This article examines religious language in a contested public sphere by analyzing performances of linguistic creativity among creationists in the United States. The public creation‐evolution debate has been a central speech event in the development of modern creationism, and functions as a key site for claiming cultural legitimacy. Focusing on three creation‐evolution debates spanning 33 years, I advance the concept of “creationist poetics” to capture how framing, stance taking, and speech play define the performance repertoire of creationists in the debate context. In particular, I illustrate how creationist speakers work to create a conspiracy‐populist frame and a revealer stance. Together, these strategies sketch a lifeworld that envisions elitist “secular” actors suppressing scriptural authority and creationists as humble, clear‐eyed people exposing the conspiracy through scriptural fidelity. I argue that this system of poetics is a key expressive resource in the ongoing struggle to wrest authority away from evolutionary science and claim it for biblical fundamentalism. Ultimately, this analysis of creationist poetics informs our understanding of how authority as a contingent social process is discursively mediated, a central theme in the study of both religious and political language.

中文翻译：

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“从粒子到人类……从分子到人类”：公共辩论中的神创论诗学

本文通过分析美国创造论者在语言创造力方面的表现，来研究有争议的公共领域中的宗教语言。公众创造进化论辩论一直是现代创造论发展过程中的中心演讲事件，并且是主张文化合法性的重要场所。我将重点放在横跨33年的三场关于创造进化的辩论上，提出“创作主义诗学”的概念，以捕捉框架，立场和言语行为如何定义辩论背景下的创造论者的表演风格。我特别说明了创造论者的演讲者如何建立阴谋民粹主义的框架和揭露者的立场。这些策略共同勾勒出一个生活世界，这些生活世界设想了精英“世俗”演员压制圣经权威和创造论者谦虚，眼神清晰的人通过圣经的忠贞揭露了阴谋。我认为，这种诗学体系是正在进行的争取权威脱离进化科学并为圣经原教旨主义主张权力的斗争中的重要表达资源。归根结底，对创造论诗学的这种分析使我们理解，如何以权威性的方式，将权威作为一种偶然的社会过程，是宗教和政治语言研究的中心主题。