What’s in a Name? 

Defining and Refining Who We Are

Young-earth creationism. The term is a mouthful, isn’t it? It’s one of those descriptive names that needs enough terms to encompass all of the nuances of its definition. There are others in that same league: old-earth creationist, theistic evolutionist, and so forth, all used to describe the diverse views held by Christians on the origin of the universe. It’s more complicated than just saying “I believe God created the universe” (creationism). There are so many different views, among Christians, on how God may have created that we have to further disambiguate with the youth-affirming prefix. 

You may have also heard the name “young-age creationist.” Or perhaps, “biblical creationist.” Then again, there is “chronological creationism,” “recent creationism,” and the list goes on.

The common theme with these various labels for the same origins theory is:

• Affirming a recent (within the last 10,000 years) origin of the universe.
• Affirming divine creation of the universe (by the God of the Bible).
• Affirming a global inundation of the Earth during the lifetime of Noah (Noah’s Flood).

These labels are further devised in contrast to origins theories such as theistic evolutionism (which affirms God’s creative work but believing it was implemented using evolution) and old-earth creationism (which denies biological evolution but affirms that God created the universe billions of years ago). So, in a sense, these various labels for “young-earth creationism” are an attempt to define an origins theory, in part, by what it disagrees with (specifically, an ancient age of the universe).

So… what’s in a name? The most common label for this origins theory, as already mentioned, is “young-earth creationism.” Each part of this label is important, giving descriptive information about the origins theory:

• Young – within the last 10,000 years
• Earth – the object of God’s creative work
• Creation – God created supernaturally

Now, when you break apart the phrase, you notice something awkward. The Earth is not alone the object of God’s creative work. Nor do we, as young-earth creationists, believe that only the Earth is the product of recent creation. We affirm that the entire universe was created within the last 10,000 years by the direct act of God.

What Should We Call Ourselves, Anyway? 

People have noticed this, and have adjusted the label to encompass a broader realm of creation. Thus, “young-age creationism” is another term you may hear from time to time. Along the same lines, but with a slightly different emphasis, is “recent creationism.” This label emphasizes God’s creative work having happened in the recent past, but without using a reference to youth–after all, since when has 10,000 years been considered young?

Another label that you’ll find in use is “biblical creationism,” which is an attempt to define the origins theory strictly in terms of our foundation, the Bible, rather than a particular facet of the origins theory, such as age. It’s not a bad label, although any Christian who is convinced of theistic evolutionism or old-earth creationism is likely to consider their own origins theory to be biblical as well, so it’s not the best distinguishing term.

Stephen Lloyd from the Biblical Creation Trust came up with the name “chronological creationism.” His approach puts the emphasis not on the age of the universe, but rather on the specific order of events as outlined in the Bible, that is, that death came after and as the result of sin. While it’s an excellent technical description, the name is not particularly illuminatory at first blush.

And that brings us to the question: How do you determine a name? In this case, we’re looking for something that 1) accurately represents what we believe and 2) is recognizable and memorable.

We here at the New Creation Blog have been putting some thought into this question: what do we call ourselves? While the name “young-earth creationist” is by far the most well-known, we believe that it can be misleading, since it only specifies the Earth as the object of recent creation. Since there do exist theories of origins that posit a young age for the Earth itself but an ancient age for the rest of the universe, we want to avoid ambiguity here. Other names, such as “chronological creationism” or “biblical creationism” might be more technically correct, but are largely unfamiliar and aren’t as memorable. 

With that in mind, we’ve decided that, going forward into 2026, we will exclusively use the term “young-age creationist” to identify ourselves and the movement of which we are a part. This label accurately identifies us by our belief that

• God is the Creator of everything
• God created everything in the recent past (within the last 10,000 years).

Okay, So What About the New Creationists?

Now, aside from all of that: What are New Creationists? After all, that’s the name of this blog. Are New Creationists somehow different from young-age creationists?

Remember what we said earlier about defining an origins theory in terms of what it doesn’t affirm? This stance goes deeper than labels; it can also define the way a scientist or theologian works within that space. Historically, a lot of creationists’ efforts (research, lay presentations, books, and the like) has been expended with a goal of proving our side right by disproving opposing viewpoints.

The New Creationists are trying to do things differently. Instead of being defined by that with which we disagree, we want to be defined by what we do believe: that God created the universe and everything within it. With this mindset, here are a few ways in which the New Creationist approach differs from most young-age creationist approaches:

• New Creationism puts the emphasis on positive, scientific model-building, as opposed to an apologetics focus. In this context, “positive” refers to models that affirm creation, instead of denying evolution.
• New Creationism is known for not rejecting ideas simply on the basis that they were predicted or explained by the theory of evolution. Examples of this include concepts such as the geological column, the theory of natural selection, and feathered dinosaurs. The reasoning here is that we should evaluate every idea based on Scripture, not necessarily its intellectual provenance. When a new discovery is found, we don’t worry about whether or not it fits with evolutionary theories; we take it on its own merits and see how it may help us better understand the world God made.

Here’s how this plays out. Take a new scientific discovery, say, the new deep field images coming from the James Webb Space Telescope. A young-age creationist can look at this new information and have one of two responses. Option 1: “Look, these images show well-developed galaxies at enormous distances—this shows the Big Bang is wrong.” Option 2: “Look, these images show us objects that no one but God knew about all this time—this opens a door in our understanding of what God has created.”

Both approaches—tearing down unbiblical ideas, and affirming the biblical view—have their place in young-age creationism. Let’s be clear about one thing. The New Creationism is not different in belief from young-age creationism; rather, it falls within the same origins theory. It’s a different approach, within the confines of young-age creationism, at how we look at the world around us and study God’s creation.

Further Up, and Further In!

In summary, then—as we go forward into 2026, we here at the New Creation Blog have decided to identify ourselves using the phrase “young-age creationists.” We think this best represents our belief in God’s creation of the universe and everything in it within the last 10,000 years. The name “New Creationists” represents a different way of looking at the science side of young-age creationism; an approach that delights in the good works of God and focuses on understanding Him through His creation, instead of focusing on tearing down wrong arguments. That’s not to deny the importance of apologetics—both angles have their important place within the sphere and work of young-age creationism.

By whatever name, one thing remains the same: our firm belief that the God of the Bible is the Creator of everything, and that His creation shows us what He is like. As we enter a new year, we are excited to continue learning more about the marvelous works of God, and sharing that with you, our readers.

Happy New Year!