Earth Mysteries Part - 1

One of the oldest earth mysteries was 'what shape is it?' Eratosthenes, in 240 BC, was able to prove the sphericity of the earth and estimate its size to a reasonable margin of error, by comparing the angle of the sun at two distant locations simultaneously. Aristotle knew that the earth was spherical, citing the horizon, the Earth's circular shadow during lunar eclipses, and other phenomena. Many educated people knew about the spherical earth from late antiquity on. However, most Europeans believed that the earth was flat until the explorations of the renaissance.

In the late 19th century a number of alternative theories of the shape of the earth were proposed, flat, hollow and inside-out. By the time the poles had been reached in the early 20th century, the time for these theories had passed. Today, some Biblical inerrantists still believe that the Earth is flat.

This book contains collection of 3 titles:

1. The Sacred Theory of the Earth 2. Theory of the Earth  3. Paradise Found
About the Author
Thomas Burnet, James Hutton, William Fairfield Warren

Thomas Burnet was an English theologian and writer on cosmogony. Burnet's best-known work is his "The Sacred Theory of the Earth”. The first part was published in 1681 in Latin, and in 1684 in English translation; the second part appeared in 1689 (1690 in English). It was a speculative cosmogony, in which Burnet suggested a hollow earth with most of the water inside until Noah's Flood, at which time mountains and oceans appeared. He calculated the amount of water on Earth's surface, stating there was not enough to account for the Flood. The heterodox views of Isaac La Peyrere included the idea that the Flood was not universal; Burnet's theory was at least in part intended to answer him on that point. Burnet's system had its novel features, as well as those such as the four classical elements that were very traditional: an initially ovoid Earth, a Paradise before the Flood that was always in the spring season, and rivers flowing from the poles to the Equator. Herbert Croft published criticism of the book in 1685, in particular accusing Burnet of following the Second Epistle of Peter rather than the Book of Genesis.

James Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. His work helped to establish the basis of modern geology. His theories of geology and geologic time, also called deep time, came to be included in theories, which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism. He is also credited as the first scientist to publicly express the Earth was alive and should be considered a superorganism.

William Fairfield Warren was the first president of Boston University. Born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts, he graduated from Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut (1853), and there became a member of the Mystical Seven. He later studied at Andover Theological Seminary and at Berlin and Halle. He entered the New England Conference in 1855 and was professor of systematic theology in the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Institute at Bremen, Germany (1860–1866). He was acting president of the Boston University School of Theology (1866–1873), president of Boston University (1873–1903), and dean of the Boston University School of Theology (1903–1911).