Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
The wide range of conflicting theories and interpretations fostered suspicions that perhaps
it was the Bible that was being misinterpreted. The floodgates of heaven and the foun-
tains of the deep had been interpreted to refer to comets, a great vapor canopy, water from
alpine caves, and a vast subterranean sea—just about everywhere one might imagine find-
ing enough water to drown the world. Theologians started to question whether scripture
was meant to be a source of scientific information as well as a topic of personal and moral
redemption. Even conservative Christians began to question whether Noah's Flood was all
there was to earth history.
It is impossible to stand at Siccar Point and reasonably see how to fit what you can read
in the rocks into just 6,000 years of time. When Roman ruins still stand after 2,000 years,
how could raising and eroding off two mountain ranges happen in just twice as long before
that? The virtually unimaginable amount of time required to form the two unconformable
sandstones exposed along the Scottish coast offers a humbling glimpse of the infinite.
Hutton's recognition of the concept we now call deep time laid the foundation for a new
geological time scale. It was a turning point in our story and a huge development for the
field of geology. Reinterpreting the days of the week of Creation as geological ages allowed
earth history to accommodate vast expanses of geologic time. After all, who knew how
long one of God's working days lasted? Perhaps the rock record paralleled Genesis—if in-
terpreted as consisting of six ages rather than six days. Maybe Moses only wrote about the
part of the Flood that Noah witnessed. Although biblical interpretations were being recon-
sidered, there was still general faith that the rocks filled in the real story.
Then, as now, conventional wisdom guided interpretation of discoveries to the extent it
could. Scientific revolutions happen when conventional views can no longer bend under
the weight of new findings. Natural philosophers were still looking to prove Noah's Flood
because they viewed the world through the filter of religion, not because they feared theo-
logical condemnation. Despite the evidence Hutton and company marshaled to frame the
geological story, natural philosophers were reluctant to abandon the biblical story. Only
later did science start to modify and seriously undermine faith in biblical truth. Even so,
it had become clear there was more to earth history and fossils than simple deposition of
sedimentary rocks from a single flood over the span of a single year.
