We Dig Dirt: Archeology at Tell ‘al Umayri What Can Adventists Learn from Jews About the Sabbath The Holistic Spirituality of Ellen White Congratulations! Now What? Q&A with Mt. Ellis Academy’s Principal Through the Lens of Faith VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1 !winter 2011 SPECTRUM winter 2011 ! VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1 contents 11 Editorials 2 A Time to Mourn | BYBONNIEDWYER 3 Memo to Elder Wilson| BYCHARLESSCRIVEN 15 Feedback 5 Letters| BAKER, OSBORN, WILLEY, EUN, CARR, ROTH, WILL, BULL, GUY Biblical Studies: Sabbath 11 The Sabbath and God’s People| BYGERALDWHEELER 15 What Can Adventists Learn from the Jews about the Sabbath?| BYJACQUESB. DOUKHAN 21 21 My Celtic Sabbath Journey with Esther, Lady MacBeth, and St. Brigid| BYBONNIEDWYER 31 Negotiating Sabbath Observance in the Local Church| BYJOHNBRUNT Archeology 37 We Dig Dirt: Archeology at Tell ‘al Umayri| BYJOHNMCDOWELL 31 Spiritual Journeys 43 The Holistic Spirituality of Ellen White| BYHARRIKUHALAMPI 52 The Art of Intervention: Finding Health in Faith | BYHEATHERLANGLEY 56 Through the Lens of Faith | BY MARTIN DOBLMEIER 62 Capturing Spiritual Moments—Digitally | BY RAJMUND DABROWSKI 36 Adventist Education 66 Time to Act: Strong Convictions Expressed at a National Summit on Adventist Education | BYGILBERTM. VALENTINE 77 Congratulations! Now What? Q & A with Mt. Ellis Academy’s Principal Darren Wilkins | BY JARED WRIGHT 43 Poetry cover She Presents a Paper on the Theory of Everything | BYMIKEMENNARD 77 66 62 56 52 WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.ORG!CONTENTS EDITORIAL from the editor ! A Time to Mourn | BY BONNIE DWYER J esus Wept. The image of Christ with down-turned eyes complicated and never has a single cause, members of the on the cover of the current Sabbath School Lesson Walla Walla Chapter remember Holly talking about how Quarterly seems eerily appropriate for the sorrows hard it was for her to be disfellowshipped by her home that have marked the middle of January. The world church in Oregon years ago and that she was very inter- still weeps for Haiti a year after the earthquake, as well ested in finding out if a local church would be open and as for those whose homes have been flooded by swollen accepting.” rivers in Australia or been swept away by mudslides in It was further reported that “this tragedy brought the Brazil. In America we weep for the victims of the Arizona Kinship community together in a way that Holly proba- shooting. bly would have appreciated. Her memorial service was And there is sorrow in Adventism as we mourn the loss held at the Walla Walla University Youth Chapel, and of former General Conference President Neal C. Wilson, several chapter members commented on how meaningful theologian Graham Maxwell, and estranged member and healing it was to be able to mourn Holly in an Holly Drum (more about her later), among others. Adventist church. The son of missionary parents, Neal C. Wilson served Holly is survived by her partner Suzi Sullivan and his church his entire life including the years of his presi- three children. dency of the General Conference 1979–1990. During his In the spiritual journey of our community, we pause for administration he oversaw the 1980 adoption of the reflection at the passing of these family members. Each church’s Fundamental Beliefs, the creation of Adventist was controversial in his own way—Wilson for his han- World Radio and Global Mission and the relocation of the dling of crises related to church theology and the equality denomination’s world headquarters from Takoma Park, of women, Maxwell for his theology, and Drum for her Maryland, to its current location in Silver Spring. He is sexual orientation. Yet they are all part of the Adventist survived by his loving wife Eleanor, daughter Shirley, and family and so deserving of our love. son Ted—the current General Conference president. To borrow language President Barrack Obama used at Author, teacher, and theologian Graham Maxwell’s the Memorial for the Victims of the Arizona Shooting, legacy is a generation of students who came to under- “If these losses prompt reflection and debate, as they stand the character of God as being the central point of should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost.” Scripture. He spoke of God’s love in such compelling President Obama went on to say that what happened fashion it brought overflowing crowds to his weekly Sab- in Arizona “should make every one of us strive to be bet- bath School classes in addition to the courses he taught ter in our private lives—to be better friends and neigh- first at Pacific Union College and then at Loma Linda bors, co-workers and parents.” University. The son of (Uncle) Arthur Maxwell, Graham These losses within the Adventist family should help is survived by his sister Deidre and daughter Audrey. every one of us to be kinder and more generous to each According to The Kinship Connection, Holly Drum, a Kin- other in our church lives. And let us pray that our spiritu- ship member from the Walla Walla Chapter committed al journey together will be strengthened by the love and suicide in January. It reported, “While a tragedy like this is emotion that flood our hearts at this time. ! 