from God – nature and the Bible – which both offer us accurate knowledge and each of which can correct our misunderstanding of the other. Moreover, he argues that the Bible is the only scientifically accurate religious text when interpreted consistently.

Ross and his associates are formally engaged in proposing an alternate, scientifically testable model for the formation of the universe, earth, and life itself that accounts for both scientific and religious (particularly Christian) explanations for each. The model he proposes makes certain predictions about the shape of future discoveries in cosmology, biology, and related sciences, and Ross wants his model to be judged alongside other models in its predictive success.^[2] Ross has not published the alternative model in peer-reviewed scientific literature, but he outlines the basic components of the model and provides associated predictions for future scientific research in greater detail in his book Creation and Science (Navpress: 2006).

The primary apologetical method used by Ross and Reasons to Believe is evidentialist in nature and attempts to show that the probability of the universe forming in such a way as to allow it to generate life as we know it is too improbable to be due to random chance. Thus, he posits a creator outside spacetime who purposefully controlled and directed the creation of the universe and created life. (Cosmology has traditionally dealt with he idea that the universe has finely tuned parameters which cannot be significantly altered without destroying the possibility of life under the rubric of the anthropic principle.)

[edit] Creationism

Ross is a progressive creationist: he believes a god created life on earth and that it did not develop by natural forces alone, but rejects the Young Earth Creationist (YEC) position that the earth is younger than 10,000 years, or that the creation "days" of Genesis 1 represent literal 24-hour periods. Ross instead asserts that these days (translated from the Hebrew word yom^[3]) to be historic, distinct, and sequential, but not literally 24 hours in length nor equal in length. He agrees with the scientific community at large that the vast majority of YEC arguments are pseudoscience, and he rejects any version of the intelligent design that doesn't provide a testable hypothesis which can make verifiable and falsifiable predictions.^[4]^[5]

Ross is criticized by YECs for his acceptance of uniformitarian geology and astronomy over what they see as a plain reading of Genesis and for promoting "fixity of species", which denies speciation. YECs use speciation to explain how present biodiversity could have arisen from the small number of "kinds" after Noah's Flood.^[6] Ross holds that Noah's Flood was local, whereas YECs generally hold that Noah's Flood was global.

Some of Ross' ideas – particularly his criticism of evolution – is faulted by the scientific community as being little different from YEC, but Ross states his work provides a better fit for the data than either the YEC or the conventional models.

[edit] Ross' critics

Ross' critics fall into two opposing camps, scientific naturalists, who accuse him of being pseudoscientific, and Young Earth creationists, who accuse him of compromising the teaching of the Bible about creation.

His scientific critics include Mark Perakh^[7]^[8], Eugenie Scott, and PZ Myers. In analyzing the online summary of his "testable creation model", PZ Myers described its predictions "sublimely silly, trivial, vaguely stated, or perfectly compatible with actual evolutionary biology."^[9]

His creationist critics include Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, Jonathan Sarfati,^[6] and Bolton Davidheiser.^[10]

[edit] Bibliography

Ross published several scientific papers, mostly before entering full-time ministry:

"Verification of Radio Variability of the Galaxy PKS 0048-09." Nature, 262 (1970), p. 431. NASA ADS, PubMed (This is a commentary on the paper by M. A. Stull, "PK 0048-09: a possible radio variable galaxy." Nature. 1970 Feb 28;225(5235):832-3. PubMed)
with E. R. Seaquist, "The High Frequency Radio Spectra of Secondary Standard Sources." Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 170 (1975), pp. 115-119. NASA ADS
"Variable Radio Source Structure on a Scale of Several Minutes of Arc." Astrophysical Journal, 200 (Sept. 15, 1975), pp. 790-802. NASA ADS
with K. Y. Lo, R. T. Schilizzi, and M. H. Cohen, "VLBI Observations of the Compact Radio Source in the Center of the Galaxy." Astrophysical Journal, 202 (Dec. 1. 1975), pp. L63-L65. NASA ADS
with K. Y. Lo, M. H. Cohen, and R. T. Schilizzi, "An Angular Size for the Compact Radio Source at the Galactic Center." Astrophysical Journal, 218 (Dec. 15, 1977), pp. 668-670. NASA ADS
with David L. Block, "Unser Universum: Zufall oder Absicht?" Die Sterne, 68 (1992), pp. 325-339.

Ross has written many articles and over 50 creationist apologetics articles, and he has written or collaborated on the following books:

The Creator and the Cosmos. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1993, 2nd ed., 1995, 3rd ed. 2001
The Fingerprint of God. Orange, Calif.: Promise Publishing, 1989, 2nd ed. 1991, 3rd ed. 2005
Creation and Time. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994
Beyond the Cosmos. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1996, 2nd ed. 1999
The Genesis Question, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998, 2nd ed. 2001
Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002
A Matter of Days, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004
Creation and Science, Colorado Springs, NavPress, 2006
The Genesis Debate, Mission Viejo, CA: Crux, 2002. (with five other authors)
The Origins of Life, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004. (with Fuz Rana)
Who Was Adam? Colorado Springs, NavPress, 2005 (with Fuz Rana)