GEOLOGY EDUCATION AT EVANGELICAL WHEATON COLLEGE: HISTORY AND APPROACHES

Wheaton College is perhaps the most prominent liberal arts college representing the evangelical Christian subculture in North America. Wheaton is nearly unique among Christian colleges in offering the geology major. Geology courses were included in the required non-electives curriculum when John Wesley Powell was enrolled as a student in 1860. The first geology degree was awarded in 1934 at a time when flood geology and young earth creationism were being popularized in fundamentalist Christian circles, especially after the publication of Price’s New Geology in 1923. Yet, Wheaton geologists in this era held to various versions of old earth creationism (accepting mainstream geology) following nineteenth century Christian geologists including James Dana. The rejection of Price’s flood geology at Wheaton may have been due to the academic training and professional field experience of geology and chemistry faculty (though his book was used as a supplementary text). Furthermore, college president J. O. Buswell (1926-1940) espoused old earth creationism, maintaining that Genesis 1 days were indeterminate periods of time. Wheaton geology alumni, including Laurence Kulp, produced early criticisms of The Genesis Flood by Whitcomb and Morris (1961). Yet, the new flood geology swept across fundamentalist America, leading to the politically influential creation science movement of the past 25 years. Using Ian Barbour’s typology for faith-science interactions, Wheaton most closely follows elements of dialogue and integration patterns, in which science and theology are seen as contributing different kinds of information to our understanding of origins, giving us a fuller view of reality. Many students matriculate with a conflict notion of science and faith. Thorough coursework in both geology and biblical studies in the general education curriculum generally moves a student from conflict to a complementary view of mainstream geology and scripture.