|
Myers Literary Guide:
|
The North-East
|
|
THOMAS BURNET (1635 - 1715) Burnet was born in Croft-on-Tees. He published his famous Telluris Theoria Sacra or Sacred Theory of the Earth in 1681. This was the most famous work of scriptural geology, and was commended by Joseph Addison in an ode. Dr Johnson thought 'the critic ought to read for its elegance, the philosopher for its arguments and the saint for its piety'. The book was also, however, much maligned and misunderstood. It sought to provide a scientific rationale for all biblical events, past and future. Natural processes set in motion at the Creation, rather than the direct intervention of God, brought about the end of Eden, the inclination of the earth's axis, the flood and so on. In time, volcanic eruptions will restore the planet's original perfect spherical shape and the thousand-year reign of Christ will commence. Burnet was attacked by, among others, the Bishop of Hereford: 'Either his Brain is crakt with overlove of his own Invention, or his Heart is rotten with some evil design' - that is, the subversion of the church. Other argued that Burnet's natural explanations were dangerous because they encouraged a belief that God is superfluous. Nevertheless, Burnet prospered and became confessor to King William III, but in 1692 he published a work entitled Archaeologiae Philiosophiae: sive Doctrina Antiqua de Rerum Originibus advocating the allegorical interpretation of the six days of Genesis. The resultant clamour led to his dismissal by the king.
|
|