#743: James N. Hansen & Gerardus Bouw

Couldn't find a picture
of Hansen, but this is
one of his books

James N. Hanson and Gerardus Bouw appear to be the main contributors to the website of the Association of Biblical Astronomy. And yes, they reject heliocentricity and pretty much any major scientific discovery since Tycho Brahe (and, in fact, the work of Satan has to be invoked at rather fundamental levels at well, as described here, since evidence will clearly not do the trick they want to perform in these cases). It is all a remarkable example of cargo cult science, where physical notions and technical terminology are thrown around, experiments referred to, and names dropped without the trappings of anything resembling understanding of what is actually going on, all based on the idea that “[o]f all the sciences, the Holy Bible has more to say about astronomy than any other.” Much of the site is devoted to lamenting the rejection of their views by standard young earth creationists, though admittedly Hanson and Bouw feel compelled to rebut the claims of their more radical brethren, the flat-earthers.

Bouw (I think)

At least they claim to have plenty of evidence for their views. For instance “Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved” (1. Chronicles, 16:30), “Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously” (Psalms 96:10), and “Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever” (Psalms 104:5). Compared to those basic, revolutionary observations, James Hanson’s research are mere footnotes to tidy up the details.

If you are still curious, they are willing to sell you some books on the matter, including Hanson’s The Bible and Geocentricity and Bouw’s The Copernican Revolution: A Fable for Educated Men (listed as a “technical publication”; the product description states that the material collected in the book “was submitted to Creation Ex Nihilo [not exactly a scientific journal] but was rejected for publication for reasons not always clearly explained,” but it is unclear what would count as an explanation for Bouw), as well as some rather elderly tomes on the issues.

The Society also publishes a quarterly magazine, The Biblical Astronomer Quarterly. They warn us that “Some articles in the quarterly will be of a technical nature,” but gives us a list of the most popular ones so that we can check for ourselves. The most popular article listed under “technical articles” is an article written by Gerardus Bouw about the New World Order (and entropy; it is truly a must-read – it is probably one of the most remarkable articles I have ever seen; strongly recommended).

Diagnosis: Hard to say. The very existence of these people is a thorn in the side for young earth creationists, primarily, and it is doubtful that they can cause much serious harm.