Re: Miracles

GRMorton@aol.com
Wed, 27 Sep 1995 23:55:46 -0400

Jim Blake wrote:
>Well, I think you're rightly skeptical of new interpretations. However,
>they're around in abundance. I've recently seen two new interpretations of
>Scripture of substantial magnitude given here. Glenn's flood, and Stephen's
>two Adam model (although he admits it wasn't original with him). Also, as
>far as I can tell, the idea that Adam had animal ancestors is of fairly
>recent origin. I'm interested in gathering a list of Biblical
>interpretations, widely held to be true nowadays, that were not thought of -
>say - before 500 AD.

I would like to mention that I have been told that the Days of Proclamation
view for Genesis 1 which I advocate is not original to me and was believed,
I think, by St. Basil. Bill Hamilton told me this or something like it. Not
being a good historian, I do not know when St. Basil lived so I don't know if
this is before 500 A.D. As to the local flood the earliest reference I can
find is from Leonardo Da Vinci which was prior to the advent of modern
Geology.

The belief in biological change, which I advocate is not new and was held by
Augustine, if I recall correctly. From my graduate days in philosophy of
science, I recall that Augustine thought monkeys were descended from men. If
some philosopher or historian would care to correct me I would appreciate
it. I believe his belief in life's mutability was involved with his view of
rationes seminales (seminal causes).

"...he had suggested that in the first stage of creation plants, animals and
men had all been made simultaneously in germ or in their 'seminal causes,'
and that in the second stage they had actually and successively appeared."~A.
C. Crombe, Medieval and Early Modern Science, I, doubleday, 1959, p. 30.

Thus the union of biological morphological change in Christendom goes way
back to the time of Augustine in the 4th century. Unfortunately, modern
Christians think none of the Church fathers believed such things.

glenn

Thus, of the three novel things I advocate, only one, the local flood, is
post 500 A.D.

glenn