Does Scripture Speak Definitively on the Age of the Universe?
Whether one traces the origins of evangelicalism to the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, or back further to the great awakenings in the 18th and 19th centuries, the age the earth has been a pressing question throughout its history. Evidenced by the question’s staying-power, a satisfying resolution has remained hard to come by. At bedrock the debate raises several important exegetical and theological questions addressing issues like biblical authority, the proper interpretation of opening chapters of Genesis, and the relation between scientific and theological knowledge, to name only a few of the more difficult ones. In this year’s debate, prominent evangelical voices C. John Collins and R. Albert Mohler will debate this important question and the wider issues surrounding how one responds to it.
Biography
C. John “Jack” Collins (PhD University of Liverpool) is Professor of Old Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary, and a Senior Research Fellow for The Creation Project. With degrees from MIT (SB, SM) and the University of Liverpool (PhD), he has been a research engineer, a church-planter, and, since 1993, a teacher. In addition to his early focus on Hebrew and Greek grammar, he also studies science and faith, how the New Testament uses the Old, and Biblical theology. He was Old Testament Chairman for the English Standard Version of the Bible, and is author of Science and Faith: Friends or Foes? and Did Adam and Eve Really Exist?: Who They Were and Why You Should Care, and is currently writing commentaries on Numbers, Psalms, and Isaiah.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (PhD Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) serves as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He hosts two programs, “The Briefing,” a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview; and “Thinking in Public,” a series of conversations with the day’s leading thinkers. He also writes a popular blog and a regular commentary on moral, cultural and theological issues. His recent publications include We Cannot Be Silent: Speaking Truth to a Culture Redefining Sex, Marriage, and the Very Meaning of Right and Wrong, and Words From the Fire: Hearing the Voice of God in the 10 Commandments.
