Study community word and knowledge

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The Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen e. V. is an evangelical Christian association founded in 1979 . Its members represent a belief in creation ( creationism ) based on the literal interpretation of the Bible , but in some cases distance themselves from the claims of absoluteness of some American representatives of creationism.

activities

Reinhard Junker is the managing director, and Henrik Ullrich has been the honorary chairman since February 2006, succeeding Siegfried Scherer . The community works with the conference Bibeltreuer Bildungsstätten e. V. , of which she is a member.

The association represents the views of its members through the publication of books and the in-house magazine Studium Integrale Journal as well as the information sheet Wort und Wissen-Info . In addition to his own website, he is in charge of the genesisnet.info website in cooperation with the Evangeliums-Netz and the Christian internet service (cid) . According to its own information, the association deals with a whole range of topics, the content of which is largely based on creationism or derived from it, such as young earth creationism , the so-called creation science and intelligent design .

The association offers seminars for teachers and students to criticize the scientific theory of evolution. He provides teaching materials about the creation story free of charge and holds the work by Reinhard Junker “Evolution. A critical textbook “ready.

According to their own statements, the study community strives for scientific methodology and precision; it will z. B. is strictly separated between objective data and ideological interpretations ( border crossing ).

Views

According to its own statements, one of the aims of the association is to contrast the doctrine of creation based on the Bible with the statements of the theory of evolution. The association understands creation to be an “overall reality” which is divided into a visible and an invisible. Excerpts of this overall reality could be examined by the “real sciences” and would not only concern an abstract category of theological thought. According to his own statements, he distances himself from the terms creationism and evolutionism because they are emotionally charged and have often led to unnecessary polemics in discussions.

“The scientists of the study group WORT UND WISSEN respect the extraordinary achievements of scientific and historical research. However, they believe that they have clearly recognized that the monopoly of evolutionary theory that still exists today cannot be justified with scientific arguments given the current state of research. With central statements it can be shown that the foundations are deeply rooted in the ideological area and are in no way based on scientifically proven facts. "

- Word and knowledge : creation and science

The doctrine of creation on a biblical basis encompasses the empirical and the historical- hermeneutical level of knowledge. A scientific theory always starts from certain assumptions. Both in the doctrine of creation and in the theory of evolution, unproven assumptions for knowledge would play a decisive role.

“The doctrine of evolution and creation belong to the great family of historical sciences. Their opposing theories of ancestry can be represented more or less plausibly, but in their entirety cannot be proven or refuted by experiment or observation. "

- Word and knowledge : creation and science

In an published book on Flood and Geology, it is pointed out that the Flood report in the Bible ( Gen 7.10  ELB ff.) Is not a geological description. Therefore, one can only take indirect indications of the findings to be expected in the geo- and biosciences. Therefore, there are different views as to how individual descriptions are to be interpreted geologically and from which statements geological conclusions can be drawn without overwhelming the texts.

External perception

The reception of the study group word and knowledge in the specialist field is low. There are a few biologists who study and criticize it.

The teacher and creationism critic Thomas Waschke is of the opinion that the study community must be granted a higher degree of self-criticism, at least in part compared to representatives in the USA, and even goes so far as to consider their contributions to be "mostly scientifically correct on the content side" to watch. Nonetheless, Waschke sharply criticized the positions that the club represents.

Another critic is Ulrich Kutschera , member of the advisory board of the Giordano Bruno Foundation , which is critical of religion . He criticizes u. a. the basic type concept of Scherer and Junker, which he regards as "theo-biology". He accuses the association of running a “cleverly designed propaganda campaign”. Together with Uwe Hossfeld, Kutschera heads the Evolutionary Biology Working Group , whose criticism is not only aimed at the association, but at all forms of creationism.

Furthermore, the association “Arbeitsgemeinschaft EvoBio - Evolution in Biology, Culture and Society” under the leadership of the molecular biologist Andreas Beyer and the chemist Martin Neukamm deals with word and knowledge. Neukamm published an anthology at the end of 2009, in which the content and structure of the argumentation of the study group Wort und Wissen is criticized. In this anthology, Thomas Junker criticizes the study community for Word and Knowledge e. V. published book Evolution - a critical textbook as a “pseudo-textbook”, which gives a completely false impression of the scientific evolution theory through “tendentious selection, systematic distortions, misinformation and misrepresentations” and tries to “improve scientific evolutionary biology through systematic misinformation and misleading To discredit readers ”.

The study community reacted to some of the aforementioned and other criticisms and attacks, reviewed them and published contributions to the discussion. Some critics have replied to the discussion and argued against the replicas of the study group.

