III. 



THE THEOLOGIANS AND NATURAL 

 PHILOSOPHERS. 



Eine hochst wichtige Betrachtung der Geschichte der Wissenschaften ist die, 

 dass sich aus den ersten Anfangen einer Entdeckung manches in den Gang des 

 Wissens heran- und durchzieht, welches den Fortschritt hindert, sogar ofters 

 lahmt. GOETHE. 



As all learning in Europe was for centuries under 

 the guardianship of the Church, it is important to 

 look into the teachings of the great theologians 

 upon the origin and development of life. This 

 teaching sprang from two sources, the revelation 

 of the order of Creation in the Book of Genesis, 

 and the natural philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. 



Philo of Alexandria introduced in the first century 

 what has been described as the ' Hellenizing of the 

 Old Testament,' or the allegorical method of exe- 

 gesis. By this, as Erdmann observes, the Bible 

 narrative was found to contain a deeper, and par- 

 ticularly an allegorical, in addition to its literal, 

 interpretation ; this was not conscious disingenu- 

 ousness but a natural mode of amalgamating the 

 Greek philosophic with the Hebraic doctrines. 



Among the Christian Fathers the movement 

 towards a partly naturalistic interpretation of the 

 order of Creation was made by Gregory of Nyssa 

 in the fourth century, and was completed by Augus- 

 tine in the fourth and fifth centuries. Plainly as 



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