The biblical creationist will encounter different classification systems that must be properly understood in context: scientific classification schemes (Linnaean, cladistic, etc.), ethnozoological classification (how living things mentioned in the Bible were organized by ancient cultures), and creation biology’s baraminological classification of ‘created kinds.’ The latter involves approximating biological reality as revealed in the Bible: the separate creation of individual biological populations and their development through divergence and differentiation over time from Creation to the present day (or so long as they survived).
How creationists might classify living things, has been discussed ever since the modern revival of creationism, e.g. Frank Marsh in the 1940s (ReMine 1990). Specific baraminological terminology developed through discussion primarily between Walter ReMine and Dr. Kurt Wise, which led to publishing separate papers at the second International Conference on Creationism (ReMine 1990; Wise 1990). ReMine’s ‘Discontinuity Systematics’ offered an initial framework of terminology, but Dr. Wise’s approach to baraminology (Wise 1992), incorporating young-earth model criteria, has become more prevalent (expanded/revised by Wood et al. 2003). We now have a robust vocabulary for classification with which to speak about and evaluate ‘created kinds.’
Because baraminology is built upon recognizing discontinuity and continuity among groups of organisms, those concepts are built into baraminic terminology (Wise 2002). Lions and tigers exhibit continuity (through shared traits and hybridization); lions and penguins exhibit discontinuity. Lions and tigers are part of the same baramin (created kind); lions and penguins are not.
Wood et al. (2003) noted that the baramin itself is a “purely theoretical construct,” as it includes all members within a lineage, from its original created population to all descendants that developed within a ‘potentiality region’. Not all aspects of that baraminic potential will have expressed morphologically, but those that did emerge are part of the same baramin even if we are unaware of that expression (such as divergent pathways that were extirpated during the global Flood and were never fossilized for preservation to the present day). It is possible that the Fall (the curse on the natural world resulting from Adam’s sin) affected directionality within the potentiality region of baraminic lineages so that they would never fully express their potential in this fallen world.
Holobaramin: Inclusive of a group of known members (typically species, but sometimes only identifiable to genus or even family), discontinuous with all other groups, where each member demonstrates continuity with at least one other member. “[T]he complete set of known organisms that belong to a single baramin” (Wood et al. 2003). A baramin would include the holobaramin as well as any related unknown organisms, such as the original population created during the Creation Week.
Monobaramin: Inclusive of all known members of a group demonstrating continuity with each other, but may not include all members continuous with the group. ‘Bears’ and ‘flamingos’ are both monobaramins.
Apobaramin: A group in which all members are discontinuous from another group. It may contain multiple separately created baramins, or may comprise a single holobaramin. ‘Mammals’ and ‘snakes’ are both apobaramins.
Polybaramin: A designated group with members that share continuity and discontinuity with other members in the group. The group includes more than one separately created baraminic lineage. ‘Birds’ and ‘Dinosaurs’ are both polybaraminic groups.
