- Gap creationism
Gap creationism (also known as Ruin-Restoration creationism, Restoration creationism, or the "Gap Theory"), is a form of
Old Earth creationism that posits that the six day creation, as described in theBook of Genesis , is historically accurate and involved literal 24-hour days, but that there was a gap of time between two distinct creations in the first and the second verses of Genesis, explaining many scientific observations, including theage of the Earth . ["Evolution Vs. Creationism: An Introduction",Eugenie Scott , pp61-62] ["The Scientific Case Against Scientific Creationism", Jon P. Alston, p24] [ [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/wic.html What is Creationism?] , Mark Isaak,TalkOrigins Archive ] In this it differs fromDay-Age creationism , which posits that the 'days' of creation were much longer periods (of thousands or millions of years), and fromYoung Earth creationism , which although it agrees concerning the six literal 24-hour days of creation, does not posit any gap of time.History
Gap creationism became increasingly attractive near the end of the eighteenth century and first half of the nineteenth century, due to the advent of the science of
geology making it increasingly obvious that Earth was far older than previous straightforward, literal interpretations of Genesis and the Bible-basedFlood geology would allow. Its attraction was that it provided an alternative that allowed religious geologists (who comprised the majority of the geological community at the time) to simultaneously preserve their faith in the Bible and in the new authority of science (necessary as the doctrine ofnatural theology was in this period considered a second revelation, God's word in nature as well as in scripture, which could not contradict each other). is more accurately translated "became". Such a word choice makes the gap interpretation quite easier to see in modern English.Pink (2007)]* God is perfect and everything he does is perfect, so a newly created earth from the hand of God shouldn't have been without form and void and shrouded in darkness. [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/04122.htm "De Principiis", Book 4] (chapter 9)
Origen , 3rd century.]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
