User:Gregg Davidson/sandbox

Gregg Randall Davidson (born 1963) is a professor, author, speaker, and advocate of modern science and traditional Christian faith.

Non-Fiction books
His first book, When Faith and Science Collide (2009, out of print) critiqued the methods and biblical interpretation of the young-earth movement. Three books with Kregel Publications followed, each addressing an aspect of the biblical creation or flood stories. The Grand Canyon, Monument to an Ancient Earth, is an 11-author joint project challenging the young-earth paradigm, with a focus on what is found in the many layers exposed in the Grand Canyon (Davidson served as the text editor and contributing author). Friend of Science, Friend of Faith followed in 2019, presenting a methodology for resolving apparent conflicts between modern science and the Bible, and bringing to light methods employed by young-earth organizations to draw in support. He later teamed up with Old Testament and Hebrew scholar, Kenneth Turner, to write The Manifold Beauty of Genesis One. Rather than defending a single, monochromatic understanding of the biblical text, Davidson & Turner argue for at least seven complementary layers to the story, each building off the other. Davidson has been outspoken in his belief that young earth advocates reject the plain meaning of Genesis 1-11, preferring instead to impose an anachronistic, scientific hermeneutic on an ancient text, stripping it of much of its beauty and message.

Davidson is a national and international speaker on subjects of science the Christian faith, with lectures given to scientists in defense of the Bible, and to Christian audiences in defense of modern science. Notable journal publications include a defense for both an historical Adam & Eve and a long history of human evolution; and a demonstration of how carbon-14 can be used in tree rings and sediment layers in a Japanese lake to unequivocally test all the assumptions young-earth advocates claim cannot be done. In 2021, Davidson was inducted as a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation for his work at the intersection of science and Christian faith.

As a scientist, most of Davidson’s research has focused on subjects related to water, ranging from investigating the migration of water along fractures above a nuclear waste repository, to how CO2 sticks to moist mineral surfaces, to why cypress trees growing in water grow more when it rains. One of his favorite research sites over the last two decades has been the cypress swamps of the Mississippi floodplain. In 2024, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Geological Society of America for his work on the isotopic systematics of CO2 in soil, surface-groundwater interaction, and science advocacy.

Controversy
Young Earth Creationists view Davidson as leading people away from belief in the Bible, a view Davidson contests. His name has appeared in the titles of young earth articles and an entire book chapter warning of his purported heterodox views.

Education
BS Geoscience, Wheaton College, 1985 MS and PhD, Hydrology & Water Resources, University of Arizona, 1989 and 1995

Employment
Hydrogeologist, Hargis & Associates, Tucson, AZ, 1995 Assistant, Associate, Full Professor, Geology & Geological Engineering, University of Mississippi, 1996-present Department Chair, 2013-2023

Early life
Born in Carlisle, PA in 1963, to Paul and Ruth Davidson. Gregg’s father was teaching 4th grade and feeling stir crazy. After one year, the family packed up a station wagon with a tiny trailer and started driving west, with no particular destination. Arriving in cattle country in the Sand Hills of Nebraska, near Ruth’s home town, Paul took a job as the teacher of a one-room-country-school, working as a ranch hand in the summers. Two years later they were back on the road, landing in Gainesville, Missouri, where Paul was the science department for the town’s high school. Then on to Muncie, Indiana, to complete a MS degree in biology from Ball State University. With a job offer from Mohawk Valley Community College, the family, now with a little sister, finally planted roots in the farm country of upstate New York. Gregg attended Holland Patent Central High School, competing in cross country, track, and skiing, singing in school choirs, acting in plays and musicals (one leading roll), and picking up occasional odd jobs. Summers were spent hiking, going to camp at Deerfoot Lodge in the Adirondacks, working on a cattle ranch back in Nebraska, reading, and otherwise struggling with staying in one lane.