Hugh Ross (astrophysicist)

Hugh Ross
Born Hugh Norman Ross
(1945-07-24) July 24, 1945
Montreal, Quebec
Alma mater University of British Columbia (B.Sc.)
University of Toronto (M.Sc., Ph.D.)
Spouse(s) Kathy
Children 2
Awards Trotter Prize 2012
Website Reasons to Believe

Hugh Norman Ross (born July 24, 1945) is a Canadian Christian apologist, and old Earth creationist.

Ross obtained his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Toronto[1][2][3] and his B.Sc. degree in physics from the University of British Columbia.[4] He established his own ministry in 1986, called Reasons to Believe that promotes progressive and day-age forms of old Earth creationism. Ross accepts the scientific consensus on the Big Bang theory, the age of the earth and the scientific age of the universe, however he rejects unguided evolution and abiogenesis as explanations for the history and origin of life.[5][6][7]

Early life and education

Hugh Ross was born in Montreal, Quebec and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. Ross earned a B.Sc. in physics from the University of British Columbia and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Toronto; and he was a postdoctoral research fellow for five years at Caltech, studying quasars and galaxies.[8][9][10]

Apologetic career

Before starting Reasons to Believe, Ross was on the ministerial staff at Sierra Madre Congregational Church. In addition to apologetics writing, Ross speaks regularly in academic venues and churches, as well as regular podcasts "I Didn't Know That" (formerly Creation Update), and "Science News Flash." He spoke at the 2008 Skeptics Society' "Origins Conference" at California Institute of Technology alongside Nancey Murphy, Victor Stenger, Kenneth R. Miller. Sean Carroll, Michael Shermer and Leonard Susskind.[11] Ross has publicly debated scientists Jerry Coyne, Eugenie Scott, Victor Stenger, Peter Ward, Lewis Wolpert, Michael Shermer, and Rob Tarzwell. Ross has also debated young Earth creationists, including Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, Duane Gish, Danny Faulkner, Andrew McIntosh, John Morris and Ray Comfort. In 2012 he won the Trotter Prize, delivering the Trotter Lecture at Texas A&M University on "Theistic Implications for Big Bang Cosmology."[12]

Creationism

Ross believes in progressive creationism, which posits that while the earth is billions of years old, life did not appear by natural forces alone but that a supernatural agent formed different lifeforms in incremental (progressive) stages, and day-age creationism which is an effort to reconcile a literal Genesis account of Creation with modern scientific theories on the age of the Universe, the Earth, life, and humans.[13] He rejects the young Earth creationist (YEC) position that the earth is younger than 10,000 years, or that the creation "days" of Genesis 1 represent literal 24-hour periods. Ross instead asserts that these days (translated from the Hebrew word yom[14]) are historic, distinct, and sequential, but not 24 hours in length nor equal in length. Ross and the RTB team agree with the scientific community that the vast majority of YEC arguments are pseudoscience and that any version of intelligent design is inadequate if it doesn't provide a testable hypothesis which can make verifiable and falsifiable predictions, and if not, it should not be taught in the classroom as science.[15][16]

Ross is a critic of young-Earth creationists, in particular Russell Humphreys and Ken Ham.[17]

Criticism

In a review of an updated edition of Who Was Adam: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Humanity (2015) by Ross and Fazale Rana, research psychologist Brian Bolton, writing for the Skeptical Inquirer, argued against the scientific status of the RTB model. Bolton sees violations of scientific logic in the form of immunity to falsification, the assumption of supernatural causation, a lack of independent evaluations of evidence, circular reasoning, and the false equivalence of biblical creationism (faith-based) and human evolution (evidence-based) as scientific explanations.[18]

Bibliography

Ross has written or collaborated on the following books:

  • The Fingerprint of God. Orange, Calif.: Promise Publishing, 1989, 2nd ed. 1991, 3rd ed. 2005 ISBN 978-0939497188
  • The Creator and the Cosmos. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1993, 2nd ed. 1995, 3rd ed. 2001 ISBN 978-0891097006
  • Creation and Time. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1994 ISBN 978-0891097761
  • Beyond the Cosmos. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1996, 2nd ed. 1999; Orlando, FL: Signalman Publishing, 2010, 3rd ed. ISBN 978-0984061488
  • The Genesis Question, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998, 2nd ed. 2001 ISBN 978-1576831113
  • The Genesis Debate, Mission Viejo, CA: Crux, 2002 (with five other authors) ISBN 978-0970224507
  • Lights in the Sky and Little Green Men, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002 ISBN 978-1576832080
  • A Matter of Days, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004 ISBN 978-1576833759
  • Origins of Life, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2004 (with Fazale Rana) ISBN 978-1576833445
  • Who Was Adam? Colorado Springs, NavPress, 2005 (with Fazale Rana) ISBN 978-1576835777
  • Creation as Science, Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2006 ISBN 978-1576835784
  • Why the Universe is the Way it Is, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008 ISBN 978-0801071966
  • More Than a Theory, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2009 ISBN 978-0801014420
  • Hidden Treasures in the Book of Job: How the Oldest Book of the Bible Answers Today's Scientific Questions, Baker Books, 2011 ISBN 978-0801072109
  • Navigating Genesis: A Scientist's Journey through Genesis 1-11, 2014 ISBN 978-1886653863
  • Improbable Planet: How Earth Became Humanity's Home Baker Books, 2016 ISBN 9780801016899

Additionally, he has contributed to the following volumes:

  • The Creation Hypothesis, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994 ISBN 978-0830816989
  • Mere Creation, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998 ISBN 978-0830815159
  • Why I Am a Christian, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2000 ISBN 978-0801012105
  • The Day I Met God, Sisters, OR: Multnomah 2001 ISBN 978-1576737866

Videos

  • Journey Toward Creation 2003 [19]
  • Dual Revelation 2008 [20]
  • UFO Files 2004 [21]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Utter, Glenn (August 1, 2001). The Religious Right, 2nd Edition. ABC-Clio Inc. p. 111. ISBN 978-1576072127.
  2. ↑ "Faculty Page". Meet Our Faculty. Northern California Bible College. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
  3. ↑ University of Toronto, DEPARTMENT OF ASTRONOMY and ASTROPHYSICS Theses 1930-1996, Ross, Hugh Norman/ Radio sources with low frequency outoffs, 1972
  4. ↑ "Reasons to Believe - About -Who We Are". Reasons to Believe. 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-18.
  5. ↑ Hugh Ross. "Summary of Reasons To Believe's Testable Creation Model".
  6. ↑ Hugh Ross. "Creation vs. Evolution: Why a Model Is Essential".
  7. ↑ Hugh Ross. "A Beginner's-and Expert's-Guide to the Big Bang: Sifting Facts from Fictions".
  8. ↑ Dr. Hugh Ross, President & Founder of RTB, about
  9. ↑ Caltech Campus Pubs, January 22, 1999
  10. ↑ Caltech Campus Pubs, Jan. 15, 1999
  11. ↑ "Origins Conference October 3–4, 2008". Skeptics Society. 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-10.
  12. ↑ "Astronomer Hugh Ross Receives Prestigious Trotter Prize and Speaks at Texas A&M for Endowed Lecture Series March 8, 2012". Red Orbit.com. 2012. Retrieved 2012-12-07.
  13. ↑ Pennock, Robert T. (February 28, 2000). Tower of Babel, The Evidence against the New Creationism. The MIT Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-262-66111-X.
  14. ↑ Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. "Yowm". The Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon. Retrieved 2006-10-18.
  15. ↑ Hugh Ross. "More Than Intelligent Design". Facts for Faith, Issue 10. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  16. ↑ "Creation Scientists Applaud PA Judge's Ruling Against 'Intelligent Design'-Dressing Up ID Is No Substitute for Real Science". Reasons To Believe. Retrieved 2007-09-25.
  17. ↑ Samuel R. Conner and Hugh Ross Ph.D., The Unraveling of Starlight and Time, March 1999
  18. ↑ Bolton, Brian (2018). "Sorry, 'Theistic Science' Is Not Science". Skeptical Inquirer. 42 (3): 50–53.
  19. ↑ imdb.com, Journey Toward Creation
  20. ↑ imdb.com, Dual Revelation
  21. ↑ imdb.com, UFO Files
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