Theses and Dissertations

2015

• The New Pulpit: Museums, Authority, and the Cultural Reproduction of Young-Earth Creationism by Lindsay Marie Barone. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 222 p.
  "Since the mid-twentieth century there has been increasing concern among evangelical Christians over the depiction of human origins in American education. For young-Earth creationists, it has been a priority to replace scientific information which contradicts the six-day origin story reported in Genesis 1 with evidence they claim scientifically reinforces their narrative. As this has failed in public education, creationists have switched tactics, moving from “teach creationism” to “teach the controversy”. The struggle over evolution education in the classroom is well-documented, but less attention has been paid to how young-Earth creationists push their agenda in informal educational venues such as museums. Given the authoritative nature of museums and the ubiquity of these institutions in American life, museums have become targets for the creation message. This project was undertaken to critically analyze the use of the museum form as an authoritative source which facilitates the cultural reproduction of young-Earth creationism. I propose a tripartite model of authority and museums is the best way to understand the relationship between young-Earth creationism and American museums, with the creation, contestation, and subversion of authority all acting as critical components of the bid for cultural reproduction. Assessing the utility of this model requires visiting both creation museums alongside mainstream natural history, science, and anthropology museums. Drawing from staff interviews, survey data, museum visits, and the collection of creation-based literature for secular museums, these sources combine to create a comprehensive picture of the relationship between young-Earth creationism and museums in the United States today."

2014

• Mobilizing Epistemic Conflict : the Creation Museum and the Creationist Social Movement by Kathleen Curry Oberlin. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Sociology, Indiana University. 343 p.
  "I shift the analysis of longstanding controversies surrounding creationism from courtroom battles and textbook-adoption squabbles to a new setting: a natural history museum. But, why did Answers in Genesis (AiG) focus their ambitions exclusively on constructing a museum, which took over twelve years to complete, instead of adopting more conventional political tactics such as persuading political elites or launching policy initiatives in public schools? The answer, in part, is found in AiG’s strategy: to reach the popular masses rather than institutional insiders. While political debates and school board scuffles may garner some attention, a social movement organization (SMO) building a large-scale museum is precisely the kind of ‘unusual’ social movement event positioned to attract sustained attention from a broader public."

• An Analysis of the Creation Museum : Hermeneutics, Language, and Information Theory by Steven Mark Watkins. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Humanities, University of Louisville. 315 p.
  "This dissertation analyzes the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky with respect to hermeneutic, linguistic, and information theories. The popularity of the CM, with an excess of 1.6 million visitors to date and future plans to build a one-hundred million dollar theme park, raises concerns among religious and non-religious people. The CM has drawn the attention of all the major news networks and has been reported on extensively in print media. The number of visitors and money raised by the CM dwarfs other museums in the area with large federal endowments. This dissertation draws the interest of popular educated audiences as well as scholars.

2012

• Scientific Controversies and Boundary Disputes: the Intelligent Design Movement Network by Jared Scott Coopersmith. Dissertation (Ph.D.), School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh. 282 p.
  "Although anti-evolutionism has existed for well over a century, recent evolutionary critics have used non-theistic arguments to attempt to show that Darwinian evolution could not have produced some examples of biological complexity. Called “intelligent design” (ID) theory this movement claims to present genuine scientific facts that prove the inability of evolution to produce most biological structures, thus necessitating the infusion of ‘intelligently-designed’ structure or information into biological life. Despite claims of scientific legitimacy by the ID movement, evolutionary scientists, professional scientific associations, and scientific proponents have widely dismissed ID arguments as non-scientific reasoning dressed up in the terminology of science. Using Gieryn’s theory of boundary-work together with Frickel and Gross’ theory of scientific/intellectual movements (SIM), I examined the institutional relationship, if any, between science and the ID movement, using the inter-organizational network of ties between ID organizations and organizations representing other fields. I used several network theoretic measures to examine the extent of ties between the ID, creation science,and science fields. I found very sparse connections between ID and science, indicating strong institutional boundary work by scientists. While there was some overlap between ID and creation science, I found considerable evidence that these two movements have distinct intellectual cultures. My findings suggest that, regardless of their origins, the intelligent design and creation science movements are two independent organizational communities."

• Six Days of Twenty Four Hours : The Scopes Trial, Anti-Evolutionism, and the Last Crusade of William Jennings Bryan by Kari Edwards. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Southern Studies, University of Mississippi. 109 p.
  "The academic study of the Scopes Trial has always been approached from a traditional legal interpretation. This project seeks to reframe the conventional arguments surrounding the trial, treating it instead as a significant religious event, one which not only altered the course of Christian Fundamentalism and the Creationist movement, but also perpetuated Southern religious stereotypes through the intense, and largely negative, nationwide publicity it attracted. Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan's crucial role is also redefined, with his denial of a strictly literal interpretation of Genesis during the trial serving as the impetus for the shift toward ultraconservatism and young-earth Creationism within the movement after 1925. The impact of the Scopes Trial’s location in the rural East Tennessee town of Dayton is further analyzed in order to present a local religious and cultural history of its origins, as well as its immediate and long-term effects on Tennessee and the entire region of the South."

