Journal Article Review of Dr. Terry Mortenson Article
“The Origin of Old-Earth Geology and its Ramifications for Life in the 21st Century”

Introduction: This paper is a review of Dr. Terry Mortenson’s 2003 article entitled “The Origin of Old Earth Geology and its Ramifications for life in the 21st Century”. This review is designed to give readers an overview of what Dr. Mortenson’s article is about, the article’s strong points, and the areas in which the author could have strengthened his position. In addition to these points, I will be sharing my own personal view points on the authors’ article including the subject matter being discussed.
II. Overview and Main Points: The article we will be looking at was written to give readers an idea of the varying opinions held by society regarding the age of the earth. The author Dr. Terry Mortenson will review several geological scholars and other experts in the field as well as analyzing their various opinions. The author will build a case that scientific deduction regarding the age of the earth starting in the 18th century has been very subjective and was influenced by the scientists’ training and religious world views. The author builds a case that most every opinion on the earth’s age goes against the grain of traditional biblical teaching on the earth’s age. The main point of Dr. Mortenson’s article is the idea that scientific opinions about the earth’s age have changed significantly starting in the 18th century until modern day. Mortenson makes a case that the disintegration of conventional and traditional scientific thought regarding the earth’s age has been a major contributor in the societal moral decay that we are currently experiencing.
III. Strengths of the Article: The article does an excellent job of discussing and showing how the changing scientific theories over the years have become increasingly anti-biblical in thought and approach. Dr. Mortenson gives excellent balance and precision in demonstrating contrasting and supporting viewpoints held by well-respected experts in the field. The article was very well written and structured with no noticeable grammatical errors, making it easy to follow and understand. Dr. Mortenson makes his argument very clear by pointing out how over time scientific theories have changed society’s opinion about the age of the earth. The consequences of these scientific approaches are well-articulated and you have no problem understanding the view point of the author or where he stands on the issue. Mortenson makes logical connections between the recent evolution of modern scientific thought in relationship to the earth’s age and societal decay and moral erosion.
IV. Weaknesses of the article: One of the ways I think the author could have stated his argument more strongly would be to go further back in time to base his argument. Mortenson starts his argument off by citing changes that started occurring in the 18th and 19th century. He states that prior to this there wasn’t any evolutionary thought given to dating the earth’s age. I think he could have walked through a more systematic time line and cited other scientists throughout the ages that would have more strongly articulated his point. I think it would have been stronger had he gone further back in time and validated that point with examples dating much further back in time. While this point may in fact be true, a skeptical reader might look at these claims as erroneous assumptions on behalf of the author without some reference timeline with supporting scientists to back the point up.
V. Conclusion: The age of the earth is enormously important if someone wants to build a case for naturalism or creation. Dr. Mortenson does an excellent job of showing the various scientists who have studied this topic during the 18th and 19th century and how their arguments have driven wedges into pro-creation scientific arguments. These wedges in traditional young earth theory have been responsible for creating doubt about the earth’s age and origins. While these may seem like strictly scientific points being argued among geological intellectuals, Mortenson points out that their scientific assertions have significant implications on society’s religious worldview.