Episode 129.
The second theological response to 19th Century Geology,
comes from the Harmonizers.
They appeared during the last two thirds of
the 1800s and many of them are the best geologists of the day.
The last chapters of their geology books often have a theological chapter.
Notably, these leading Christian geologists accepted scientific concordism and tried
to align or harmonize Geology and Genesis one.
There are two basic ways to align scripture and geology.
The first was the gap theory.
This was the minority position.
The millions of years of geological time were put in a gap between
Genesis 1: 1 and Genesis 1: 3.
To be more specific,
The Gap Theory suggests that Genesis 1:1,
refers to an initial creation,
where in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Then, in Genesis 1: 2,
there was a deterioration of the earth whereby the earth became formless and empty.
The Hebrew language allows for the translation became according to Gap theorists,
this is a gap or period of millions of years long.
And then in Genesis 1 3,
there was a second creation.
When God said, "Let there be light," and this is
a recreation of the world in six literal days.
And according to The Gap Theory,
there was a global flood but it only caused surface effects.
The Day- Age Theory,
also known as progressive creation,
was the majority position of Harmonizers.
They believed that the Days of Genesis one,
were Geological Periods millions of years long.
These Christian geologists noted,
that both Genesis one and the fossil record have
living organisms appear from simple to more complex.
In this way, they claim that God created plants and animals progressively
and that he intervened at different points over millions of years.
You might ask why these geologists were progressive creationists?
It was because the fossil record was sparse and
transitory fossils had not yet been discovered.
Day Age theorists believe that Noah's flood was
local in the Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
An excellent example of
a leading geologist who promoted the Day Age Theory, was James Dana.
His Manual of Geology was one of
the most important geological textbooks in the second half of the 19th century.
Please turn to page 26 in the handouts,
where I have reproduced a page from Dana's fame Geological Textbook.
You can see how he attempts to align the six days of
Genesis with the scientific evidence found in geology.
However, by the end of the 1800s,
harmonisation dies out and Geology books no longer have a religious final chapter,
like this one found in Dana's text.
Let's now draw some conclusions regarding nineteenth century Modern Geology.
First and foremost, we again see that science impacts religion.
With regards to divine action,
there is no God of the Gaps in Geology.
Why? It's because natural processes is can explain all the features in the earth's crust.
With regards to Biblical interpretation,
there was no gap theory before the 1800s.
Why? It's because the exceedingly old age of the earth was only established in the 1800s.
As well, there was no day age theory before the 1800s.
Why? It's because the geological column was only established in the 1800s.
The very existence of the Gap Theory and The Day Age Theory
is proof that science impacts Biblical interpretation.
And finally, conclusion number two;
By the twentieth century,
Geology is completely free from religion and the biblical flood.
For some, this is an argument against religion but others like me,
this is an argument for not using the bible like a book of science.
End of episode.
