From: Steve Bishop (stevebishop_uk@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed Jun 25 2003 - 04:42:14 EDT
>Perhaps this has been answered before on the list, but when was the "two
>books" analogy first used? As Ted points out, it's obviously in Bacon and
>Galileo
>but did it originate in late medieval or early modern Scholasticism? What
>were the historical/theological circumstances that prompted its
>introduction?
>Are there patristic sources?
>
>Karl
Augustine was perhaps one of the first to formulate an early version of what
could be construed as the two books metaphor:
"It is the divine page that you must listen to; it is the book of the
universe that you must observe. The pages of Scripture can only be read by
those who know how to read and write, while everyone, even the illiterate,
can read the book of the universe” .
St. AUGUSTINE, Enarrationes in Psalmos, XLV, 7 (PL 36,518).
Cited in http://www.usc.urbe.it/html/php/tanzella/nature.rtf
Cheers,
Steve
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