On the Edge of Eternity: The Antiquity of the Earth in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

The notion of an ancient Earth was highly heterodox in the pre-modern era, and Ivano Dal Prete's book challenges the commonplace history of deep time in Western culture. He argues that the chronology of the Bible coexisted with alternative approaches that placed the origin of the Earth into a far, undetermined past. Religious authorities did not regard these notions as problematic, and Enlightenment thinkers created a myth of a Christian tradition that uniformly rejected the antiquity of the world.

Format: Hardback
Length: 320 pages
Publication date: 14 November 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

It is commonly believed that the creation story of Genesis and its chronology were the sole narratives readily accessible in medieval and early modern Europe, and that the discovery of geological time in the eighteenth century marked a significant breakthrough that challenged the faith in the historical accuracy of the Bible. Historians of science, mainstream geologists, and Young Earth creationists alike assume that the notion of an ancient Earth was highly unconventional in the pre-modern era. The old age of the world is perceived as the product of a secularized science.

In this book, Ivano Dal Prete challenges the conventional history of deep time in Western culture. He argues that the chronology of the Bible has always coexisted with alternative approaches that posited the Earth's origin in a distant, indefinite (or even eternal) past. From the late Middle Ages, these notions spread freely not only in universities and among the learned, but also in popular works of meteorology, geology, literature, and art that made them accessible to a vernacular and scientifically illiterate public. Religious authorities did not consider these notions particularly problematic, let alone heretical. Neither the authors nor their numerous readers believed that holding such views was incompatible with their Christian faith. While the appeal of theories centered on the biblical Flood and a young Earth gained popularity throughout the seventeenth century, their more secular alternatives remained vital and debated.

Enlightenment thinkers, however, created a myth of a Christian tradition that uniformly rejected the antiquity of the world, in contrast to a new secular science ready to embrace it. This account solidified for nearly three centuries, largely unchallenged.

Weight: 636g
Dimension: 166 x 241 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780190678890