2 spectrum VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1!winter 2011 from the forum chairman EDITORIAL ! Memo to Elder Wilson | BY CHARLES SCRIVEN B ecause my counsel is unbidden, it Our conviction that God made heaven and may never reach you, or if it does, it earth is crucial, and this came to me in a may seem obtrusive. But we are newly full-blooded way a few weeks ago. My brothers in the faith, and that makes wife and I were peeking into some art galleries me bold to offer perspective on two challenges in Manhattan, and one was exhibiting works you are embracing. by Max Ferguson. He creates ultra-realistic One is revival and reformation. You pray paintings of people and their surroundings A revival is for it and preach on it. A 2010 Annual Council inside of New York City—inside of shops, appeal on this matter came out under your eateries, apartments and the like. One of them authentic if it influence. It lifts up Holy Spirit power, puts was on an easel instead of a wall, so you could Christ at the center, and calls us to humility walk around and look at the back of it. As Fer- produces love, and prayer. guson told us—we were surprised and pleased One great pastor who wrote in a time of to meet him—he puts notes or clippings of if it produces revival was Jonathan Edwards. Eagerness for quotes and pictures on the reverse side of his God was sweeping across New England, and paintings. A painting’s reverse side is thus a what Paul this seemed exactly the time to pose the kind of diary of his thoughts during the sever- question of authenticity: How do you distin- al months he spends on it. Just as he was say- famously guish the mere appearance of piety from gen- ing this, we were standing behind the painting uine renewal? How do you test whether the on the easel, and my eye landed on a note referred to as spirit of Christ, or some other spirit, is actu- he’d written: “When you removed God from the equa- ally at work? tion you removed the sanctity of human life. Once you the “fruit of I think you would identify with his conclu- have accomplished that, you are wiping your feet on the sion. A revival is authentic if it produces love, door mat of Auschwitz.” the Spirit.” if it produces what Paul famously referred to I had considered this before, but never the as the “fruit of the Spirit.” precise image, and never as I was standing When Paul spells this out in Galatians 5, he beside the person who had done the writing. says not only that the fruit of the Spirit is love Atheists would offer counterarguments, of but also that it is longsuffering, gentleness and course, but the record of the most powerful meekness. And all this strikes me, just now, as atheists—besides Hitler, think of Stalin, Mao crucial. One reason is that another of the chal- and Pol Pot—is utterly vicious, and in scale lenges you are taking on is the doctrine of cre- utterly unprecedented. Dostoyevsky worried ation. You want to revise the church’s that the demise of God would make all things Fundamental Belief on this matter to say that permissible, and the evidence, if not conclu- creation took place some 6,000 years ago, sive, is at least alarming. I admit complexity. I over “seven contiguous, 24-hour days.” know very well that New Atheists pin the WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.ORG!editorial 3 blame for violence on religion: bad faith, and acteristic of true spirituality—evokes both of abuses stemming from it, sadly abound. Never- these ideas. And doesn’t this fact take us right theless, if you re-write John 1 to say, “In the back to your message of revival and reformation? beginning was non-sense, and the nonsense Some Adventists see mystery where others was with God, and the nonsense was God,” see only information. For them, faith is too When those you just do, I think, open doors to devastating deep for words—too deep, that is, for the words consequences. a technical writer might deploy. Saying precise- who want to On this you and I agree. But did creation ly that creation occurred some 6,000 years ago, occur just 6,000 or so years ago over “seven over “seven contiguous, 24-hour, days,” makes re-write the contiguous, 24-hour days”? the sublimity of scripture into something as Here I wish you yourself would allow for uninspiring as a common manual or handbook. church’s Funda- complexity. Neither of us has undergone doc- And if we insist on this for creed-like purposes, toral study in the natural sciences. We cannot we exclude, or at least marginalize, brothers and mental Belief fully comprehend, therefore, the intellectual sisters who find such (extra-biblical) language struggles that lead most believing scientists to to be a stumbling block. about creation focus on the spiritual meaning of Genesis—and For importance, nothing outranks human to allow that this meaning comes