science

Jonathan Sarfati

Jonathan Sarfati is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Jonathan Sarfati rather than just read about it. In short: Jonathan David Sarfati (born 1 October 1964) is a New Zealand young Earth creationist who writes articles for Creation Ministries International (CMI), a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry. Sarfati has a PhD in chemistry, and was New Zealand national chess champion in 1987 and 1988.

Key takeaways

Jonathan Sarfati belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Jonathan Sarfati to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Jonathan Sarfati from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Jonathan David Sarfati (born 1 October 1964) is a New Zealand young Earth creationist who writes articles for Creation Ministries International (CMI), a non-profit Christian apologetics ministry. Sarfati has a PhD in chemistry, and was New Zealand national chess champion in 1987 and 1988.

Background Born in Ararat, Victoria, Sarfati moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, where he became a dual Australian and New Zealand citizen. He attended Wellington College in New Zealand, later graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a BSc (Hons.) in chemistry, and a PhD in the same subject for a thesis entitled "A Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules". He co-authored a paper on high-temperature superconductors that was published in Nature in 1987 ("Letters to Nature"), and from 1988 to 1995, had five papers on spectroscopy of condensed matter samples published in other peer-reviewed scientific journals. In 1996, he returned to Brisbane, Australia to work for the Creation Science Foundation, then Answers in Genesis, then its current name Creation Ministries International. In 2010, he moved to the American office of that ministry.

Creationism Sarfati was a founder of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society in New Zealand, and has long retained an interest in Christian apologetics and the creation–evolution controversy. His first two books, Refuting Evolution in 1999, and Refuting Evolution 2 in 2002, are intended as rebuttals to the National Academy of Sciences' publication Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science and the PBS/Nova series Evolution, respectively. Refuting Compromise, published in 2004, is Sarfati's rebuttal of the day-age creationist teachings of Hugh Ross, who attempts to harmonise the Genesis account of creation with mainstream science regarding the age of the Earth and the possible size of the Biblical Flood, against which Sarfati defends a literal biblical timeline and a global flood. Eugenie Scott and Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education called Sarfati's Refuting Evolution 2 a "crude piece of propaganda". Sarfati is a critic of geocentrism, the Myth of the flat Earth and flat Earth teaching, homosexual behaviour, and abortion except to save the life of the mother. While opposing embryonic stem cell research, he supports adult stem cell research. Sarfati also supports vaccination and rebuts anti-vaccination arguments.

Chess Sarfati is a chess FIDE Master, and achieved a draw against former world champion Boris Spassky during a tournament in Wellington in 1988, and was New Zealand's national chess champion in 1987–88. Although tied with Rey Casse for first place in the Australian Junior Championship of 1981, he was not eligible to share the title as he was a resident of New Zealand at the time. He represented New Zealand in three Chess Olympiads: the 27th in Dubai in 1986, the 28th in Thessaloniki in 1988, and the 30th in Manila in 1992. He also represented New Zealand on top board at the 5th Asian Teams in New Delhi. He has given blindfold chess exhibitions at chess clubs and other events, and has played twelve such games simultaneously. His previous best was winning 11/11 at the Kāpiti Chess Club in New Zealand.

Bibliography The Genesis Account: A theological, historical, and scientific commentary on Genesis 1-11, 2015, Creation Book Publishers ISBN 978-1921643910 Christianity for Skeptics, 2012, with Steve Kumar (first author), Creation Book Publishers ISBN 978-1921643491 The Greatest Hoax on Earth? Refuting Dawkins on Evolution, 2010, Creation Book Publishers ISBN 1-921643-06-4 By Design: Evidence for nature's Intelligent Designer—the God of the Bible, 2008, Creation Book Publishers ABN: 978-0-949906-72-4 Refuting Compromise: A Biblical and Scientific Refutation of Progressive Creationism, 2004, Creation Book Publishers ISBN 0-89051-411-9 The Revised & Expanded Answers Book, 2003, with Carl Wieland and David Catchpoole, edited by Don Batten, ISBN 0-89051-395-3 Refuting Evolution 2, 2002/2011, Creation Book Publishers ISBN 0-89051-387-2 Refuting Evolution, 1999–2010, Creation Book Publishers ISBN 0-89051-258-2

References

External links Jonathan D. Sarfati at creation.com Jonathan D. Sarfati rating card at FIDE Jonathan D. Sarfati player profile and games at Chessgames.com

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Jonathan Sarfati

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Jonathan Sarfati claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Jonathan Sarfati before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Jonathan Sarfati ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Jonathan Sarfati

In research: Jonathan Sarfati appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Jonathan Sarfati in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Jonathan Sarfati is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 births, 20th-century Australian chess players, 20th-century Australian male writers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Jonathan Sarfati outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Jonathan Sarfati” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Jonathan Sarfati in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Jonathan Sarfati means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Jonathan Sarfati out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jonathan Sarfati in simple terms?

Why does Jonathan Sarfati matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Jonathan Sarfati?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Jonathan Sarfati.