YEC dreck - 1

I came across Erich von Fange's In Search of the Genesis World a few weeks ago. What captured my attention about it was:

• It's a creationist text, and I haven't tackled one of those in a very long time.
• It's recent (copyright 2006)
• It's published by Concordia Publishing House, official publishing arm of America's second largest Lutheran body (2.5 million members), the Missouri Synod.

Well, here was a chance to get up to date on what creationists are saying. Not backwoods snake handlers mind you, and not an author whose rant is part of a revivalist altar call. Fange has a PhD. from the University of Alberta, and is a former professor at Concordia College in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

For the last several days I've been working my way through it with a highlighter and a notepad at my side. I've got to concede that it's a remarkable book, though perhaps not quite in the way that Dr. von Fange intended.

The first thing to note - in view of the many "gap theory" afficionados who might frequent this blog (and you guys know who you are!) - is that Fange is an unapologetic Young Earth Creationist (YEC). But, wouldn't you know it, the name of a "gap" journalist (an Ambassador College graduate and Plain Truth writer) comes into his account, and is cited as an authority.

So, here begins a series of posts that will together constitute a review when complete. We'll travel to Tonga, climb aboard the great Andean mountain elevator, turn popular journalists into evolutionary experts, try to find Rhodesia on a map, rub shoulders with Erich von Daniken, and speculate on the lost continent of Mu and - especially exciting for a New Zealander like myself - discover fascinating, previously unknown details about Maori culture.

All this and more, beginning with part two!