wrapped in sanctity based on the divine Creator’s gracious know very well mystery. In this light, we are in a poor posi- regard. Every committed Adventist shares your tion, surely, to insist on improvements to the passion on this point. But if some are more that the pro- book of Genesis. I love the creation story just attuned to mystery than others, your passion the way it stands. Although this is what we for revival has an immediate relevance. True posed language currently affirm, I do understand the fears that revival, after all, entails meekness, an eagerness make us want to insist on more than the Bible to listen and to learn. It entails, too, the long- is troubling to insists on. But do those fears justify meddling suffering and gentleness of which Paul spoke. (not literally, of course, but in practical effect) In essence—unless Jonathan Edwards got this many creation- with Holy Writ? wrong—true revival is about love. I know two young Adventist couples who When those who want to re-write the affirming embrace both the life of the church and the church’s Fundamental Belief about creation work of advanced study. In both cases, one of know very well that the proposed language is Adventists…the the spouses has, or will soon have, a doctorate troubling to many creation-affirming Adven- in physics; in both cases the other spouse is tists—and is in any case extra-biblical—the effort seems earning a doctorate in the study of literary texts. effort seems not to pass the test of true revival. A few Saturday nights ago I asked one of I don’t expect these words to be widely per- not to pass these young people—his physics doctorate is suasive, or even widely considered. But even from Harvard—how he was holding on to his though I do not live by optimism, I do live by the test of true faith. He had studied and worked in faith- hope. And I hope, of course, that you will unfriendly environments, but had realized, he consider them. ! revival. said, that any ultimate point of view, whether secular or religious, is “essentially unprovable.” Charles Scriven chairs Adventist For him this was an opening for reception of Forum and is President of Kettering the faith that only God can give. College of Medical Arts. Although this young scientist’s point should not make us indifferent to evidence, it does underscore the relevance of humility, or as we might say, based on Galatians 5, teachableness. The Greek word behind “meekness”—one char- 4 spectrum VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1!winter 2011 letters, e-mails, and comments FEEDBACK ! Doctoral Debates: Ellen White, Life’s Beginning, and Old Soils A Not So Silent Ellen White There are a few in the ranks of Sabbathkeepers who sympathize Ronald Osborn’s intriguing piece “True Blood: Race, Sci- with the slaveholder….Some have brought along with them their ence, and Early Adventist Amalgamation” signals a desire old political prejudices, which are not in harmony with the princi- for this generation to reinterpret (resuscitate?) Ellen G. ples of the truth. They maintain that the slave is the property of White in ways perceived to be meaningful and relevant to the master, and should not be taken from him. They rank these the twenty-first century. slaves as cattle and say that it is wronging the owner just as I am also a PhD candidate working on a dissertation much to deprive him of his slaves as to take away his cattle. I was treating White’s relationship to black people. shown that it mattered not how much the master had paid for After compiling some 700 pages on what White actu- human flesh and the souls of men; God gives him no title to human ally wrote and said about black people, I find it curious souls, and he has no right to hold them as his property. Christ that Osborn based so much of his 15-page spread on died for the whole human family, whether white or black. God has what White did not say in response to Uriah Smith’s made man a free moral agent, whether white or black. The institu- amalgamation defense. tion of slavery does away with this and permits man to exercise Osborn, aware of White’s “courageous statements over his fellow man a power which God has never granted him, against slavery,” nevertheless reckons 1864 as a pivotal and which belongs alone to God. The slave master has dared date in White’s thinking on black people in which she assume the responsibility of God over his slave, and accordingly published four cryptic lines on amalgamation which did he will be accountable for the sins, ignorance, and vice of the not even mention blacks, or any specific racial group, at slave. He will be called to an account for the power which he all. From this it is posited that only in 1891 (or there- exercises over the slave. The colored race are God's property. abouts) did White realize the full humanity of blacks. Their Maker alone is their master, and those who have dared This is not mere intellectualizing; Osborn recommends chain down the body and the soul of the slave, to keep him in his paradigm of White’s racial evolution be