Naturalis Historia
65 FOLLOWERS
Naturalis Historia is the collective works and thoughts of Joel Duff, a professor of biology. He is fascinated by God's creation and concerned that modern conservative evangelicals have increasing abandoned the study of natural revelation. His goal is to provide knowledge from his research on science and faith issues, some less formal thoughts, and short highlights of pertinent stories..
Naturalis Historia
1M ago
Many of my Facebook and Twitter (X) friends, those that follow my blog (Naturalis Historia) and subscribe to my YouTube channel (Dr. Joel Duff) may not be aware that I am a PK (preacher’s kid). I know how difficult a pastor’s life can be. It’s an emotionally demanding job with high expectations, where everything said ..read more
Naturalis Historia
2M ago
Should professors at universities actively participate in generating and testing ideas, or should they content themselves with being teachers of established knowledge? Many higher educational institutions, including the one employing me, grapple with the ongoing challenge of balancing the encouragement of knowledge creation and the dissemination of existing knowledge. To phrase it differently, am I ..read more
Naturalis Historia
11M ago
Billions of footprints are preserved in the rock record. While bones get all the attention, fossil footprints, a type of ichnofossils outnumber bones. How can we make sense of this observation? Surely, preserving a bone must be far more likely than preserving a footprint? I have written about how paleontologists use information from footprints and bones ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
We all recognize that LeBron James has a unique set of skills. He, you and I are all unique in some way if you think about the millions of variants in our genomes. But how was LeBron James made? How did he come to be the way he is? We find several biblical authors attributing ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Ken Ham, the founder of Answers in Genesis USA, has no doubts about the proper classification of birds and dinosaurs. He believes that identifying birds a type of dinosaur should be rejected and labeled a compromised view, influenced by evolutionary theory. However, it would appear he has no problem considering whales and bats to be ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Ken Ham has fired the first of what, apparently, will be many volleys against what he believes is one of the biggest threats to young-earth creationists: other young-earth creationists!! hanging them with the pejorative title of "young-earth evolutionists." Yes, Ken Ham is suggesting that one of the biggest danger to creationism--as defined by Answers in ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Have you ever wondered about the origin of mythological creatures like dragons and griffins? Many ancient cultures believed in the reality of such creatures and depicted them in their art and stories. But where did these beliefs, these myths find their origin? Did they come straight from the imagination of social influencers of the day ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Most people know about Pixar's beloved film, WALL-E. Released in 2008 and directed by Andrew Stanton, this film has captured the hearts of many with its charming protagonist WALL-E or Waste Allocation Load-Lifter: Earth-Class. A few years ago I taught a Sunday school class on the topic of man's labor in the context of our ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Mars once had a thicker atmosphere and liquid water on its surface. Nearly every month data from satellites and multiple ground-based systems provide new evidence confirming what was once speculation about the watery past of Mars. But how much water and how long ago did this water exist? A large amount of water still exists on Mars ..read more
Naturalis Historia
1y ago
Young-earth creationists have been wrangling for decades over how to identify where the Flood/post-Flood boundary is to be found. I described the most popular hypotheses put forward by YECs in a recent post, Where is Noah's Flood in the Geological Column? I have also recorded a YouTube video based on this article. https://www.youtube.com/embed/7gEwLe6c3Wg There is ..read more