Mark Robertson Aug 30, 2023:

@All Most of these "reverend" geologists were Scottish Presbyterian ministers. Their geological work was part of the tail-end of the Scottish Enlightenment.

My home city, Edinburgh, was at the heart of the movement:

"Edinburgh in particular came in for praise from international scholars with Thomas Jefferson noting, “So far as science is concerned, no place in the world can pretend to competition with Edinburgh.” Benjamin Franklin in turn asserted that “the University of Edinburgh possessed a set of truly great men, Professors of Several Branches of Knowledge, as have ever appeared in any age or country.” Franklin, a true polymath, corresponded regularly with James Watt of steam engine fame. For his part, Voltaire recognised the contribution of the Scots of his era commenting, “we look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation.”

I lived near the famous Agassiz Rock, which has an important place in the history of geology, as this was where the visiting Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz proclaimed, in 1840, that scratches and rock moulding was “the work of an ice sheet”. The first ever reference to glacial erosion.

Ana Juliá (asker) Aug 30, 2023:

Context In the rest of the text, clergymen are mentioned among scriptural geologists, but not among "scientific" geologists.

Ana Juliá (asker) Aug 30, 2023:

@All Yes, the author of the quote was Henry Cole and was a scriptural geologist and anglican minister who wrote this criticizing other non-scriptural geologists.

Mark Robertson Aug 29, 2023:

Cont. See

https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?ar...

Mark Robertson Aug 29, 2023:

The following quote confirms my hunch.

"Secondly, several of the early 19th century scriptural geologists expressed their concerns that if the early chapters of Genesis were rejected as literal accurate history it would only be a matter of time before other parts of the Bible would be rejected as well, leading inevitably to the spiritual decline of the church and the moral decay of society. One scriptural geologist put it this way in 1834:

‘Many reverend Geologists, however, would evince their reverence for the divine Revelation by making a distinction between its historical and its moral portions; and maintaining, that the latter only is inspired and absolute Truth; but that the former is not so; and therefore is open to any latitude of philosophic and scientific interpretation, modification or denial! … What the consequences of such things must be to a revelation-possessing land, time will rapidly and awfully unfold in its opening pages of national scepticism, infidelity, and apostacy [sic], and of God’ righteous vengeance on the same!"

The quote is from a book entitled "Popular Geology Subversive to Divine Revelation", by H. Cole, published in 1834.

AllegroTrans Aug 29, 2023:

@ Mark I see your point, but I don't think this rules out the possibility that this is referring to clergymen who took up amateur geology. Don't forget that in the 19th century the divide between science and creationism was nothing like it is today.

Mark Robertson Aug 29, 2023:

@AllegroTrans It's all in the source text. Look at the mockery. "Evince reverence", the inverted commas around historical and moral. The author even threatens the poor geologists with hellfire and damnation:
"(...) time will rapidly and awfully unfold in its opening pages of national skepticism, infidelity, and apostasy, and of God’s righteous vengeance on the same!"

As the saying goes: "Torquemada this, Torquemada that, you can't torquehimoudda anything!"

AllegroTrans Aug 29, 2023:

@ Mark Interesting interpretation, but what is your evidence?

Mark Robertson Aug 29, 2023:

REVEREND The geologists are not clergymen and they are not worthy of reverence. The tone is sarcastic and the geologists are mocked because geology opposes a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. The lack of a capital letter is part of the mockery. I would just put the reverend in inverted commas "reverend", i.e. so-called.

Oliver Simões Aug 29, 2023:

AllegroTrans Perfect. Two lines of interpretation are in dispute. Clauwolf's makes more sense to me. Maybe the Asker can tell us if this has anything to do with the Church of England. If so, I'll be happy to change my vote. :-)

AllegroTrans Aug 29, 2023:

@ Cenk @ Oliver It might be a typo, but many clergymen, especially of the Church of England, and in England, took up pursuits such as geology in the 19th century.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Field-Guide-English-Clergy-Adventur...

Oliver Simões Aug 29, 2023:

Ana Juliá, I suggest consulting your client about the possibility of "reverend" being a typo. Hopefully, they'll be able to tell you what they really meant.

PS: A couple of things caught my eye. The capitalization of "geologists" and the likelihood that the word is not being used in a literal, but figurative, sense to mean"scientists" or "evolutionists". "Revered" might also be a form of sarcasm.

Geology: the study of the rocks and physical processes of the earth in order to understand its origin and history. (Cambridge Dictionary)

Oliver Simões Aug 29, 2023:

Cenk, Your interpretation seems to make more sense. I don't see any connection between geology and religion, especially when it comes to the evolution vs. creation dichotomy. To me, they are like water and oil, they don't mix. I had a creationist friend (Bless his heart) who believed the Earth was about 6,000 years old. Creationists consider carbon-dating hogwash. :-) And there's hardly any scientific evidence to back up their claims.

Cenk Başaran Aug 29, 2023:

Revered geologists? Maybe a typo