taught in degradation like the brutes, will have their retribution. The wrath Adventist schools. of God has slumbered, but it will awake and be poured out with- Osborn’s assumptions are best approached by under- out mixture of mercy (358). scoring the foundation of Ellen White’s pre-1864 writ- ings on black people, which are of course, mostly in the It is indisputable that White is undercutting the exact setting of enslavement. An even casual perusal of the notion of black inhumanity or compromised humanity that four sections in Testimonies, Volume 1, dealing with the Osborn claims she only came to grips with some three Civil War and slavery written in 1862 and 1863 and fea- decades later. Just as significant are the paragraphs on tured in the Review and Herald several years before African Christian heroics that White includes in the same Smith’s amalgamation apologia, reveals White’s deep series where the amalgamation statements were featured, belief in the full humanity of the captive blacks, which Finally, the “All Ye Are Brethren” vision White alluded is the basis of her explicit indictments of the slavery to in her March 21, 1891, speech occurred sometime in institution and Confederate secession. Observe one such 1890 amidst a mixed St. Louis congregation that had expe- representative pericope: rienced deplorable racist aggression on the part of the WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.ORG!feedback 5 white constituency that traumatized Ellen White. Of the what I wrote was that she appears to have still been episode she later wrote, “We had some experiences at St. “wrestling with questions of racial equality.” My reading Louis that I can never think of without a feeling of dread” was offered in tentative, not dogmatic, terms, and I made (Letter 105, 1904). When surveying the available evidence, clear that equality, not “humanity,” was the challenge I it becomes clear that the “All Ye Are Brethren” vision was think White faced. not given to revolutionize White’s racial worldview but to Uriah Smith himself defended the humanity of “amalga- rebuke and admonish the recalcitrant white supremacist mated” races on the grounds that merely having a single church members. drop of Adam’s blood in one’s veins qualified one as a mem- I wholeheartedly concur with Osborn that Ellen White ber of the human race, deserving to be treated with com- needs to be reapplied and reinterpreted for a new genera- passion and dignity, and to be elevated to as high a social tion and millennium, but this process should rely on verifi- and political level as possible. Smith was no craven apolo- able evidence—namely what Ellen White actually said and gist for slavery or racial oppression either. wrote—not arguments from silence. Baker’s letter lends support to a traditional Adventist BENJAMINJ. BAKER view of prophetic inspiration that my article invited readers Washington, D.C. to rethink. According to this outlook (which I realize may not be Baker’s own), the best way of understanding White Ron Osborn Responds on questions of race as well as science is in essentially static I am grateful to Benjamin Baker for his letter, which and heroic if not infallible terms. My view is that White’s reminds us of what is most important in Ellen White’s writ- statements on amalgamation are indefensible but that at ings on race: her passionate opposition to slavery and her least potentially her thinking on matters of race grew over belief in the full humanity of all persons. I must, though, time. The moral arc of White’s views on race (to paraphrase correct several misstatements in his letter. Martin Luther King Jr.) may have been long—or at least Baker writes that I count “1864 as a pivotal date in longer than we had initially hoped—but they bent toward White’s thinking on black people.” What I actually wrote justice. This to me as an Adventist is what matters. was “amalgamation theory played no central role in White’s RONOSBORN theology or in her later writings.” In the first paragraph of Los Angeles, California my article I explained why we must wrestle with the amal- gamation question: not because amalgamation was “pivotal” Amalgamation and the Spirit of the Times for White but because, strangely, it has become pivotal for Ronald Osborn’s article left the impression that Ellen G. some Adventists. White’s reference to the “the base crime of amalgamation” Contrary to what Baker suggests, my article was not was “understood by Seventh-day Adventists to refer to per- merely based upon inferences from White’s silence. It is true verse but somehow scientifically possible sexual unions that White did not directly interpret her own words for us. across diverse species, including humans and other crea- But where White was silent her community was not. The tures.” Consequently, the amalgamation statement has been fact that the pioneers did not find her words on amalgama- “a source of anti-Adventist polemics from the moment they tion “cryptic” or insignificant but spoke clearly and with first appeared in print.” some