2011

• The Creation Museum : Opening a Parachurch Ethos by Kevin S. Heston. Thesis (M.A.), Wake Forest University.
  "This thesis investigates how the Creation Museum of Petersburg, Kentucky means to sympathetic visitors. It finds that the museum's structure and deployment open an ethos within the American pathos. It then discloses aspects of the museum's functionality by examining selections of the museum's deployment and augmentation of verbal, visual, aural, and material elements of American Protestantism, and popular culture. As a parachurch organization, the museum is independent of specific ecclesiastical traditions, and therefore, free to fashion a new ethos. The museum's particular selection of issues, from among the broad selection available in the general pathos, discloses as it acknowledges the sympathetic visitor already present in the American pathos."

• Evolution/Creationism Controversy : Analysis of Past and Current Policies In Public Schools by Jacquelyn H. Speake. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of South Florida. 306 p.

• Are Creationism-Intelligent Design Writings Scientific? by David J. White. Thesis (Masters), University of South Dakota. 93 p.

2010

• Angels, Apes, and Pandas : An Analysis of the Intelligent Design Movement by John Bell. Thesis (Masters), State University of New York--Buffalo. 40 p.

2009

• Displaying Controversy : Evolution, Creation, and Museums by Julie Homchick. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Communication, University of Washington. iv, 222 p.
  "This work explores the role of museum exhibits in the creationist/evolutionist controversy and how different museums make appeals to the public using material objects, including scientific artifacts, images, and the space of museum exhibits. Four different exhibits are included in this study: the Institute for Creation Research's Museum of Creation and Earth History in Santee, California; the Creation Museum in Kentucky; the American Museum of Natural History's newly redesigned Hall of Human Biology and Evolution; and the University of Nebraska State Museum's "Explore Evolution" exhibit. Using rhetorical criticism, I perform an intertextual analysis of the words and images, objects, and spaces of each exhibit, and public responses to them. For the creation science museums, I show how the curators use the rhetorical concepts of arrangement, imitation, and dissociation to convince the public of the truth of creation science. For the evolution exhibits, I look at how the curators use arrangement and prolepsis to convince visitors of the truth of evolutionary theory. Each exhibit employs these rhetorical concepts to create an experiential rhetoric in the space of the museum, to imply both narratives of progress and regress, and to deploy the persuasive power of objects, things, and artifacts in these spaces. Overall, this research illuminates the role of museum exhibits in contemporary American public controversies over evolutionary theory, explores how the public space of a museum exhibit defines and challenges scientific knowledge, and illustrates how space and material objects can function persuasively within the museum context."

• Faith Displayed as Science : The Role of the 'Creation Museum' in the Modern American Creationist Movement by Julie A. Duncan. Thesis (A.B., Honors in History of Science), History of Science Department, Harvard University. 152 p.
  "Since the 1960s, the U.S. has seen a remarkable resurgence of the belief in the literal truth of the Bible, especially in a "young" (less than 10,000 years old) Earth. Somewhat paradoxically, this new biblical literalism has been accompanied by an increased emphasis on scientific legitimacy among creationists. The most recent tool in young-Earth creationists’ quest for scientific legitimacy is the "creation museum." This thesis analyzes and compares the purposes and methods of four creation museums; discusses their repercussions for science as a discipline; and explains their significance for the larger creationist movement.".pdf of thesis

2008

• Young-Earth Creationism and the Logic of Fundamentalism by Matthew S. Cooper. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Arizona State University. 125 p.

• Another Brick in the Wall : The Rhetoric of Creationism, Science and Education by Matthew R. McNair. Thesis (Masters), University of Arkansas--Fayetteville. 191 p.