Publications (selection)

  • Henrik Ullrich , Reinhard Junker (ed.): Creation and science. The Word and Knowledge Study Group introduces itself . Hänssler-Verlag & CV-Verlag Dillenburg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7751-4966-2
  • Reinhard Junker, Siegfried Scherer : Evolution - a critical textbook . Weyel-Verlag Gießen, 6th edition 2006, ISBN 3-921046-10-6
  • Larry Vardiman, Andrew A. Snelling, Eugene F. Chaffin (eds.): Radioisotopes and the age of the earth (from the English by Thomas Fritzsche). Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-7751-4377-7
  • Reinhard Junker: Similarities, rudiments, atavisms . Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7751-3827-7
  • Reinhard Junker: seed ferns, Bärlappbäume, horsetails - plants and fossils of the Carboniferous in evolutionary theoretical perspective . Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-7751-3631-2
  • Siegfried Scherer: Origin of Photosynthesis. Limits to Molecular Evolution in Bacteria? Studium Integrale series. Hänssler. 1996, ISBN 3-7751-2661-9
  • Michael Brandt : The origin of the upright gait - On the locomotion of the Plio-Pleistocene hominids . Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-7751-2357-1
  • Reinhard Junker: Evolution without Limits? - Facts about the origin of the species. ; 1993, ISBN 3-7751-1969-8
  • Sigrid Hartwig-Scherer : Ramapithecus - Man's Ancestor? . Zeitjournal, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-927390-00-3

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ulrich Kutschera : Creationism in Germany: facts and analyzes . Volume 1 of Science and Religion / Science and Belief . LIT Verlag, Münster 2007, ISBN 978-3-8258-9684-3 . P. 100. limited preview in Google Book search
  2. Maik Söhler: Not yet drawn from the full. In: Telepolis. December 30, 2005, accessed December 13, 2014 .
  3. Stefan Schmitt: Evolution: Papal Than the Pope. In: zeit.de. September 27, 2006, accessed December 13, 2014 .
  4. Handover of word and knowledge www.wort-und-wissen.de
  5. www.wort-und-wissen.de
  6. genesisnet.info
  7. www.wort-und-wissen.de
  8. ^ Lion Grote: Creationist movement pushes German schools. March 6, 2018, accessed October 5, 2019 (German).
  9. Introductory text / blurb of the book "Evolution - a critical textbook"
  10. ^ Study group word and knowledge (ed.): Creation and science. Approaches in the area of ​​tension between belief and knowledge. Hänssler, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1988, p. 7f.
  11. ^ Study group word and knowledge (ed.): Creation and science. Approaches in the area of ​​tension between belief and knowledge. Hänssler, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1988, p. 7.
  12. ^ Study group word and knowledge (ed.): Creation and science. Approaches in the area of ​​tension between belief and knowledge. Hänssler, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1988, pp. 12-13.
  13. ^ Study group word and knowledge (ed.): Creation and science. Approaches in the area of ​​tension between belief and knowledge. Hänssler, Neuhausen-Stuttgart 1988, p. 15.
  14. Manfred Stephan, Thomas Fritzsche: Flood and geology. Steps to a biblical prehistoric geology. (Ed .: Studiengemeinschaft Wort und Wissen e.V.) Hänssler, Holzgerlingen 2000, ISBN 3-7751-3630-4 , p. 27.
  15. For example, on November 14, 2010, Bavarian Television broadcast a half-hour report on the topic of “Who Created Darwin?” In its “Fascination Knowledge” series. Evolution or Creation ”. Four scientists rejected Reinhard Junker's arguments as inadequate: youtube.com
  16. www.waschke.de
  17. www.waschke.de
  18. www.youtube.com
  19. hpd.de: Creationist hocus-pocus. ( Memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  20. www.evolutionsbiologen.de
  21. ag-evolutionsbiologie.de
  22. Martin Neukamm (ed.): Evolution in the crosshairs of creationism . Göttingen, 2009.
  23. Thomas Junker : "The Critical Textbook" by Reinhard Junker and Siegfried Scherer (PDF) p. 336 u. 338. In: Martin Neukamm (Ed.): Evolution in the crosshairs of creationism . Göttingen, 2009, pp. 321–338
  24. Contributions to the discussion on a wide range of topics from the field of tension between belief and knowledge, including references to literature on the homepage of the study group Word and Knowledge
  25. Evolution, Creationism, Intelligent Design - Newsticker. Retrieved July 17, 2019 .