Dr Jonathan D. Sarfati B.Sc. (Hons.), Ph.D., F.M.

Creationist Physical Chemist and Spectroscopist (Australia)

Biography

Dr Jonathan Sarfati was born in Ararat, Australia in 1964. He moved to New Zealand as a child and later studied science at Victoria University of Wellington. He obtained a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry with two physics papers substituted (nuclear and condensed matter physics). His Ph.D. in Chemistry was awarded for a thesis entitled ‘A Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules’. He has co-authored papers in mainstream scientific journals on high temperature superconductors and selenium-containing ring and cage-shaped molecules. He also had a co-authored paper on high-temperature superconductors published in Nature when he was 22.

Dr Sarfati has been a Christian since 1984. He has long been interested in apologetics, the defense of the faith, and was a co-founder of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society (New Zealand).¹ Creation vs evolution is of course a vital area, because of the ramifications for the doctrines of Creation, the Fall which brought death into the world, and their links to the doctrines of the Incarnation, Atonement and Bodily Resurrection of the God-man Jesus Christ.

In August 1996, he returned to the country of his birth to take up a position as a research scientist and editorial consultant for Creation Ministries International in Brisbane. In this capacity, he is co-editor of Creation magazine, and also writes and reviews articles for Journal of Creation, CMI’s in-depth peer-reviewed publication, as well as contributing to CMI’s <creation.com> website.

In 1999, his first book was published—Refuting Evolution, which countered a teachers guidebook by the National Academy of Sciences, Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science, which had been widely circulated and publicized. Refuting Evolution now has 450,000 copies in print. Later that year he was a co-author of the updated and expanded Answers Book [note: now entitled The Creation Answers Book], answering 20 of the most-asked questions about creation/evolution. He later wrote Refuting Evolution 2, countering the PBS Evolution series and an anticreationist article in Scientific American.

In 2004, he wrote Refuting Compromise, defending a straightforward biblical creation timeline and a global flood, and answering biblical and scientific objections, concentrating on the errant teachings of day-age/local flood advocate Hugh Ross. It has been acclaimed as ‘the most powerful biblical and scientific defense of a straightforward view of Genesis creation ever written!’ See the introductory chapter and some reviews.

In 2006, he co-authored 15 Reasons to Take Genesis as History with Don Batten, as a concise reference guide for Christians, including pastors and theologians, why Genesis can be trusted as real history of Creation about 6000 years ago and a global Flood.

In 2008, he finished By Design: Evidence for nature’s Intelligent Designer—the God of the Bible. This demonstrates many examples of design in many areas, shows why chemical evolution can’t explain the origin of first life, and answers many objections to the Intelligent Design movement by invoking the biblical Creation-Fall model.

Dr Sarfati is also a keen chess player. He is a former New Zealand Chess Champion, and represented New Zealand in three Chess Olympiads, and drew with Boris Spassky, world champion 1969–1972, in a tournament game (those interested in the game score and ‘post-mortem’ (i.e. post-game analysis) photograph can see this chess site). In 1988, F.I.D.E., the International Chess Federation, awarded him the title of F.I.D.E. Master (FM). Dr Sarfati regularly accepts challenges from multiple players where he plays ‘blindfold’, i.e. from memory without sight or any physical contact with the board, so moves are communicated via a recognized chess notation (See an example at the Croydon Chess Club). Twelve is the most played simultaneously to date—see photo, above right.

Dr Sarfati is married with one stepson, one adopted daughter, and one grand-daughter.

