Argue for or against the following assertion:
“Complex society and today’s expectations of abundant materialism comprise a relatively brief and
late chapter in a story that is really, really long. Earth is really old. (How old exactly?) Christian
Creationism narratives – predicated as they are on design in Nature – cannot be reconciled with
that scientific fact. Such narratives are a construct and ritual of people who fear or else see a need
to reject science, especially the coldness and alienating exoticness of natural selection. (Can
humans really be said to have evolved from algae? Is order in Nature merely that? – order absent
design that just happened to turn out the way it did by chance/luck?) Indeed, in seeking to bring warmth, grace, and comforting meaning to humanity, the Christian
narrative of a ‘young world’ is short-sighted in other ways: it places humans at center stage of the
Universe/Cosmos; it encourages adherents to take civilization for granted (as a gift from God);
and it encourages adherents to dismiss climate change (as ‘only God can truly imperil Earth…’).”
You must incorporate evidence presented in class, readings, and films. You must cite
sources
as follows:
I. You must cite multiple times at a minimum: [12]
Brown, Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present six (6) times
[Notes 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 15]
“One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue,” ep. 2 of Cosmos 1 [Notes 4]
“The Backbone of Night,” ep. 7 of Cosmos 1 [Notes 11]
25
twice (2 times)
twice (2 times)
twice (2 times)
Galileo’s Battle for the Heavens
II. Youmustalsociteatleastonceeachofthese6sources:[6]
“The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean,” ep. 1 of Cosmos 1**
Dawn of Humanity
“Out of Eden,” ep. 1 of Guns, Germs, and Steel
“Stonehenge,” ep. 2 of Secrets of Lost Empires
“Harmony of the Worlds,” ep. 3 of Cosmos 1
[Handout] Practical Guide to Nature and Patterns of (Western) Cosmology
[Notes 16]
[Notes 2]
[Notes 5]
[Notes 8]
[Notes 10]
[Notes 14]
III. You must also cite at least once 7 of these 27 sources: [7]
“A Sky Full of Ghosts,” ep. 4 of Cosmos 2**
“Fighting Back,” ep. 2 of Eyes on the Prize
“The Clean Room,” ep. 7 of Cosmos 2
[in-class film 6/26]
[in-class film 6/26]
[in-class film 6/28]
[in-class film 6/28]
[in-class film 7/5]
“The Lost Worlds of Planet Earth,” ep. 9 of Cosmos 2
“Encyclopaedia Galactica,” ep. 12 of Cosmos 1
“How Old Is the Earth?” [Jonathan Sarfati website: https://creation.com/how-old-is-the-earth]
World Cities Timeline (website): http://metrocosm.com/history-of-cities/
[Handout] Schofield-Sims Timeline
[Handout] World Population 0-2050 CE
[Handout] Christian Denominational Schisms
Brown Reading Guide, Part 1 [Preface, Chs. 1-3]
Brown Reading Guide, Part 2 [Chs. 4-7]
Brown Reading Guide, Part 3 [Chs. 8-10]
[Lecture Outline] “What Is History”
[Lecture Outline] “In the Beginnings”
[Lecture Outline] “Climate Matters”
[Lecture Outline] “Farm Power”
[Lecture Outline] “Building Civilization”
[Lecture Outline] “A Sky Full of Stars”
[Lecture Outline] “Flattening the Sphere”
[Lecture Outline] “Before Secularism”
1
“Playing TAG with Bennu” (Astronomy & Geophysics 2/2021)
“Farewell, Bennu! NASA Spacecraft Leaves Asteroid to Bring Pieces of Space Rock to Earth”
“New Fossil Found in Israel Suggests a Much Earlier Migration Out of Africa” (NPR 2018/1)
“Tools from China Are the Oldest Hint of Human Lineage Outside Africa” (Nature 2018/7/11)
“Stonehenge Was Built on a Solstice Axis…” (Daily Mail 2013/9/9)
“People Buried at Stonehenge 5,000 Years Ago Came from Far Away” (Wash Post 2018/8/2)
**Cosmos 1 = Carl Sagan’s series, dated 1980; Cosmos 2 = Neil DeGrasse Tyson’s series, 2014.