frequency about their meaning over the course of Believing in amalgamation and human degradation was many decades is important. For any serious historian, this is not unique to Mrs. White. Contemporaries sometimes evidence that must be carefully weighed, not quietly passed employed it to explain the diversity of humankind discov- over as it has been by numerous Adventist writers for many ered by explorers in uncivilized parts of the world. This years even as they directly interpret and defend the amalga- non-biblical stock-taking of mankind fit nicely with the mation passages. That, to my mind, is the real argument widely accepted scientific notion of a Great Chain of Being from silence. It was a silence I felt compelled to break. descending from God to angels to man and then on toward Baker also mischaracterizes my words about White in animals. Because blacks and non-human primates were 1890, suggesting that I see White even at this late period as located at the bottom of the human hierarchy, they were being unconvinced of “black or African humanity.” But regarded as “inferiorly organized and poorly endowed 6 spectrum VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1!winter 2011 morally” compared to whites. (See Elise Lemire’s “Misce- tain passages as Carr demonstrates. We cannot turn to the genation” Making Race in America.) Bible for answers to questions the biblical writers didn’t ask. Such views even found their way into Ellen G. White’s It is greatly puzzling to me, however, as to how Carr is own library, which included Negro-Mania: An Examination of able to make the following statements: “More importantly the Falsely Assumed Equality of the Various Races of Men(1851), to the moral status placed on the developing embryo is the a crude and disjointed scientific anthology…The legendary implantation in the uterine wall which establishes pregnan- Revieweditor Uriah Smith was the first to defend Mrs. cy. Indeed, if a line is to be drawn, this is where it should White’s amalgamation statements as scientifically sound. be; life begins at implantation in the women’s uterus.” “Naturalists affirm that the line of demarcation between From a medical point of view, pregnancy is established human and animal races is lost in confusion,” he declared. when pregnancy hormone (HCG) is elevated above non- Ellen White and Uriah Smith were plainly following the pregnant level. Although this normally happens in the uter- (unsound) science of their time. ine lining, there are situations when this occurs outside the I agree with Osborn. It is high time for Adventists to uterus. Therefore, to insist that a pregnancy is not estab- throw amalgamation theories and the hocus-pocus satanic lished unless it has safely implanted in the uterine wall does eugenics into the trash bin of pseudoscience, and simply not appear to be an acceptable position. abandon “amalgamation of man and beast” and the sur- Loma Linda University’s guidance document on embry- rounding Noah’s curse with a footnote that the Ellen G. onic stem cell research contains the same misinformation in White Estate no longer maintains these views after the asserting that “many contraceptives act by preventing [nat- nineteenth century—the position essentially taken in The ural embryos] from implanting in the uterus.” It is certainly Story of Redemption. true that the human reproductive process is not very effi- T. JOEWILLEY cient and many fertilized ova will ultimately lead to preg- Loma Linda, California. nancy failure naturally. However, an assumption that “we cannot and should not expect medical technologies that On the Beginning of Life assist in human reproduction and research to be more effi- I read with great interest Mark Carr’s essay “Just What is cient than nature itself” is an incorrect one, in that assisted the Seventh-day Adventist Position on When Life Begins.” reproductive technology is rapidly advancing to the point First of all, I am not certain what is really meant by the that it is becoming more efficient than nature itself. One term “moral status” of the embryo although it is mentioned must look elsewhere for a better reason. numerous times throughout the essay. Does it simply refer Finally, the SDA Guidelines on Abortion state that to the “value” we place upon it, or does it imply the princi- “prenatal life is a magnificent gift of God.” Should we also ple of right and wrong? apply this statement in situations where pregnancy occurs Carr would like to see more position statements coming as a result of incest or rape? For those who are involved from the church on this issue. I am not sure this would be in such a tragedy, it can hardly be seen as a gift, let alone a very helpful since any statement such as this is formulated magnificent one. by a small group of people, and it merely represents a con- I certainly appreciate Dr. Carr’s attempt to formulate an sensus among that select group and not necessarily the ethical framework in dealing with this highly divisive and church at large, especially when there is a wide range