The Creation Collectanea

  Note: This response is an edited analysis taken from a paper published by the author responding to claims made by a poster created by late young-Earth creationist Joe Taylor. The paper in its entirety can be found  here . CLAIM:  In the late 1950s a 47” femur was discovered in Egypt. (Hovind, 2003 , 54:45) RESPONSE:  The claim that a nearly 50" human femur was discovered in the Middle East is a claim that originates with the late young-Earth creationist Joe Taylor before it was picked up by fellow young-Earth creationist Kent Hovind in his creation seminars. Both men give a conflicting history of the find, with Hovind claiming that it was found in Egypt, and Taylor alternatively claiming at different times that it was discovered in Turkey, Egypt, and Syria. (Edmonds, 2023, p.2) Taylor also gave conflicting dates for the discovery, without clarifying whether it was found in the 1950s or 1960s. (White, 2015a; 2015b) Regardless, the only information Taylor ever provid...

  Note: This response is an edited analysis taken from a paper published by the author responding to claims made by a poster created by late young-Earth creationist Joe Taylor. The paper in its entirety can be found here . CLAIM:  The Biblical Goliath was about 9ft. tall. (Hovind, 2003 , 49:58) RESPONSE:  The idea that Goliath was upwards of nine or ten feet tall comes from some biblical translations (notably the Masoretic Text, particularly 1 Samuel 17:4, which described him as being "six cubits and a span", or 9 feet 9 inches). (Armstrong, 2021) However, the earliest known manuscript, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Septuagint, give his height as "four cubits and a span", which is about 6 feet 9 inches. The "shorter" height, which would go on to be cited as the accurate figure by the 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus, is generally agreed upon as the original, with the later greater height being the result of scribal exaggeration. (Armstrong, 2021; Hays...

  Note: This response is taken from a paper published by the author responding to claims made by a poster created by late young-Earth creationist Joe Taylor. The paper in its entirety can be found here . CLAIM:  The Roman Emperor “Maximus” (sic., Maximinus) was 8’6”. ( Hovind , 2003, 51:40) RESPONSE:  As part of an overarching case defending the claim that the Bible makes reference to an extinct race of gigantic humans, Kent Hovind claims that the Roman emperor "Maximus" (whose real name was Maximinus Thrax) was over eight and a half feet tall. While Maximinus Thrax was a real historical figure and was the emperor of Rome from 235-238 CE, he likely was not over eight feet tall.  This claimed height comes from the controversial Historia Augusta , which is estimated to have been written in the fifth century CE (a few hundred years after the death of Thrax), and cites a fictitious source for the height. (Langenfeld, 2017) Thrax's great height and size most likely origin...