Steven Boyd



Dr. Steven W. Boyd is a creationist lecturer, professor, and scientist. He is Research Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages. He was formerly a Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at The Master's College (1998-2014). Dr. Boyd has a B.S. and a M.S. in Physics from Drexel University, a Th.M. in Old Testament and Semitics from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a M.Phil. and a Ph.D. in Hebraic and Cognate Studies from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

In 2001, he joined the RATE group, which is studying radioisotope dating and the age of the earth. Dr. Boyd's work within the RATE group will include studying and analyzing the traits of Biblical text dealing with creation.

Dr. Boyd is most known for his linguistic studies. Dr. Boyd has done a detailed study of the words, mostly verbs, of poetic and narrative passages of Scripture. According to his analysis, the verb forms in Genesis 1 coincide with verb forms from other historical, narrative passages, not poetic passages. Therefore, the Creation story should be taken literally.

Dr. Boyd emphasizes learning from the original language of the Biblical writings- taking into consideration the historical, religious, and cultural meanings behind the Scripture.

Dissertation
 A Synchronic Analysis of the Medio Passive Reflexive in Biblical Hebrew . Ph.D. Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, 1993. (Advisors: Drs. Stephen Kaufman and Alan Cooper)

Books

 * Boyd, Steven W. and Andrew A. Snelling, Editors.  Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood: Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative. Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2014.
 * ———. Book 2.  Riding the Temporal Currents of the Deluge Account . Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books (in preparation).
 * ———. Book 3.  The Place of the Deluge in World Time . Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books (in preparation).
 * Boyd, Steven W., Founding Editor.  What Happened in the Garden: The Reality and Ramifications of the Creation and Fall of Man . Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2016.

Chapters in Books

 * “The Binyanim (Verbal Stems).” In Dallaire, Helene M., Benjamin J. Noonan, and Jennifer E. Noonan, Eds.  Where Shall Wisdom be Found: A Grammatical Tribute in Honor of Professor Stephen A. Kaufman . Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2017.
 * “Statistical Determination of Genre in Biblical Hebrew: Evidence for an Historical Reading of Genesis 1:1—2:3.”  In Vardiman, L., A. Snelling and E. Chaffin, Eds.   Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth:  Results of a Young-Earth Creationist Research Initiative .  El Cajon, California:  Institute for Creation Research and St. Joseph, Missouri: [[Creation Research Society], 2005.  Pages 631–734.]
 * Chapter 10 in the following book, which is a RATE group summary, presents a simplified report of my RATE research: DeYoung, Don.  Thousands... not Billions: Challenging an Icon of Evolution—Questioning the Age of the Earth . Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2005.
 * “The Genre of Genesis 1:1—2:3: What Means this Text?”  In  Coming to Grips with Geneses: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth . Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2008.
 * “Tacking with the Text: Understanding Temporal Sequence in Narrative at the Macro-Level.” In  Grappling with the Chronology of the Genesis Flood (GCGF): Navigating the Flow of Time in Biblical Narrative . Edited by Steven Boyd and Andrew Snelling. Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books, 2014.
 * Several chapters in GCGF. Book 2.  Riding the Temporal Currents of the Deluge Account . Edited by Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books (in preparation for 2018 release).
 * Several chapters in GCGF. Book 3.  The Place of the Deluge in World Time . Edited by Steven W. Boyd and Andrew A. Snelling. Green Forest, Arkansas: Master Books (in preparation).

Articles

 * “Review of P. A. Siebesma, The Function of the Niph'al in Biblical Hebrew.”  Journal of the American Oriental Society  114/4 (1995):669-671.
 * “The Biblical Hebrew Creation Account: New Numbers Tell the Story.”  Impact  377 (November 2004).
 * “Why Study the Chronology of the Flood?” Published on Answers in Genesis Website, May 27, 2010.
 * “Defending History: Temporal Reasoning in Genesis 2:7-3:8.”  Answers Research Journal  ( ARJ ) 7 (Aug. 6, 2014):215–237.
 * “The Last Week before the Flood: Noah on Vacation or Working Harder than Ever?”  ARJ  9 (Aug. 17, 2016):197–208.
 * "It’s for the Birds: Avian Fine-Tuning of Flood Chronology.”  ARJ  13 (Aug. 26, 2020): 135–152.
 * Two Articles in  The Master’s Current 

Other

 *  The Hebrew Verb Color Chart and Guide: A Colorized Hebrew Verb Parsing Tool . (in progress).

