The six days and the deluge: some ideas on earth history in the Royal Society of London 1660-1775

Abstract

The influence of the biblical story of Creation and the Deluge on ideas of earth history during the period 1660-1775 is examined with particular reference to papers on the subject published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Topics examined in more detail include the controversies over the origin of marine fossils and bones of prehistoric animals, ideas on natural causes of the Deluge and its role in shaping landforms, and the age of the earth. Despite the inhibiting effect of the Genesis account, there was considerable flexibility in interpretation of both the Creation and Deluge stories in terms of current scientific knowledge. The later papers display a good deal of uniformitarian thinking within the framework of a catastrophic deluge hypothesis.