Like most people, Dr. Mortenson grew up in an educational system that taught evolution as fact. During his first year at the University of Minnesota and shortly after becoming a Christian, he began to see that the idea of millions of years of evolution is false. He has a B.A. in math from the University of Minnesota, an M.Div. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in the history of geology from Coventry University in England. Before joining Answers in Genesis in 2001 as a speaker, writer and researcher, he served as a missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ for 26 years (mostly in Eastern Europe: 10 years focused on communist Czechoslovakia). Since the late 1970s he has spoken on creation and evolution in 27 countries in homes, schools, colleges, universities and seminaries and he has participated in 7 formal debates with evolutionist university professors in 4 countries. As a member of the Evangelical Theological Society, he has presented papers and helped to organize other papers on this subject at the annual meeting of the Society. Since joining AiG, he has authored numerous popular-level and technical articles on this subject. A shortened version of his Ph.D. thesis is "The Great Turning Point: The Church’s Catastrophic Mistake on Geology—Before Darwin" (Master Books, 2004). He co-edited and contributed to the 14-author book, "Coming to Grips with Genesis: Biblical Authority and the Age of the Earth" (Master Books, 2008), and he edited and contributed to the 16-author book, "Searching for Adam: Genesis and the Truth about Man’s Origin" (Master Books, 2016), which biblically and scientifically defends the literal truth of Genesis about Adam. He and his wife, Margie, have been happily married since 1976 and have 8 children and 13 grandchildren.
