Mark Pretorius (born April 1957 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is an evangelical theologian, philosopher and metaphysician. He holds the following degrees. A BTh (South African Theological Seminary), a BTh Hons (University of Zululand), an M.A. in Biblical Studies (University of Johannesburg), and a PhD in Systematic Theology (University of Pretoria). Pretorius is a full-time Senior Academic at the South African Theological Seminary, and an Extraordinary Lecturer in the department of Systematic Theology at the University of Pretoria.
Pretorius's doctoral work encompasses the interaction between science and theology, including integrating evolution and the creative acts of God found in Genesis 1-2. He has written several published articles on this relationship (amongs others), in the Academic Journals Verbum et Ecclesia, HTS Theological Studies, and Conspectus.
The core of Pretorius's research is a study of sound, specifically cymatics, which he assimilates into his studies of Genesis, and commonly refers to it as a cymatic theology. This model, which postulates that creation was initiated by sound (Gods divinely spoken Word), was initially developed in a paper he presented at an academic meeting in Pretoria (South Africa) in August 2008. The concept of cymatics, on which the model is based, is a well examined and published idea, especially in view of the work of Robert Hooke (1680), Ernst Chladni (1787), Hans Jenny (1967), and currently by John Stuart Reid.