• Creationism at the Grass Roots : A Study of a Local Creationist Institution by Paul J. Wendel. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Education, Health, and Human Services, Kent State University. 393 p.
  "Relying on the book of Genesis as a source text, young-earth creationists or "creation scientists" claim to find physical evidence that the earth was created in six 24-hour periods less than ten thousand years ago and that most of the geologic column was laid down in a year-long worldwide flood. Unsurprisingly, these claims lead to a boundary dispute over the definition of science, in which mainstream scientists impugn the validity of creation science and creation scientists respond in kind. Although young-earth creationism is a growing movement, little is known about it. In particular, little is known about how creationists view the relationship between creationism and science or how the rhetoric of moral, cultural, environmental, and/or biological decline informs creationist practice. In order to investigate these issues, I studied the Fossil Museum (pseudonym), a local young-earth creationist institution, through a combination of naturalistic inquiry and visitor interviews. With respect to the rhetoric of decline, I found that cultural, environmental, and biological decline appear to function independently of one another in Fossil Museum rhetoric. With respect to views of the relationship between creationism and science, I found that despite having limited training or experience in science and despite committing numerous scientific errors, Fossil Museum associates respect and emulate science. Believing that physical evidence mediated by honest science will vindicate young-earth creationism, Fossil Museum associates speak of science in highly Baconian terms, invoking the ideal of assumption-free data and privileging observation over inference. They also accept the notion that science should be falsifiable and they suggest that on this criterion, mainstream science is not scientific. Yet because of their belief that physical evidence can vindicate their position, they openly discuss counterevidence to young-earth creationism, regarding such counterevidence as anomalies for future resolution rather than occasions for crisis. I conclude that because of Fossil Museum associates' honest approach to physical data and their belief that science can resolve disputes, productive dialogue is possible and desirable between mainstream scientists and some young-earth creationists, but such dialogue will be useful only if it is aimed at mutual understanding rather than mutual conversion."

2007

• Henry M. Morris and Creationism by D. Andrew Hollingsworth. Thesis (Masters), Dallas Theological Seminary. 83 p.

2006

• Intelligent Design and Evolutionary Theory : Legal Battles and Classroom Relevance For School Leadership by Larry R. Plank. Thesis (Masters), University of South Florida. 45 p.

2005

• The Decline, Fall and Re-Emergence of the Biblical Creationist Movement in American Culture by Peter G. Drakey. Thesis (Masters), California State University--Dominguez Hills. 76 p.

2003

• The Current Setting of the Evolution/Creation Debate in American Public Schools by Bradley Doyle Reynolds. Dissertation (Ph.D.), School of Education, The College of William and Mary. 165 p.
  "The history of public education in the United States is replete with attempts to secularize public education as well as attempts to sanctify public education. The legal battle between these two opposing concepts of public education has been long and tenacious, and is far from over. One front upon which this philosophical, political, and legal battle has been fought is the teaching of origins in biology classes of public schools. This study sought to address the question of the current status of the creation/evolution debate. Through content analysis of court cases, the study provided a legal framework concerning the teaching of origins in public schools. The study also provided a political/philosophical understanding of the current status through a content analysis of press articles. Further, the study provided an understanding of how current biology textbooks deal with the issue of origins. The findings reveal that the creation/evolution debate is current: however, the theory of Intelligent Design has now entered the foray. Finally, the findings reveal that the debate is taking place in courtrooms, legislative halls, and newspapers, but not in classrooms."

• Creationism in the American Context : An Intellectual History For A Cultural War by Robert J. Golden. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Florida State University. 300 p.

2001

• Aroused From Dogmatic Slumber : A Rhetorical History of Intelligent Design by Thomas E. Woodward. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of South Florida. 386 p.

• The Evolving Face of God as Creator : Early Nineteenth-century Traditionalist and Accommodationist Theological Responses in British Religious Thought to Paleonatural Evil in the Fossil Record by Thane Hutcherson Ury. Dissertation (Ph. D.), Andrews University, Seventh-Day Adventist Theological Seminary. 563 p.

• Kansas Evolving : The Story of the 1999 Evolution Controversy and Science Curriculum Standards Battle by William K. Rogers. Other, Amherst College. 185 p.

1997

• Anti-Creationism in America by Hee-Joo Park. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Melbourne--Australia. 368 p.

1995

• The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845-1929 by Bradley John Gundlach. Dissertation, (Ph.D.), Department of History, University of Rochester. 435 p.

1994

• Creationism and the Institute for Creation Research by Christopher Cotham. Other, Princeton University.

1991

• Philosophy in the Service of Rhetoric : Rhetoric and Antirhetoric in the Creation Science Controversy by James Brant McOmber. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Communication Studies, University of Iowa. 396 p.
  "This dissertation explores the scientific creationists' construction of this rhetorical double-bind and their opponents' responses to it. It will show that both parties rely on Anglo-American philosophy of science to promote their respective theories and to argue about their scientific status. The creation scientists argue that sound philosophy of science requires the rejection of both evolution and creation as true sciences, while their opponents use the same concepts to show that evolution is good science but creationism is not science at all."

1990

• The Creation/Evolution Controversy by Gwendolyn Blotevogel. Thesis (Masters), University of Missouri--Kansas City. 222 p.