Research
I am mentoring and supervising the research efforts of seven graduate students (former TMC students) in investigating the literary and linguistic factors which allow us to ascertain the chronology contained within the Genesis Flood narrative. We have isolated three semantic spheres of influence on the chronology: the micro-level (intra-verbal situation aspect), the macro-level (inter-clausal relationships), and the mega-level (the purposes of the narrative at large). Also my co-editor, Dr. Andrew Snelling is considering the geological, geophysical and paleontological ramifications of the chronology. The first deliverable of this project was released by Master Books in 2014. Two more books are planned. The first of these is in the research phase. I was part of a research team of geologists, geo-physicists, Hebraists and theologians investigating the biblical Flood. I was in the FND of FAST. Our joint purpose according to the abstract was as follows: In order to understand the geology of the Flood, it is necessary to study the Flood narrative in the biblical Hebrew text, because the text imposes constraints on the geological investigation. The issues, which need to be resolved in order to understand the text are the literary structure of the text, the morpho-syntax of the verbs, the lexicographical terms describing the rising of the water, the destruction associated with the water and the subsiding of the water and the theological implications of the Flood. The geological concerns to which the text speaks, the chronology of the Flood, the totality of the Flood, the destructive capacity of the Flood and the effectiveness of the Flood to carry out God’s purposes, will be the foci of our study. Our division also will serve as consultants to the rest of the FAST team, directing additional research to answer the questions the geologists raise. My project was entitled “The Literary Structure and Verbal Syntax of Genesis 6:13—8:14: Implications for the Chronology of the Flood.” Consideration of the sequence of events reported in the text in light of the five fixed dates from the life of Noah invites a reappraisal of the iconicity of the sequential wayyiqtols in the text. I was analyzing the sequential wayyiqtols in the Mosaic corpus in order to study their chronologization, in particular, the factors (lexical, semantic, morphological, syntactic, pragmatic, etc.) which determine non-iconic wayyiqtol sequences. Consequently, I was studying the changes in these sequences in the verb (root, Aktionsart, phasal aspect, morphology), its arguments (accretion/attrition of referents, semantic roles, syntactic function, pronominalization, relexicalization), information structure (identifiability, activation level, topic and focus), segment continuity and distance. I was assisted in this project by two students at The Master's Seminary, who are alumni of The Master's College. I was part of a research team which investigated the possibility of accelerated decay rates of radioisotopes. I developed a logistic regression statistical model based on the relative frequency of wayyiqtol verb forms among the finite verbs in biblical Hebrew, which can predict the probability that a a given text is narrative at a 99.5 percent confidence level. When this tool was applied to Genesis 1:1–2:3, it calculated that the probability that this text is narrative is between .999942 and .99987. Thus, it is a statistically indefensible to argue that this text is poetry. The second part of my study was to investigate the authors of narratives’ perspectives and presentations with respect to the past. I adduced fifteen proofs that they regarded the events they portrayed as real historical events. The results of thus research are reported in the three final publications of the RATE Group. Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC—JIR) ''' I was part of a research team of Aramaic scholars involved in computer aided analysis of the lexicography of Aramaic dialects. In this computer aided analysis of the lexicography of Aramaic dialects, my responsibilities were to develop C and shell programs for the project's UNIX system that will facilitate user access to the texts, lemma files and outline lexicon; to research and incorporate the Hatran inscriptions into the data base; to incorporate the Nabatean material into the data base; to reorganize the data base to promote access to the texts represented in vol. 1 of the bibliography; and to continue the ongoing tasks that I started as an assistant. I assisted the team of Aramaic scholars involved in computer aided analysis of the lexicography of Aramaic dialects. Research Assistant at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, HUC—JIR. This involved; proofreading and correcting machine readable Aramaic Bible texts; correcting lexicographic files generated by the project software; organizing the corpus of Nabatean inscriptions in conjunction with Jonas Greenfleld's team; helping in the compilation of: J. A. Fitzmyer and S. A. Kaufman, An Aramaic Bibliography, Part I: Old Official and Biblical Aramaic (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992); assisting in the compilation of part II of the bibliography, which covers Qumran Aramaic, Palmyrene. Nabatean, Hatran, Old Syriac, the language of Jesus, the term 'Son of Man' and Aramaic words in the Gospels; and assisting in the production of S. A. Kaufman and M. Sokoloff, A Key Word in Context Concordance to Targum Neofiti: A Guide to the Complete Palestinian Aramaic Text of the Torah (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993). Founder and Director of the Cataclysm Chronology Research Group from 2009–.
 *  2009– Research Director of the Cataclysm Chronology Research Group 
 *  2006–2008 Project Investigator in the FND (Flood Narrative Division) of FAST (Flood Activated Sedimentation and Tectonics) 
 *  2002–2005 Member of the RATE Group 
 * ''' 1993-94 Associate Research Scholar at the Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon (CAL),
 *  1990-93 Research Assistant at CAL, HUC—JIR 

Areas of Specialization and Teaching Competence

 * Hebrew Bible; Old Testament Exegesis, Interpretation and Theology
 * Semitic Languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Ugaritic, Akkadian, Ethiopic and Arabic) and Comparative Semitic Theory
 * N.W. Semitic Epigraphy
 * Ancient Near Eastern History, Literature and Religion
 * New Testament Language, Interpretation and Theology
 * English Bible

Teaching Experience
Teaching Responsibilities: Same as below, with the addition of teaching the following courses in the Master of Arts in Biblical Studies (MABS) Program: Creation and Covenant; The History of the Covenant People; Worship and Wisdom Teaching Responsibilities: Old Testament Survey I and II
 *  2006-2014 Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at The Master's College (TMC) 
 *  2000–2006 Associate Professor of Bible at TMC 