Education

• B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry (with condensed matter and nuclear physics papers substituted)
• Ph.D. in Spectroscopy (Physical Chemistry)

Honors/Awards/Associations

• 1988, F.I.D.E. Master title, The International Chess Federation

Publications

Books

• Refuting Evolution; See index of online chapters, and free chapter study guides
• Refuting Evolution 2 (with Michael Matthews); See index of online chapters.
• Refuting Compromise: A biblical and scientific refutation of ‘progressive creationism’ (billions of years) as popularized by astronomer Hugh Ross; See introductory chapter and reviews.
• By Design: Evidence for nature’s Intelligent Designer—the God of the Bible; See extract: The Prostate Gland—is it ‘badly designed’? Countering design critics, and Guest review of the book.
• The Creation Answers Book (edited by Don Batten) with David Catchpoole and Dr Carl Wieland) (available in Albanian, Dutch, German, Hungarian, Russian and Spanish). See index of online chapters and free chapter study guides.
• Answers to the 4 Big Questions (edited by Dr Don Batten; with Ken Ham & Dr Carl Wieland)
• 15 Reasons to Take Genesis as History (with Dr Don Batten)
• Mammoth: Riddle of the Ice Age (Booklet)
• Why is there Death & Suffering? (Booklet)
• The Genesis Files: Meet 22 Modern-Day Scientists Who Believe in a Six-Day Recent Creation (One of the interviews is with Dr Sarfati)
• In Six Days: Why 50 [Ph.D.] Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation (Dr Sarfati contributed one of the articles)

DVDs

• Chemicals to Living Cell: Fantasy or Science?
• Jesus in Genesis: The Messianic Prophecies
• Arguments Creationists Should NOT Use

Creation science articles

Interviews

• An awesome mind: A talk with one of Christianity’s foremost defenders, Jonathan Sarfati, from Creation magazine.
• Interview on ChristianLogic.com website
• Now a Creationist (Dr Sarfati’s guest article on the Boundless.org website explaining why he became a biblical creationist; see original article on this site)

Creation talks

• See CMI speaking schedule

Technical papers in secular science journals

• J.D. Sarfati, G.R. Burns, and K.R. Morgan: ‘Tetraphosphorus tetraselenide: crystalline and amorphous phases analysed by X-ray diffraction, Raman and magic angle spinning ³¹P NMR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry’, Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids 188(1-2):93–97, 2 July 1995 (doi:10.1016/0022-3093(95)00093-3).
• J.D. Sarfati and G.R. Burns: ‘The pressure, temperature and excitation frequency dependent Raman spectra; and infrared spectra of CuBrSe₃ and CuISe₃’, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular Spectroscopy 50(12):2125–2136, November 1994 (doi:10.1016/0584-8539(94)00176-6).
• G.R. Burns, J.R. Rollo, J.D. Sarfati and K.R. Morgan: ‘Phases of tetraphosphorus triselenide analysed by magic angle spinning ³¹P NMR and Raman spectroscopy, and the Raman spectrum of tetraphosphorus tetraselenide’, Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular Spectroscopy 47(6):811–8, 1991 (doi:10.1016/0584-8539(91)80153-A).
• G.R. Burns, J.R. Rollo, and J.D. Sarfati: ‘Raman spectra of the tetraphosphorus trichalcogenide cage molecules P₄S₂Se and P₄SSe₂’, Inorganica Chimica Acta 161(1):35–38, 3 July 1989 (doi:10.1016/S0020-1693(00)90111-7).
• G.R. Burns and J.D. Sarfati: ‘Raman spectra of tetraphosphorus triselenide doped in tetraphosphorus trisulphide’, Solid State Communications 66(4):347–49, April 1988 (doi:10.1016/0038-1098(88)90854-X).
• Mawdsley, H.J. Trodahl, J. Tallon, J.D. Sarfati and A.B. Kaiser: ‘Thermoelectric power and electron-phonon enhancement in YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ’. Nature328(6127):233–234, 16 July 1987.

Amazon.com book reviews

• Dr Sarfati was a Top-1000 Reviewer at Amazon.com — see his Reviews Page (Off-site — Disclaimer: the opinions expressed in these reviews, especially on non-creation–related topics such as chess, are his alone, not necessarily those of Creation Ministries International).

Endnotes

• The Wellington Christian Apologetics Society publishes a journal, Apologia, three times per year. For information, write to David Lane, Editor, Apologia, 106 Hataitai Rd, Hataitai, Wellington, New Zealand; Phone/fax (+64-4) 386-1067.

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