Is the Pangea theory compatible with the Bible? Does the Bible talk about a Pangea / Pangaea?

TL;DR:

Although Pangea is not mentioned in the Bible, the evidence of continental drift clearly shows a prehistoric super-continent existed. Pangea is compatible with biblical creationism.

The Bible does not specifically mention Pangea theory. The creation account in Genesis is not intended to provide geological details, as one might find in a textbook. Rather, the intent of Genesis is to provide the big picture of how God, and God alone, has the power and authority to create all that we see (Romans 1:20).

Pangea is the concept that all of the land masses of the Earth were at one time connected as one giant super-continent. On a world map, some of the continents look like they could fit together like giant puzzle pieces (Africa and South America, for example). The Pangea super-continent is supported by the evidence of continental drift—the movement of the continents in relationship to one another. Continental drift is responsible for moving the continents from one large land mass to the separate land masses we have today.

from the old testament

During creation, God said "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear" (Genesis 1:9). This could imply that all the dry ground was also in one place. This could refer to the Pangea super-continent, but not necessarily.
Genesis 10:25 mentions “…one was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided…” Some point to this verse as evidence the earth was divided after Noah's Flood. However, this does not seem likely. The Hebrew word for earth (erets, H776) generally has a geographical reference, not geological. That is, it refers to the surface of the earth, the land where people live, not the physical continents. Also, there has not been enough time since Noah's Flood for the indicated continental drift to have occurred. Since the context of Genesis 10:25 is genealogy, it seems Moses was referring to linguistic and political division of humans and not a physical division of the land mass.

from the new testament

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God" (Romans 1:20, NLT).

implications for today

Creation scientists agree with secular colleagues that good observational evidence is consistent with an original super-continent in the past. Likewise, that this land mass was split apart and that today’s continents moved to their present positions on the Earth’s surface. However, there is debate over the timing! Young earth creationists have proposed various scenarios, such as catastrophic plate tectonics, whereby continental drift could have occurred rapidly in the recent past. Old earth creationists and secular geologists, on the other hand, assume that continental drift occurred as a gradual process over millions of years.

Plate tectonics provides a mechanism for continental drift. It proposes that the Earth’s lithosphere (outer rocky layer) is broken into large plates that move relative to each other, driven by convection currents in the Earth’s mantle (middle layers). The lithosphere is the solid, outer part of Earth, including the brittle upper portion of the mantle and the crust.

The observational evidence for continental drift and seafloor spreading includes magnetic data from land and seafloor surveys in the 1960s. Today astronomers and geophysicists can measure the drift of continents by using widely separated radio telescopes aimed at the same distant quasar. A quasar is a celestial object so far away that it's effectively a fixed object in the sky. Astronomers can detect even tiny continental shifts of about one centimeter per year. Continental drift is yet another physical process that we can observe, giving glory to our Creator!

understand

The Bible doesn’t mention Pangea, but it does not contradict it.
The gradual movement of continents exists.
Pangea does not contradict biblical creationism, although creationists debate the timing of continental drift.

reflect

How do you reconcile scientific discoveries like continental drift with the biblical account of creation?
How do you see God’s authority and power displayed through the natural world, including processes like continental drift?
How might understanding the history of the Earth strengthen your faith in God's creative power?

engage

The concept of Pangea suggests that animals originally lived on a connected super-continent, and as it split apart, they spread across the separated landmasses. This movement would have played a significant role in the distribution of species and their adaptation to different environments over time.
How can the theory of Pangea be seen as compatible with the idea that God created the Earth, even if its timeline isn't clear from Scripture?
What role does the visible creation play in pointing to God's nature, and how does that shape our view of science and faith?