Old Testament Studies: Genesis; Exodus; Psalms; Proverbs; Isaiah; History of Ancient Israel

Hebrew and Aramaic: Elementary Hebrew I and II and Intermediate Hebrew I and II; Aramaic Studies; Historical and Comparative Hebrew Grammar

Theology: Old Testament Theology; The Theology of Salvation

Science: Team teacher in Foundations of Science course 2002– Teaching Responsibilities: Same as above Teaching Responsibilities: Modular Course on the Book of Proverbs Teaching Responsibilities: Fall Semester 1997 -- Required courses: English Bible:  Bib 501 Genesis–Song of Solomon;
 *  1998–2000 Assistant Professor of Bible at TMC 
 *  1998 Visiting Professor of Old Testament at Northwest Baptist Seminary 
 *  1997–1998 Assistant Professor of Old Testament at Multnomah Biblical Seminary (MBS) 

Hebrew: OT 607 Hebrew for Ministry,  OT 621 Principles of Hebrew I.

Winter/Spring Semester 1998 -- Required courses: English Bible:  Bib 502 Isaiah through Malachi;

Theology: Th 508 Christian Theology II.

Elective courses: Hebrew:  OT 622 Principles of Hebrew II. Teaching Responsibilities: Required courses: English Bible: Old Testament History II (1 Samuel–Esther) and The Major Prophets;
 *  1997 Interim Professor of Old Testament at Capital Bible Seminary (CBS) 

Hebrew Exegetical Principles.

Elective courses: Hebrew Messianic Exegesis; Exegesis of Psalms (A presentation of numerous approaches for exegeting the Book of Psalms); Aramaic.

Advisory Responsibility: Second Reader for two Th.M. theses I taught the Biblical Hebrew Grammar of the Book of Isaiah to Rabbinic students. I conducted lecture and problem solving sessions for introductory and advanced physics and computer science courses.
 *  1988-90 Tutor of Biblical Hebrew in the Rabbinic School, HUC—JIR 
 *  1975-77 Teaching Assistant In the Physics Department, Drexel University 

Curriculum Development
I developed the final form of the MABS core curriculum.

Project Editor
Area editor for ICC in 2008 and 2013.

Symposia, Preaching, Speaking
Topic: The Characteristics, Content and Credibility of the Creation Narrative in Genesis 1:1—2:3. Topics: idem and The Priority of Special Revelation:  An Exposition of Psalm 19. Topic: The Characteristics, etc. Topic:  The Fingerpainting of God:  A Study of Genesis 1:14–19. Topic: The Fingerpainting of God. Topic: Reading Genesis 1:1—2:2:  RATE or Wrong. Topics: The Fingerpainting of God and The Tower of Folly:  Genesis 11:1–9 and the Origin of the Languages. Topic: Toppling the Temple of Dagon Topic: Monkey Business (Part Two) Topic: A Biblical View of Life:  What Means this Text? Topic: RATE or Wrong
 * Speaker at the 7th Annual George F. Howe Creation Science Symposium (2000) held at The Master’s College, Santa Clarita, CA
 * Co-speaker at a creation science symposium held at South Valley Christian Church in Morgan Hill, CA.
 * Co-speaker at a creation symposium held at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church, Camarillo, CA.
 * Chapel at TMC (Three times in Bible Faculty Week)
 * Bible Chapel speaker, song leader, skit participant
 * Old Testament Chapel Seminar Speaker.
 * Speaker at the Bible Science Association of the San Fernando Valley.
 * Speaker at the Bible Science Association of the San Fernando Valley.
 * Speaker at the Antelope Valley Creation Science Association, Lancaster, Ca.
 * Truth and Life Seminar Speaker
 * Shepherds’ Conference Seminar Speaker
 * Plenary Speaker at the Baraminology Study Group Conference
 * Speaker at the Creation Science Association of Orange County.
 * Speaker (four times) at the Eagle Fern Family Camp for Trinity and Hillcrest Bible churches in Portland, OR.
 * Plenary Speaker at the 2011 Apologetics Mega Conference, sponsored by Answers in Genesis, held in Florence, KY The Power of Genre in Genesis 1–11: Literary and Theological Aspects of the Primeval History.
 * Session Speaker at the 2011 Apologetics Mega Conference, sponsored by Answers in Genesis, held in Florence, KY Text, Time and Titanic Forces: Resolving the Chronology of the Genesis Flood.
 * TMC Chapel Speaker during the Creation Science Symposium at the Master’s College 2012. The Theology of the Flood.
 * Technical Session at the Creation Science Symposium at the Master’s College 2012, Report on the Research Findings of the Cataclysm Chronology Research Group.
 * General Session of Creation Science Symposium at the Master’s College 2012, Text, Time and Titanic Forces: Resolving the Chronology of the Genesis Flood.

Miscellaneous

 * I am interviewed in the DVD,  Thousands … not Billions .
 * I am interviewed in the DVD,  Creation/Evolution: Does it Matter What We Believe?  by Mike Riddle.
 * I am interviewed on two radio spots of  Science, Scripture and Salvation .