From: Glenn Morton (glenn.morton@btinternet.com)
Date: Wed Apr 23 2003 - 16:33:28 EDT
During our last week here in Aberdeen, my wife went (once again) antiquing.
She found a book by Arthur B. Moss with a preface by Herbert Junius
Hardwicke, entitled, The Bible and Evolution. The preface is dated March
10th, 1890. In the preface Hardwicke writes:
"It has often struck me with surprise that so many intelligent and educated
people still cling to the old myths and superstitions of the past, when
reason and common sense so clearly proclaim them to be utterly unworthy of
acceptance. It seems almost incredible that, in the latter part of the
nineteenth century, a large proportion of the people of Europe still profess
to believe the fables of the Creation, FAll, and Redemptions,
notwithstanding the fact that science and reason both declare them to have
been impossible as historic occurrences." Herbert Junius Hardwicke,
"Preface" in Arthur B. Moss, The Bible and Evolution, (London: Watts and
Company, c. 1890), p. 3
This was not the type of book my wife expected to have purchased. However,
it does show that my claim that Biblical literalism was not dead in the late
19th century is basically correct. It also is supportive of the view that
Biblical literalism was not revived in 1961 as some claim. Claims that there
wasn't a battle over Genesis, Geology and Biblical literalism and evolution
are clearly falsified by literature of the day. Here we have atheists
claiming that there are many biblical literalists in the 19th century, but
modern historians seem to think this wasn't the case. I simply don't know
why. Do they not read the actual 19th century literature?
This will be added to my web page
http:\\www.glenn.morton.btinternet.co.uk\nineteenth.htm
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