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Early faint sun paradox | a problem with the inferred evolution of the sun but without the devastating heat of the sun's heat up |
Eastern mysticism | A spiritual and non-discursive approach to the union of the soul with whatever is taken to be the central reality of the universe. In extraversive mysticism, the subject senses his unity with all that there is using meditative techniques to achieve a higher state of being. |
Eclipse | the cutting off of all or part of the light of one body by another |
Economic determinism | the doctrine that everything is determined by economic terms |
Edenic-Noahic Commission | the command issued by God first to Adam and Eve (Gen.1:28) and later repeated to Noah and his family (Gen.8:17 and 9:1) to "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." |
Efficacious | producing a desired effect; effective |
El Nino event | [Spanish, the (Christ) Child: because it occurs near Christmas] a warm inshore current annually flowing south along the coast of Ecuador and, about every seven to ten years, extending down the coast of Peru, where it has a devastating effect (El Nino Effect) on weather, crops, fish, etc. |
Electromagnet | a magnetizable substance through which an electric current runs, thus magnetizing the core |
Electron | a negatively charged subatomic particle that normally moves about the nucleus of an atom |
Empirical | relying or based solely on experiment and observation rather than theory |
Entropy | thermodynamic quantity that measures the degree of disorder in a system; the higher the entropy, the more the disorder |
Environmentalists | people working to solve environmental problems, such as air and water pollution, the exhaustion of natural resources, uncontrolled population growth, etc. |
Enzyme | protein that catalyzes a specific chemical reaction |
Eohippus | (Hyracotherium) a fossil animal similar to a rock badger; size of a small dog; had four toes on the front feet, three on the rear; had browsing teeth; found in Eocene rock layers |
Epic of Gilgamesh | a work of Assyrian-Babylonian literature going back to Sumerian legends 3,000 years before Christ. The narrative of the wanderings of Gilgamesh and his friend, Engidu (half man-half bull), contains an account of a flood story with similarities to the Biblical account. |
Essentialism | belief that there is a universal and objective human nature. Postmodernists deny essentialism. They say that human nature is culturally constructed, and varies from culture to culture. |
Estuary | an inlet or arm of the sea especially the wide mouth of a river, where the tide meets the current |
Etymology | the origin and development of a word; tracing a word back as far as possible, generally by the method of comparative linguistics |
Euclidean space | the straight line measurement of space |
Eugenics | the "science" that deals with the improvement of races and breeds, especially the human race, through the control of hereditary factors |
Euthanasia | act or method of causing death painlessly, so as to end suffering: advocated by some as a way to deal with victims of incurable diseases |
Evaporites | a nonclastic sedimentary rock composed primarily of minerals produced from a saline solution as a result of extensive or total evaporation of the solvent |
Evolutionism | The notion that both living and non-living things came into existence by the unaided activity of natural processes and without an intelligent cause. |
Ex nihilo | matter out of nothing |
Exon | any segment of an interrupted gene that is represented in the mature RNA product |
Exosphere | the region of the upper atmosphere where collisions of particles are negligible |
Extant | still existing; not extinct |
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Fabian Socialists | an organization of English socialists, established in 1884, aiming to bring about socialism by gradual reforms rather that drastic means |
Fascism | a system of government characterized by rigid, one-party dictatorship, forcible suppression of the opposition, the retention of private ownership of the means of production under centralized government control, belligerent nationalism and racism, and glorification of war |
Fault | in geology, a crack or bend in the earth's crust along which slippage or movement can take place, accompanied by seismic activity |
Feldspar | any of several crystalline minerals made up mainly of aluminum silicates, usually glassy and moderately hard, found in igneous rocks |
Feminist Movement | the political movement based on feminism (that women should have the same economic, social, and political rights as men) |
Fiat | a decree; an order issued by legal authority |
Final Crunch | an end stage on the imagined expansion and collapse of the Big Bang concept |
Firmament | the sky, viewed poetically as a solid arch or vault |
Fission theory | imagined rapid separation of a piece of the Earth to form the moon |
Fixity | steadiness; permanence |
Fixity of species | the philosophy that the species are fixed (permanent; unchanging) |
Flowstone | a general term for any deposit of calcium carbonate or other mineral formed by flowing water on walls or floors of a cave |