1989

• Creationism, Intellectual Origins, Cultural Context, and Theoretical Diversity by Tom McIver. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Anthropology, University of California--Los Angeles. x, 316 p.
  "A study of creationism as a belief system, examining the intellectual background and origins of creationist theory, its cultural context, including its relationship to other fundamentalist beliefs and to scientific theory, and its theoretical diversity. Given the presuppositions on which it is based, creationism forms a coherent, generally selfconsistent and logical system of belief, though contradicted by modern (evolutionist) science. Fundamentalist attitudes towards science and fundamentalist opposition to evolution are largely a consequence of particular religious beliefs and doctrines. Despite necessary agreement on core concepts (biblical inerrancy, supernatural creation by God), creationism is especially subject to diversification and proliferation of competing lowerlevel theories and subsidiary hypotheses. These theories differ widely regarding the extent and application of biblical literalism, the date of creation (the age of the earth and of mankind), the nature of the Genesis Flood, the relation of biblical truth to scientific evidence, underlying eschatological assumptions and doctrines, biblical hermeneutical principles, and attitudes regarding science and external evidence. Creationist theories are therefore continually elaborated on, diversifying and proliferating as a result of the development of their own cultural logic and as a response to evolutionist challenges and reactions."

• Creationism vs. Evolution : a Study of the Opinions of Georgia Science Teachers by Paula G. Eglin. Thesis (Ph.D.), Georgia State University. vii, 142 leaves.

• The Evolution Question at Princeton, 1845-1888 by Bradley John Gundlach. Thesis, (M.A.), Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. 164 p.

1988

• People of the State : A Dramatic Reconstruction of the John T. Scopes Trial by Eugene T. Muto. Dissertation (Ph.D.), New York University. 338 p.

1987

• The Sociological Context of Scientific Creationism by Christopher P. Toumey. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of North Carolina--Chapel Hill. vi, 517 p.

1985

• A Study of Creationist Pressure : Strategies Against Evolution Instruction in the Public Schools by Joanne D. Grine. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Pittsburgh. 270 p.

• An Examination of Henry M. Morris's Interpretation of Biblical Creation by Robert William Prince, III. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Department of Old Testament, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 246 p.

1984

• Public Science vs. Popular Opinion : The Creation-Evolution Legal Controversy by Edward J. Larson. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Wisconsin--Madison. 418 p.

1983

• A Biblical and Theological Critique of Scientific Creationism by William Edward Morgan. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. xi, 274 leaves.

• A Sociological Account of Scientific Creationism : Science, True Science, Pseudoscience by Michael A. Cavanaugh. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Pittsburgh. 398 p.

1982

• The American Scientific Affiliation and the Creation Research Society : The Creation-Evolution Issue by William C. Duke, Jr. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. 218 p.

• A Study of Major Court Cases and the Implications for Teaching the Origin of Man, 1925-1982 by Luanne Sparks. Dissertation (Ph.D.), East Texas State University. 155 p.

1979

• Fact or Faith? An Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding Evolution and Creationism by Hugh S. Miller. Other, Princeton University.

1978

• Epperson v. Arkansas : A Question of Control Over Curriculum and Instruction Decision Making in the Public Schools by John W. Keienburg, III. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Texas A&M University. 208 p.

• A Chronology and Analysis of Regulatory Actions Relating to the Teaching of Evolution in the Public Schools by Richard D. Wilhelm. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Texas--Austin. 481 p.

1976

• Christian Fundamentalism and the Theory of Evolution in Public School Education? A Study of the Creation Science Movement by Vernon L. Bates. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of California?Davis. 232 p.

• The California State Board of Education and the Presentation of the Concept of Evolution in the State Science Texts by Janet K. Hoare. Thesis (Masters), San Francisco State University. 83 p.

• The Anti-Evolution Controversy in Louisiana, 1925-1926 by James M. Mansfield. Thesis (Masters), Louisiana State University. 127 p.

1975

• The Rhetoric of Dogma : An Analysis of the Rhetorical Strategies of Two Representative Speakers in the Evolution Controversy of the 1920's by David E. Amick. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Oregon. 211 p.

1974

• The Anti-Evolution Crusade in Missouri, 1922-1971 by William W. Farmer. Dissertation (Ph.D.), University of Missouri--Columbia. 294 p.

1969

• The Anti-Evolution Crusade in the South, 1920-1927 by Albert A. Bell. Thesis (Masters), Duke University. 147 p.

1966

• The Anti-Evolution Movement in Arkansas by Leo T. Sweeney. Thesis (Masters), University of Arkansas. 131 p.

1959

• Oklahoma's Anti-Evolution Controversy by Jr.. R. Haliburton Thesis (Masters), Oklahoma State University.

1954

• The Evolution Controversy During the 1920's by Leroy Johnson. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Indiana University--Bloomington. 218 p.

1953

• The Anti-Evolution Movement in Relation to Public Education in the U.S. by Olin T. Binkley. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Yale University.

• The Southern Baptist Reaction to the Darwinian Theory of Evolution by Edward L. Clark. Dissertation (Ph.D.), Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

• The Anti-Evolution Conflict in the 1920's by L. Beatice Simms. Thesis (Masters), University of Kentucky. 120 p.