Abstract
At the end of the Seventeenth Century, geophysical speculations among such eminent Newtonian natural philosophers as William Whiston, Edmond Halley, and John Keill concerning the moral fabric of the post-Fall geophysical system, the earth’s place in the Newtonian framework of the heavens, and what counts as evidence in geophysical theorizing reflect a definite rejection of the dominant Seventeenth Century Earth Theorist, Thomas Burnet. All three Newtonians are confident that the earth’s fabric is not morally corrupt, that, like Newton’s heaven, the earth is providentially designed, and that knowledge of its structure ought to be firmly rooted in empirical observation. Nevertheless, there is a major disagreement between Whiston and Keill about how to interpret the Bible. Whiston accepts revealed scripture, properly interpreted by the Newtonian exegete, as compatible with Newtonian science. Keill alone among the Newtonians is convinced that there are some aspects of the Bible which no amount of “scientific” interpreting will square with science. In such cases, for Keill, the Biblical view must always prevail. In the views of neither man, however, is there room for any sort of warfare between the new science and the old religion. Either revelation is completely accepted when an apparent dispute arises as with Keill or a complete correlation is simply assumed as with Whiston.
