ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I outline some of the main findings of a discourse analysis of the writings of creation scientists. The focus is on the publications of the British Creation Science Movement (CSM) between 1989 and 1996 (Locke 1994a, 1998). Creationist discourse displays a characteristic blending, or syncretism, of elements drawn from science and religion (Gilkey 1987). My analysis examines this process further through close reading of creationist texts, suggesting that the syncretism is achieved through argumentation, involving a conjunction of critical, interpretative readings of science through the Bible and of the Bible through science. Given the specifically discursive and rhetorical features this process involves, I refer to it as discursive syncretism.
