Schofield,
a dispensationalist, was responsible for securing much popular support for
the a gap theory of an order-chaos-re-order series of events by supporting
this interpretation in his reference Bible.
MBR Schofield had taken over and with others modified the old Chaos
Restitution interpretation which was the dominant view from 1600.
Jamieson, Fausett and
Brown in their commentary write that "confusion and emptiness," as the words
are rendered in Isaiah 34:11, means that this globe, at some undescribed
period, having been convulsed and broken up, was a dark and watery waste for
ages perhaps, till out of this chaotic state, the present fabric of the
world
was made to arise. In this approach they follow Schofield and the gap
theory.
MBR Dates please!! Schofield was 1900 and JFB's commentary was 1861-3, thus
Schofield followed JFB. Or rather JFB were typical of their period of a
non-dispensationalist chaos-restitution interpretation.
The Gap Theory is a sort of cruder version of Chaos-rest with the cosmic
punchup with lucifer thrown in.
. Matthew
Henry comments, and John Wesley in his notes agrees, that
"chaos was the first matter".
MBR Exactly, Almost every commentary and theol work as well as many theories
of the earth and also poetry and sex manuals I have read from 1650 to
1850 says chaos was created first and then chaos was re-ordered in 6 days
(usually 24 hr days but longer with Whiston and Newton and others) The
duration of Chaos was under question. So far I have only found Ussher,
Henry, Hutchinson and Catcott say chaos lasted 12 hrs thus keeping to 144
hours. Many dont discuss the duration e.g. Boyle, and then many again
suggest it was a
long time - Patrick, Burnett, Pantycelyn (author of Guide me o thou great
redeemer) Horsely.
Thus the few hundred writers I looked at from 1650 to 1800 allowed some
extra time for the duration of chaos thus denying a 6 day 144 hour creation.
Exactly how long they were not specific, but they opened up enough time for
Buffon to suggest a long time (initially c100,000 years) and when geologists
rejected their youngish earth assumptions in the face of overwhelming
evidence for an old earth in 1775-1795 theologians were quick to suggest
that all geological time occured in this period of chaos or the Gap.
In 1802 some youngster by the name of Chalmers popularised this and wrongly
got all the credit!
Some of this is written up in 'The Genesis of Ray' in the April number of
The Evagelical Quarterly and in my 'Journeys into Deep time' in The
Dsicovery of Time edited by S. McCready, Sourcebooks/MQP 2001.
Whether we like the Chaos-Restitution interpretation or not (and I don't) it
was the dominant view from 1650 to 1860 and allowed first a time greater
than Ussher suggested and from 1790 all geological time as well. Thus no YEC
can argue that a 6 day 144 hour view of Genesis was the traditional view of
the church at any time (except possibly from 1500-1550). From 1600 the
church was oscillating between YishEC and MEC (middleage earth) and from
1780 more and more became OEC which was dominant by 1820 except for the
benighted few whom Mortenson studied (see AIG website)
I am still chasing up the roots but the chaos rest is in Grotius and
Mersenne in the early 17th century, thus showing that a nonYEC position was
not desperation in the face of infidel geologists.
It dopes help to take a historical perspective on these matters
Michael
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