of controversial issue. The fact that we are engaged in such a beliefs and opinions on the subject. I am equally uncertain if dialogue is a positive sign of life. Adventist medical students really “need clear position state- PAULEUN, MD ments from their church as they personally work out their Seattle, Washington own professional practice standards.” In the same vein, I wonder how we would determine what an “authentic” Sev- Mark Carr Responds enth-day Adventist position is on this or any other subject. First let me offer appreciation for your very thoughtful On the question of when life begins, it is obvious to me response to my article. It is substantive and free of polemi- that one cannot turn to the scriptures for an easy answer cal attack, thank you! because practically any position can be defended with cer- Moral status is a term that is used in ethics/bioethics to WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.ORG!feedback 7 refer, as you put it, to the value placed upon whatever enti- position of the sort that I hold (there is a range of perspec- ty we are focusing upon. tive here) does not devalue the conceptus; the fertilized egg Of course, in the tradition of Protestantism you are cor- holds high moral status from the beginning. But in marginal rect to question the idea of authenticity and consensus. But cases where other values come in conflict with that of the the effort to identify the broad parameters of both authen- fetus (as for instance, rape or danger to the mother’s life) the ticity and consensus should be embraced, in part, because situation may arise when the value of the fetus is less than the opposite is much worse. inviolable. This is true even if we may hold that “prenatal My point is that for Adventism the target area is not pin- life is a magnificent gift of God.” As for looking to nature for point small, but neither is it simply anywhere on the wall. moral standards, you are correct to criticize me. If and when There is such a thing as a non-authentic SDA view, even if Seventh-day Adventists use Natural Law ethics it certainly I would also seek to identify a range of beliefs. As for my would not be because our faith tradition has formally used it students, perhaps I underestimate their desire to know what in the past. Thanks again for your kindly response. their church teaches, but after thirteen years here at LLU MARKCARR I’ll stand by my assertion. Loma Linda, California I certainly grant the point that it is difficult to use scrip- ture in such complex matters, but again, I’ll stand by the Old Soils church’s efforts to do so. Just because there are no pointed Regarding Graham Will’s article about volcanic soils, there passages doesn’t mean scripture is irrelevant; it simply are many problems associated with old soils including makes our work more difficult, and this is a task I would determining if a particular layer is really a soil where plants rather embrace than avoid. grew over time in contrast to a rapidly deposited soil-like If it is puzzling to you that I can use implantation as a layer as might occur during a flood. [Researchers say] one morally important marker in the development of the person’s soil becomes another’s geological deposit. And embryo, it is doubly puzzling to me that the medical com- New Zealand buried soils contain much less organic matter munity can’t settle on a definition of how and when preg- than their modern counterparts. nancy occurs. You use hormonal levels to define when Likewise it is easy to forget how active soils are. The up pregnancy occurs. Others do not. As to the point of LLU’s and down movement of water and of organisms such as guidance document advancing misinformation, I suggest insects and earthworms through the soils can easily change you take that up with LLU’s Vice President of Research the composition of organic matter and clays in a soil and its Affairs. As a theologian and ethicist I largely depend upon underlying sediments. Hence, the suggestion that the 2% the expertise of others in my efforts to understand the biol- clay found in 2000 years for the Taupo soil challenges a ogy of pregnancy. And the biology of pregnancy is impor- recent creation because older ash layers below have 80% tant (though not determinative) when one takes a clay may not be that significant. Water infiltrating down personalist perspective, as I do. For personalism the value through porous sediments would be expected to transport of—the moral status of—the fetus increases as it develops clay to lower layers. A number of soil scientists point out from conceptus to implanted zygote, in part because the that in the context of time, it is not so much the quantity of potential that the fetus will survive to term increases dra- a particular entity at one time that is important, but it is the matically at the point of implantation. mean residence time (MRT) that is significant. In other On the other hand, the physicalist perspective attempts words, you need to take into account how long, on aver- to avoid the moving target of