creationism Creationism is the religious belief that nature, and aspects such as the universe, Earth, life, and humans, originated with supernatural acts of divine creation. Gunn 2004, p. 9, "The ''Concise Oxford Dictionary'' says that creationism ...

, special creation is a belief that the

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...

and all

life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

in it originated in its present form by

fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

or divine

decree A decree is a legal proclamation, usually issued by a head of state (such as the president of a republic or a monarch), according to certain procedures (usually established in a constitution). It has the force of law. The particular term used f ...

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

uses the phrase "special creation" in two different senses: * in the context of theistic evolution to refer to the "special creation of humans", a point of hominization where evolved near-human animals were given

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

s by God, and became fully human; this belief is also called special transformism by some scholars. * to refer to the doctrine of immediate or special creation of each human soul

Creationism

In creationism, "special creation" is a literal interpretation of the Genesis creation narrative, viewing it as an accurate description of the

creation Creation may refer to: Religion *'' Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing *Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it *Creationism, the belief that ...

of the universe in essentially its present form over the course of six 24-hour days. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research defined "special creation" as being creation using

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

processes: Dennis Jensen of the American Scientific Affiliation states that special creation means that complex living things did not descend from simpler ones but were created independently.

James B. Stenson James is a common English language surname and given name: * James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambigua ...

writes that for fundamentalists, special creation follows from a

literal Literal may refer to: * Interpretation of legal concepts: ** Strict constructionism ** The plain meaning rule (a.k.a. "literal rule") * Literal (mathematical logic), certain logical roles taken by propositions * Literal (computer programmin ...

reading of the Genesis creation narrative. There is a "special creation" of each separate '' kind'' in six 24-hour days, starting a few thousand years ago.''EVOLUTION: A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE''
James B. Stenson, Catholic Position Papers, Series A, Number 116, March, 1984, Japan Edition, Seido Foundation for the Advancement of Education, 12-6 Funado-Cho, Ashiya-Shi Japan. In ''The Mystery of Life's Origin'',

Charles B. Thaxton Charles B. Thaxton (born 1939) is a proponent of special creation who went on to become one of the first intelligent design authors, and Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture. Biography Thaxton earned a doctorate i ...

argues for "Special Creation by a Creator beyond the Cosmos", and asserts that special creation holds "that the ''source that produced life'' was intelligent".

In Catholicism

The

Pontifical Biblical Commission The Pontifical Biblical Commission () is a pontifical commission established within the Roman Curia to ensure the proper interpretation and defense of the Bible. Since 1988, it has been closely attached to the Congregation for the Doctrine of th ...

issued a decree ratified by

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...

on June 30, 1909, mentioning special creation only in relation to humans, not to the other species. In 2004, the International Theological Commission, then under the presidency of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (soon to be

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

), published a paper in which it accepts the current scientific accounts of the history of the universe commencing in the

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from t ...

about 15 billion years ago and of the evolution of all life on earth including humans from the microorganisms commencing about 4 billion years ago. The Vatican teaches that God acted indirectly through

causal chain In science and engineering, root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving used for identifying the root causes of faults or problems. It is widely used in IT operations, manufacturing, telecommunications, industrial process control, ...

s operating from the beginning of cosmic history, which prepared the way for the moment of transition to the spiritual with the special creation of the human soul. This special creation, the Vatican says, established the basis for a divine intimacy which embraces every single human person from the first moment of his or her existence.Communion and Stewardship: Human Persons Created in the Image of God
(July 23rd 2004), International Theological Commission, La Civiltà Cattolica 2004, IV, 254-286

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Special Creation Creationism Creation myths Young Earth creationism