Alright, I can just hear some of you having pegged (don't be so judgmental) me as a young earth creationist (YEC) who narrowly asserts that the universe is no longer than 9,000 years, that it was created in 6 literal 24-hour days (and then another for rest). Please allow me to burst your bubble. Warning: Young earth creationists may not want to read the following as it may be disruptive to the parroted scheme we have been taught for years. The literalistic Young Earth Creationism arose as a reaction against specific historical and cultural trends, primarily the growing naturalism from the Enlightenment era (even before Charles Darwin was even a glimmer in his father's eye). One of the primary issues, what came to be known as YEC responded to was that of Higher Criticism. While higher criticism was gaining popularity among the academia, it was viewed with superstition by the common populace. By the beginning of the 20th century, academic, particularly of the naturalistic bent, was becoming synonymous with arrogance, and a condescending anti-supernaturalism hostility. This paved the way for the Modernist-Fundamentalist Controversy. To jump to any conclusion without knowledge of this context is premature and, in most cases, wrong.
Though the modernist-fundamentalist controversy is commonly dated at having begun on May 23, 1922 with the famous sermon, 'Shall the Fundamentalists Win?', delivered by Harry Emerson Fosdick, and ending (at least in Reformed circles) with J. Gresham Machen's seccession from the Presbyterian Church, along with many other conservative Presbyterian theologians and clergy, to establish the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1936. This controversy was not confined to the Reformed tradition, but stained most every mainline denomination (except the Southern Baptist). This controversy was not without roots. The first split which signalled that all was not well was the 'Old Side-New Side' during the first Great Awakening in 1741 which resulted in Presbyterianism being divided into an 'Old side' and a 'New Side' (though they were reunited in 1758). The second was the 'Old School-New School' during the second Great Awakening in 1836-38 (they too were reunited in 1870). Even before these, unification was demanded when Higher Criticism reared its ugly head in 1829.
Higher Criticism is the system that attempted to interpret the Bible as any other ancient literature, by naturalistic methodology. This left any remote possibility of a supernatural element, out of consideration without any consideration. This Literary (and Form) criticism had its roots in the rationalistic thought of John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Gotthold Lessing, Gottleib Fichte, Georg hegel as well as the French rationalists. This call for unification was most likely called to rally against the Documentary Hypothesis espoused by Jean Astruc whose 'Conjestures on the Original Documents that Moses Appears to have Used In Composing the Book of Genesis' rocked the theological world in 1753 and Friedrich Schleiermacher, whose 'On Religion: Speeches Against its Cultural Despisers' came out in 1799). A later significant figure in higher criticism was Ludwig Feuerbach whose The Essence of Christianity not only added a pantheistic twist from earlier Hegelian philosophy, but also the notion that the idea of God was little more than a projection of the idealized self. But argueably the most significant figure within higher criticism was Julius Wellhausen whose development of Astruc's Documentary Hypothesis, filled in the gaps left by Astruc. Wellhausen's development not only claimed that the pentateuch (first five books of the Hebrew Bible or Old testament) were not written by Moses (therefore fraudulent),but were instead compiled by four redactors and was dated much later than the time of Moses. His treatment of the new testament and the 'Priority of Mark' (that Mark was the original gospel and the others were written variations of it) in addition to the use of the source 'Q' (which has been alleged, but no evidence for the existence of such a document has ever surfaced). Reflecting the suspecious eye given to anything remotely academic following Harry Fosdick's sermon against Fundamentalists, Christian fundamentalism grew in its anti-intellectualism. The ACLU saw in this an opportunity and pounced on it to discredit conservative Christianity at a time when 1) there was a growing apprehensiveness regarding the relationship between Christianity and Science. Ten years after the release of The Origin of Species, a lecture series entitled "The Battle Fields of Sciences" (1869) given by Andrew Dickson White laid the groundwork for John William Draper's History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1874), and Dickson White's later book, History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896) and was based upon his "The Battle Fields of Science") followed by Jame Frazer's The Golden Bough (1890). The Modernist-Fundamentalist controversy came to a head in the Presbyterian church in 1910 when Lyman Stewart, the founder of Union Oil, financed the publication of the 90 essays written by 64 authors from various denominations, known as 'The Fundamentals.' Themes of the essays centered around:
The Inspiration of the Bible by the Holy Spirit and the Inerrancy of the scripture.
The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ.
The belief that Christ's death was an atonement for sin.
The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The historical reality of Christ's miracles.
Moving to our examination of origins and Genesis 1, let us observe a few things.
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