Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it. Ecclesiastes 8:17
"Belief in deep time and an evolutionary process grew in late 17th-century and 18th-century France.
There were a number of reasons for this:
---growing religious struggles,
---political unrest,
---and interest in non-Christian religions from ancient Greece, Egypt, and the Indian Sub-continent.
During the middle of the 18th century there was also growing agitation for revolution, but suppression by the powers of State and Church only encouraged the revolution. Undermining the scriptural account of creation and the Flood arguably became part of the process of undermining the existing order, although that may not have been the initial or full motivation.
Initially they sought to separate science from religious authority through the application of Cartesian philosophy.
* But de Maillet attempted to establish belief in billions of years of change through appeals to Hinduism and human speculation.
* Bernard de Fontenelle’s (1657–1757) position at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris influenced the development of
geological science in France through the early 18th century. Fontenelle, who was trained by Jesuits at the Collège de Bourbon, wrote a book in 1686 that was arguably a work of science fiction, entitled Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds (Entretiens sur la Pluralité des Mondes).
This was in the form of a dialogue between two people and discussed space travel and the possibility of life on the moon and other planets. It also introduced consideration of developments over long periods of time, and, as Stott suggests, opened up the French imagination and ideas for a century thereafter.
By writing it in the form of science fiction he could avoid the charge of heresy. In the Preface he spoke of the influence of Cicero, and that if challenged by the Catholic authorities on the suggestion that he believed men lived on the moon he would deny that they were men.
* Benoît de Maillet (1656–1738), who was well connected in French society. Through his work as a French diplomat he had opportunity to travel widely in the Middle East and studied the Egyptian pyramids, ancient pagan philosophies and Eastern religions.
Officially he reported to the king’s ministers, but secretly worked to undermine acceptance of the Biblical Flood arguing that the earth was of the order of two billion years old.
He had opportunity to read Fontenelle’s Conversations and other scientific papers while travelling, and later Fontenelle offered him encouragement to expand the work. But while Fontenelle had argued along Cartesian lines in his Histoires, de Maillet also appealed to the beliefs of Hinduism to justify his estimation of the antiquity of the earth.
The major work of de Maillet was presented for publication in Paris in 1735, although draft copies had circulated in Paris as early as 1718 with gossip concerning its contents spreading through Parisian society.
It was finally published in the French language in 1748 by a printer in Holland. This was several years after his death.
This publication was under a thinly veiled pseudonym as Telliamed, or Conversations Between an Indian Philosopher and a French Missionary on the Diminution of the Sea, and the Origin of Men and Animals. Telliamed is of course a simple reversal of his name, and this character was given the task of presenting the author’s more radical views.
The work had presented the days of Genesis as long periods of time, but contended for an early theory of evolution where marine animals gradually turned into terrestrial forms as the sea receded. Flying fish became birds, and mermen and mermaids were said to have evolved into men and women.
At face value he presented an early uniformitarian theory, appealing to gradual changes in the earth.
He comments further:
The Hindu cyclical periods were first expounded in the Puranic literature that asserted that the universe undergoes a continual cycle of creation, destruction, and recreation. The 12-hour day of Brahma was said to last for 4.32 Ga, during which period the god Brahma, who governs the universe, is awake, followed by a night of similar length. It would seem that broad correlation in his estimates with the Hindu age of the earth was not coincidental."
CMI
"Belief in deep time and an evolutionary process grew in late 17th-century and 18th-century France.
There were a number of reasons for this:
---growing religious struggles,
---political unrest,
---and interest in non-Christian religions from ancient Greece, Egypt, and the Indian Sub-continent.
During the middle of the 18th century there was also growing agitation for revolution, but suppression by the powers of State and Church only encouraged the revolution. Undermining the scriptural account of creation and the Flood arguably became part of the process of undermining the existing order, although that may not have been the initial or full motivation.
Initially they sought to separate science from religious authority through the application of Cartesian philosophy.
* But de Maillet attempted to establish belief in billions of years of change through appeals to Hinduism and human speculation.
* Bernard de Fontenelle’s (1657–1757) position at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris influenced the development of
This was in the form of a dialogue between two people and discussed space travel and the possibility of life on the moon and other planets. It also introduced consideration of developments over long periods of time, and, as Stott suggests, opened up the French imagination and ideas for a century thereafter.
By writing it in the form of science fiction he could avoid the charge of heresy. In the Preface he spoke of the influence of Cicero, and that if challenged by the Catholic authorities on the suggestion that he believed men lived on the moon he would deny that they were men.
* Benoît de Maillet (1656–1738), who was well connected in French society. Through his work as a French diplomat he had opportunity to travel widely in the Middle East and studied the Egyptian pyramids, ancient pagan philosophies and Eastern religions.
Officially he reported to the king’s ministers, but secretly worked to undermine acceptance of the Biblical Flood arguing that the earth was of the order of two billion years old.
He had opportunity to read Fontenelle’s Conversations and other scientific papers while travelling, and later Fontenelle offered him encouragement to expand the work. But while Fontenelle had argued along Cartesian lines in his Histoires, de Maillet also appealed to the beliefs of Hinduism to justify his estimation of the antiquity of the earth.
The major work of de Maillet was presented for publication in Paris in 1735, although draft copies had circulated in Paris as early as 1718 with gossip concerning its contents spreading through Parisian society.
It was finally published in the French language in 1748 by a printer in Holland. This was several years after his death.
This publication was under a thinly veiled pseudonym as Telliamed, or Conversations Between an Indian Philosopher and a French Missionary on the Diminution of the Sea, and the Origin of Men and Animals. Telliamed is of course a simple reversal of his name, and this character was given the task of presenting the author’s more radical views.
The work had presented the days of Genesis as long periods of time, but contended for an early theory of evolution where marine animals gradually turned into terrestrial forms as the sea receded. Flying fish became birds, and mermen and mermaids were said to have evolved into men and women.
At face value he presented an early uniformitarian theory, appealing to gradual changes in the earth.
He comments further:
“ … this Globe was neither habitable, not inhabited till many Ages after the Appearance of our first Grounds; that Navigation … [was] not known till long after the Existence of Men; and that after a Beginning … the Progress of Navigation has been so slow, that from that Time till the Building of the Ship found in Sweden [allegedly in a mine 600 feet (183 m) underground], we may reckon an incredible Number of Years, and perhaps the half of the Age of the Earth.”In unpublished versions he was speaking in terms of 2 Ga for the age of the earth, which correlated with the Hindu view of the world.
The Hindu cyclical periods were first expounded in the Puranic literature that asserted that the universe undergoes a continual cycle of creation, destruction, and recreation. The 12-hour day of Brahma was said to last for 4.32 Ga, during which period the god Brahma, who governs the universe, is awake, followed by a night of similar length. It would seem that broad correlation in his estimates with the Hindu age of the earth was not coincidental."
CMI
