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ColdSilverMoon · #52 (**permalink**) 03-26-2008, 04:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ivanhoe

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenbaggins

Quote:

Originally Posted by ColdSilverMoon

This is incorrect. This debate has been present since at least the time of Augustine in the 4th century, who actually believed that Genesis 1 was figurative and not a literal chronological account. Calvin believed in strict 24 hr periods, but he acknowledged that either God limited Himself to six 24-hr periods for our sake, or Moses wrote them that way for our understanding. So, the debate is hardly new and one can completely repudiate evolutonary theory and still be an Old Earth creationist.

But Augustine did not believe in an old earth. He actually believed that God created it all in a single moment. Old earthers cannot use Augustine as a handle to say "old earth views predate evolution."

Indeed. Augustine is the most extreme YECer. My view of creation is actually 5 days older than his!

I think you're missing the point. I never said Augustine had an old earth view. I said he viewed the Genesis 1 chronology as metaphorical rather than literal. My post was in response to Bob V, who claimed that the only reason not to believe in 6 24 hr days is to accomodate evolutionary theory. My point in bringing up Augstine is that the exact chronology of Genesis 1 has always been debated. Other pre-Darwin theologians have also questioned the literal 24 hr period. William Perkins, a 16th century Puritan, argued that creation took place in "six distinct spaces of time" rather than 6 actual day-night rotations. And as I mentioned in my first post, Calvin at least acknowledged there was room for debate on the issue, though he believed the literal 24-hr period view. So the debate over the Genesis 1 has indeed raged for centuries, well before Darwin and evolution.