Foraminifera | protozoa which have shells perforated by pores through which slender filaments project |
Fox's experiment | the thermal synthesis or pyrosynthesis of amino acids was performed in a glass apparatus similar to Stanley Miller’s device for producing organic molecules. (see The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories by Thaxton, Bradley and Olsen. 1984 Philosophical Library, NY, pp. 25 - 29) |
Free-decay theory | states that the electrical current that produces the magnetic field is slowly losing energy because of the electrical resistance of the core |
Freudian | of or according to Sigmund Freud or his theories and practices (psychoanalysis) |
Furcula | the forked bone in front of the breastbone of most birds, the wishbone |
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Gaia hypothesis | an idea that the Earth is one giant organism—mother earth—which can adapt to changing sun luminosity | ||||||||||
Galaxy | a large assemblage of stars; a typical galaxy contains millions to hundreds of billions of stars and interstellar material | ||||||||||
Gap Theory | theory of origins compromising the Biblical account with supposed geologic ages; says that Genesis 1:1 was the initial creation of the universe, and was followed by five billion years of cosmic evolution. At the time of Satan's revolution against God, a global cataclysm killed all life on earth, depositing the fossil record. This point in time was Genesis 1:2 (without form and void); God then recreated life in six literal days. | ||||||||||
Gene | a small portion of a chromosome concerned with the inheritance of a specific characteristic | ||||||||||
Generation X | those born between 1960 and 1981. A generation characterized by the lack of a specific identity or role (other than that of consumer) within the larger society. | ||||||||||
Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, apparent contradiction | some have criticized the creation account in Genesis by saying that chapter 2 is a different account of creation than chapter 1. A more correct interpretation of the Hebrew style, however, recognizes that Gen.1:1 - 2:3 is a chronological account of the creation week, and Genesis 2:4 - 25 is a detailed account of one act—the creation of Adam and Eve on day 6. This is indicated by Gen.2:4 "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth…" which is a superscript of the account to follow, not a post-script of the preceding account. | ||||||||||
Genetic recombination | process in which chromosomes or DNA molecules are broken and the fragments are rejoined in new combinations | ||||||||||
Genocide | the systematic killing or extermination of a whole people or nation; first applied to the attempted extermination of the Jews of Nazi Germany | ||||||||||
Geochronologist | one who studies geochronology (study of time in relationship to the history of the Earth, especially by the absolute age determination and relative dating systems developed for this purpose | ||||||||||
Geologic column | geologic time scale, idealized or complete sequence of strata that is constructed by superimposing strata systems. The conventional, or popular North American "geologic column" is given in the following sequence of twelve "systems."
 (Adapted from, Grand Canyon Monument to Catastrophe. Steven A. Austin Editor. Institute for Creation Research, 1994.) | ||||||||||
Glaciations | a surface that is exposed or changed by glacial action | ||||||||||
Glauconitic sandstone | sandstone composed of glauconite (a granular silicate of potassium and iron, which gives the greenish color to greensand) | ||||||||||
Global biozone | supposed worldwide distribution of indicator life forms which act as "time units" for dating rock layers | ||||||||||
Global education | educational programs that include any and potentially all world views on all subjects | ||||||||||
Global flood | a cataclysm of water which covered the entire Earth; described in Genesis during the time of Noah, and is referred to in many ancient cultures' historical accounts | ||||||||||
Golden Horde | the Mongol armies that invaded Europe in 1273 and, under the Khans, ruled over Russia for two centuries | ||||||||||
Goldilocks syndrome | the idea that the Earth's atmosphere had to evolve in concert with the sun's evolution | ||||||||||
Gracile | slender or light in build, often used to categorize the australopithecine species Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus | ||||||||||
Graf-Wellhausen School of Theology | German higher criticism that questions the authorship of various books of the Bible. The J- E- P- D theory is that each of the first five books of the Bible was authored by a different person from the 5th century B.C. to the 9th Century B.C. | ||||||||||
Gravity gliding | a theory to explain over-thrusting of rock layers; proposes that water trapped in the pores of the sediments as they were deposited became so compressed with the accumulating over-burden that they developed geostatic pressures, capable of actually floating the formation above into another location | ||||||||||