medical science by arguing age, something like a clay particle stays in one place. for inviolability at the time of fertilization. The physicalist Graham suggests that “there must have been at least 1000 tries to stand above the fray by placing moral status at a years between the Taupo eruption and the one before it. point on the timeline prior to all the fuss over if and when That leaves only about 2000 years or less for several lower pregnancy occurs. My article tries to point out that the buried soils.” He might be right, but dating of soils is prob- statements that the Adventist church has thus far produced lematic. Carbon-14 that is usually used in dating soils can be move toward personalism and away from physicalism. moved up or down as particles are moved up or down. As I hoped to make clear in the article, the personalist It also needs to be kept in mind that the scientific 8 spectrum VOLUME 39 ISSUE 1!winter 2011 literature sometimes reports fairly rapid soil develop- seedlings. I have no doubts in my mind that I was dealing ment such as 45, 150, and 230 years. I have noted 30- with a succession of soils developed over a considerable peri- foot saplings in just 8 years after the Kapoho volcanic od of time from a succession of volcanic eruptions. There is flow in Hawaii. Many factors can influence rates of no evidence at all of any flood in the area. soil development, and moisture seems very important. 2. Ariel discusses the movement of clay particles down a Graham further suggests that the soil data “support C14 soil from layer to layer. That could not have happened in dating of 50,000 plus years.” However, when you read sci- the case of the layers I refer to as having 80% clay. I should entific articles with titles such as “Problems in radiocarbon have made it clear that these layers are top soils that have dating of soils” or “Twenty five years of radiocarbon dating developed in material from the last eruption in that area soils: Paradigm of erring and learning,” it is not difficult to which is well north of Rotorua near Auckland. surmise that there are conundrums. 3. Mention is made by Ariel of particles moving up or The fact remains that a lot of the published carbon- down in soils. The samples taken for carbon-14 dating in 14 dates for New Zealand soils give dates that are older the paper by Vucetich and Pullar that I quote were peat, than the few thousand years of the biblical model. An wood or charcoal. These are most unlikely to move. interesting explanation for this within a recent creation 4. Carbon-14 dating may raise questions—this is not in context is that before the Genesis Flood the concentra- my field. However, when I look in my own field of Soil tion of carbon-14 was very low, giving old dates. Right Science I see the evidences I raise in my paper—multiple after the Flood the concentration gradually rose provid- paleosols, high levels of secondary clay, etc. These are top- ing a sequence of gradually younger dates followed by ics that I feel should receive further study by our church. the younger carbon-14 dates that reflect historical dates. GRAHAMWILL Another explanation may be the dilution of carbon-14 Rotorua, New Zealand in lower layers by carbon-12 or -13 originating from “old” carbon-14 weak gases and/or minerals, resulting in Responding to Past Letters older dates. There are many things that we do not yet We regret that Dr. know about soils and their dates. Presently any firm McMahon’s letter conclusions are likely premature. (Fall 2010) seems to ARIELA. ROTH miss the point of Emeritus Director our article, which Geoscience Research Institute was intended to Loma Linda, California reflect a close read- ing of the actual Graham Will Responds Hebrew text of In my paper I make a plea for SDA students of faith and Genesis 1:1–2:4a. science to have regular dialogue. It is good to see Ariel Nowhere did we commenting on my paper. In reply I would like to make imply, nor do we the following points. believe, that the 1. Ariel makes the point that some soil look-a-likes may original hearers of be produced by a flood action, or in other cases some this account of Creation could have conceived of mil- observers may consider them geological deposits. To me the lions or billions of years. Indeed, there is no evidence soils and paleosols (buried soils) that I was dealing with in that they had the mathematical notation or the vocabu- the Rotorua area were true soils. At the site where Photo 1 in lary with which to conceptualize such vast periods of my paper was taken, I spent many years of research into the time. Instead, our intention was to convey the results of soil profile’s capacity to supply adequate nutrition for succes- what is sometimes called a “close reading” of the extant sive crops of fast growing pine trees. This involved the Hebrew text, and thus to carry the conversation beyond inspection of many soil pits, the laboratory chemical and physical analysis of soil layers and pot trials growing pine Continued on page 76... WWW.SPECTRUMMAGAZINE.ORG!feedback 9