Geology and Religion: A History of Harmony and Hostility
For thousands of years, religious ideas have shaped the thoughts and actions of human beings. Many of the early geological concepts were initially developed within this context. The long-standing relationship between geology and religious thought, which has been sometimes indifferent, sometimes fruitful and sometimes full of conflict, is discussed from a historical point of view. This relationship continues into the present. Although Christian fundamentalists attack evolution and related palaeontological findings as well as the geological evidence for the age of the Earth, mainstream theologians strive for a fruitful dialogue between science and religion. Much of what is written and discussed today can only be understood within the historical perspective.
This book considers the development of geology from mythological approaches towards the European Enlightenment, biblical or geological Flood and the age of the Earth, geology within ‘religious’ organizations, biographical case studies of geological clerics and religious geologists, religion and evolution, and historical aspects of creationism and its motives.
Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873): geologist and evangelical
-
Published:January 01, 2009
Abstract
Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873) was one of the leading British geologists, who did much work on the Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy. He was professor of geology at Cambridge and was an Anglican clergyman, later becoming Prebendary (Canon) of Peterborough. This paper considers his religious beliefs in relation to his geology, which, as he was an evangelical, centres on his and other people's interpretations of Genesis. Although he did not publish anything on Genesis, his understanding becomes clear from three interactions with fellow Anglican clergy. Two were acrimonious, one being with Henry Cole after the publication of The Discourse in 1833, and the other his controversy with Dean Cockburn of York at the British Association meeting in York in 1844. The third was his friendly correspondence with the evangelical Dean of Carlisle, Francis Close. This letter gave the longest statement of his ‘reconciliation’ of geology and Genesis.