All posts by Panth, Ian

I am a Canadian living in Texas. I am unarmed. I am currently a Doctoral Candidate in the Religion Department.

Four-Legged Insects and the Genesis Flood

Leviticus 11:20-23 “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. Of them you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.”

Four-Legged Grasshopers and Biblical Zoology

In my life, I have seen and held many grasshoppers  but never once have I seen a four-legged grasshopper. Even when I encountered the occasional five-legged grasshopper, I assume that this insect had narrowly escaped becoming someone’s dinner.

Yet, here according to Scripture and placed in the speech of the Creator Himself (so there is no getting around it), we find insects being described as going about on “all fours” and having “four feet”. We cannot blame it on a mistaken translation, the Hebrew is quite clear.

So, must I reject the overwhelming evidence of my own senses and experiences with insects and simply accept the teaching of the Bible on this topic? Must I reject what I find in textbooks, dictionaries, and children’s books because the Bible clearly teaches that at least some insects have four-legs? Must I reject the mathematical formulas (however basic) that led me to the conclusion that grasshoppers have six legs and that all insects I have encountered have had six legs? Continue reading Four-Legged Insects and the Genesis Flood

The Christian Origin of Modern Science

While the myth that there is an inherent conflict between religious belief and scientific discovery and progress is deeply rooted in the popular imagination and promulgated in books, video, and the blogosphere, historians of science have problematized, if not completely demolished this Enlightenment myth. Moreover, as Baylor’s own Rodney Stark notes, in his For the Glory of God, the scientific method arose only once in history and that was in the Christian West.

Now, some have argued that Stark has overstated the case by linking the rise of modern science with Christianity, in particular, noting the unquestionable influence of Islam in the Middle Ages. Yet, even when one grants the influence of Islamic scholars, it remains the case that what we now think of as science arose in the predominantly Christian west.  (See “Myths 4 & 9” in Ronald L. Numbers ed. Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion) Continue reading The Christian Origin of Modern Science