The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications - Background

Background

By the late nineteenth century, organic evolution was adopted by most European and American scientists, and evolutionary notions "were infiltrating even the ranks of evangelical Christians." Although some conservative Christians continued to support a traditional reading of Genesis, most "readily conceded that the Bible allowed for an ancient earth and pre-Edenic life." With very few exceptions they accommodated the new geological theories either with Day-Age creationism, the belief that the six days of Genesis represented vast ages, or by separating the original creation from a later Edenic creation: the so-called gap theory. The primary promoter of "flood geology" during the early twentieth century was George McCready Price, but he had comparatively little influence among evangelicals because he was a Seventh-day Adventist, a sect treated warily by many conservative Protestants.