Great Chain of Being | a quasi-theological theory that arranges all living things on a continuous linear scale with man at the top and the simplest forms at the bottom. Above man are the angels and God; below the simplest life forms are rocks, minerals, earth, water, sea, air, and ether. | ||||||||||
Great Galactic wall | an enormous organization of galaxies that is at least 500 million light years across | ||||||||||
Green movement * | the spreading belief that Mother Earth is a living entity that directs the geological and biological evolution of the planet | ||||||||||
Gyres | a circular or spiral motion; whirl; revolution |
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Half-life | The theoretical period of time that would be required for one-half of the original quantity of a radioactive isotope to decay, assuming constant rate of decay. |
Halocline | a gradient of salinity |
Haploid | a haploid set of chromosomes contains one copy of each chromosome and one sex chromosome; the haploid number n is characteristic of gametes of diploid organisms |
Hawaiite | an olivine basalt with andesine as the normative plagioclase; generally lacks normative quartz |
Helioseismology | the study of small changes in the radial velocity of the sun as a whole or of small regions on the surface of the sun. Analyses of these velocity changes can be used to infer the internal structure of the sun |
Hemangiomas | tumors of the blood vessels |
Hemoglobin | the red coloring matter in the red blood corpuscles; a protein yielding heme and globin in hydrolysis: it carries oxygen from the lungs to the tissue and carbon dioxide from the tissue to the lungs |
Herodotus | an ancient Greek historian, often called the Father of History. His history of the invasion of Greece by the Persian Empire was the first attempt at narrative history and was the beginning of all Western historical writing |
Hesiod | an eighth century B.C. Greek poet |
Heterotopic anus | an anus in a misplaced location |
Holistic | addressing the whole system; regarding human, emphasizes the physical, emotional, and spiritual; in holistic health, "normal" health is not good enough, but preventive treatment should be incorporated to maintain balance, frequently through use of New Age techniques like acupuncture, herbal remedies, yoga meditation, and music and aroma therapies |
Holobaramin | a term from the discontinuity method of systematics which refers to a complete set of common descendants. A group containing all and only organisms related by common descent. (ReMine, W. 1993. The Biotic Message: Evolution versus Message Theory. p. 444.) |
Hominids | any of a family, Hominidae, of two-legged primates including all supposed forms of man, living and extinct; evolutionists include the genus Australopithecus and the genus Homo |
Homo erectus | a group of human fossil remains that are characterized by slightly different cranial characteristics from those of modern men (for example, eyebrow ridges, elongate skulls, enlarged orbits, more robust); their skulls are very similar to the Neanderthal skulls, except that they are smaller—although still in the normal range for humans |
Homogeneity | uniform distribution of gas or particles |
Homology | similarity in structure of an organ or molecule, assumed to reflect a common evolutionary origin. Specifically, such a similarity in protein or nucleic acid sequence |
Hopeful Monster | the supposed product of punctuated equilibrium: an offspring that has a high degree of genetic differences from its parent, so eliminating the need for slow, gradual, transitional forms |
Horizontal changes | variations; changes within a kind of plant or animal; microevolution |
Horse series | the supposed evolutionary series of the modern horse. Begins with the small, four-toed, browsing Eohippus in the Eocene period, which evolved to the larger, browsing, three-toed Mesohippus in Oligocene strata, which was replaced by the larger, three-toed, grazer Merychippus in the Miocene strata, which evolved to the pony-sized three-toed grazer Pliohippus in the Pliocene which evolved to the modern horse. The problems with this series are that |
Hot Big Bang | the name of the second stage of expansion from a grapefruit-sized universe into the present far-flung universe |
Hubble constant | constant of proportionality between the velocities of remote galaxies and their distances. |
Humanism | the intellectual and cultural movement that stemmed from the study of classical Greek and Latin literature and culture during the Middle Ages, and was a factor giving rise to the Renaissance; it was characterized by an emphasis on human interests rather than on the natural world or religion |
Humanist Manifesto | the published declaration of the motives and intentions by a group of self-proclaimed atheistic humanists. The first Manifesto was published in 1933. It was revised and republished in 1973. |
Hydraulic cataclysm | a catastrophe by flood |
Hydrocarbons | any compound containing only carbon and hydrogen |
Hydrolysis | a chemical process that lyses or splits molecules by the addition of water; an essential process in digestion |
Hypodactyly | fewer digits than would be expected for an organism |
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