RISE OF EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT 



417 



first of tire greal theologians to discuss specifically the ques- 

 tion of creation. His position is an enlightened one. He 

 says: " It very often happens that there is some question as 

 to the earth or the sky, or the other elements of this world 

 . . . respecting which one who is not a Christian has knowl- 

 edge derived from most certain reasoning or observation" 

 (that is, a scientific man); "and it is very disgraceful and 

 mischievous and of all things to be carefully avoided, that a 

 Christian speaking of such matters as being according to the 

 Christian Scriptures, should be heard by an unbeliever talk- 

 ing such nonsense that the unbeliever, perceiving him to be 

 as wide from the mark as east from west, can hardly restrain 

 himself from laughing." (Quoted from Osborn.) 



Augustine's view of the method of creation was that of 

 derivative creation or creation caasaliter. His was a natural- 

 istic interpretation of the Mosaic record, and a theory of 

 gradual creation. He held that in the beginning the earth 

 and the waters of the earth were endowed with power to 

 produce plants and animals, and that it was not necessary to 

 assume that all creation was formed at once. He cautions 

 his readers against looking to the Scriptures for scientific 

 truths. He said in reference to the creation that the days 

 spoken of in the first chapter of Genesis could not be solar 

 days of twenty-four hours each, but that they must stand 

 for longer periods of time. 



This view of St. Augustine is interesting as being less 

 narrow and dogmatic than the position assumed by many 

 theologians of the nineteenth century. 



The next theologian to take up the question of creation 

 was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in the thirteenth cen- 

 tury. He quotes St. Augustine's view with approval, but 

 does not contribute anything of his own. One should not 

 hastily conclude, however, because these views were held by 

 leaders of theological thought, that they were universally 



