Augustine’s Influences
Preface
This is a PhD Edit article originally published 21072013, revised with additions for an entry on academia.edu, 27072024.
Manichaeism
According to Alan
Richardson (1999), as a student Augustine was attracted to Manichaeism,[1] a movement began by the Persian, Manes (ca
215-275).[2] Vernon J. Bourke (1958) writes that
Augustine was in this religion for nine years from 373 A.D.[3]
The Manichees, according to Augustine scholar Henry Chadwick (1992), held that
matter itself was evil.[4] Augustine rejected
Manichaeism when he converted to Christianity,[5] but
this does not mean with certainty the views of Manes have no influence
whatsoever on Augustine’s theodicy.[6] However,
Augustine is historically known to have eventually challenged Manichaeism by
denying its views as mythology,[7] and in
disagreement with what he viewed as orthodox Christianity.[8]
Augustine’s view of the corruption and privation of matter and nature was that
they were good things as created originally by God,[9] but
had become less than they were originally intended through the rebellion of
creatures.[10] This view would therefore
contradict Manichaeism[11] which saw matter as
always by nature being inherently evil.[12]
Platonic Philosophy
Augustine was also
documented to have been influenced by Platonic philosophy.[13]
Scott MacDonald (1989) explains in his article ‘Augustine’s Christian-Platonic
Account of Goodness’ that Augustine held views influenced by Platonic thought.[14] Platonic philosophy was largely created by
Plato (427-347 B.C.).[15] Richard Kraut (1996) notes
Plato was a preeminent Greek philosopher who conceived the observable world as
an imperfect image of the realm of the unobservable and unchanging forms.[16] Plato, in Timaeus, written in 360
B.C, viewed these forms as divinely moved objects.[17]
Mark D. Jordan (1996) notes Augustine was primarily affected by Neoplatonism
before his conversion to Christianity.[18]
Augustine (398-399)(1992) states in Confessions he examined
Platonist writings that supported his Biblical understanding of the nature of
God.[19] Jordan states the Platonic writings
helped Augustine to conceive of a cosmic hierarchy in the universe in which God
was immaterial and had sovereign control over his material creation.[20] However, Jordan states Augustine saw philosophy
alone as being unable to change his life as only God himself could do.[21] Augustine’s use of Plato does not in itself
invalidate his understanding of Biblical writings where the two may happen to
be in agreement.[22] From my overall research of
Augustine and his free will theodicy, he places much emphasis on Biblical
theology as primary,[23] and therefore although it
is possible he could read Neoplatonism into his understanding of theodicy, it
is also very likely he rejects Neoplatonism where it contradicts his Scriptural
findings through in depth study.[24]
AUGUSTINE (388-395)(1964) On
Free Choice of the Will, Translated by Anna S.Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff,
Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice Hall.
AUGUSTINE (398-399)(1992) Confessions,
Translated by Henry Chadwick, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
AUGUSTINE
(400-416)(1987)(2004) On the Trinity, Translated by Reverend Arthur
West Haddan, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 3, Denver,
The Catholic Encyclopedia.
AUGUSTINE (421)(1998) Enchiridion,
Translated by J.F. Shaw, Denver, The Catholic Encyclopedia.
AUGUSTINE (426)(1958) The
City of God, Translated by Gerald G. Walsh, Garden City, New York, Image
Books.
AUGUSTINE (427)(1997) On
Christian Doctrine, Translated by D.W. Robertson Jr., Upper Saddle River,
N.J., Prentice Hall.
AUGUSTINE (427b)(1997) On
Christian Teaching, Translated by R.P.H. Green, Oxford, Oxford University
Press.
BOURKE, VERNON J. (1958)
‘Introduction’, in The City of God, Translated by Gerald G. Walsh,
Garden City, New York, Image Books.
CHADWICK, HENRY (1992)
‘Introduction’, in Confessions, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
JORDAN, MARK D. (1996)
‘Augustine’, in Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of
Philosophy, pp. 52-53. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
KRAUT, RICHARD (1996)
‘Plato’, in Robert Audi (ed.), The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy,
Cambridge, pp. 619-629. Cambridge University Press.
MACDONALD, SCOTT (1989)
‘Augustine’s Christian-Platonist Account of Goodness’, in The New
Scholasticism, Volume 63, Number 4, pp. 485-509. Baltimore, The New
Scholasticism.
PLATO (360 B.C.)(1982)
‘Timaeus’, in Process Studies, Volume. 12, Number 4, Winter,
pp.243-251. Claremont, California, Process Studies.
POJMAN, LOUIS P. (1996) Philosophy:
The Quest for Truth, New York, Wadsworth Publishing Company.
RICHARDSON, ALAN (1999)
‘Manichaeism’, in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (eds.), A New
Dictionary of Christian Theology, Kent, SCM Press Ltd.
Website work
(My comments)
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Dave Ofstead.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight.'
Cited
'Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Augustine of Hippo'
'From his birth to his conversion (354-386)'
'Augustine was born at Tagaste on 13 November, 354. Tagaste, now Souk-Ahras, about 60 miles from Bona (ancient Hippo-Regius), was at that time a small free city of proconsular Numidia which had recently been converted from Donatism.'
Cited
'From his conversion to his episcopate (386-395)'
'Augustine gradually became acquainted with Christian doctrine, and in his mind the fusion of Platonic philosophy with revealed dogmas was taking place. The law that governed this change of thought has of late years been frequently misconstrued; it is sufficiently important to be precisely defined. The solitude of Cassisiacum realized a long-cherished dream. In his books "Against the Academics," Augustine has described the ideal serenity of this existence, enlivened only by the passion for truth. He completed the education of his young friends, now by literary readings in common, now by philosophical conferences to which he sometimes invited Monica, and the accounts of which, compiled by a secretary, have supplied the foundation of the "Dialogues." Licentius, in his "Letters," would later on recall these delightful philosophical mornings and evenings, at which Augustine was wont to evolve the most elevating discussions from the most commonplace incidents. The favourite topics at their conferences were truth, certainty (Against the Academics), true happiness in philosophy (On a Happy Life), the Providential order of the world and the problem of evil (On Order) and finally God and the soul (Soliloquies, On the Immortality of the Soul).'
Cited
'It is now easy to appreciate at its true value the influence of neo-Platonism upon the mind of the great African Doctor. It would be impossible for anyone who has read the works of St. Augustine to deny the existence of this influence. However, it would be a great exaggeration of this influence to pretend that it at any time sacrificed the Gospel to Plato. The same learned critic thus wisely concludes his study: "So long, therefore, as his philosophy agrees with his religious doctrines, St. Augustine is frankly neo-Platonist; as soon as a contradiction arises, he never hesitates to subordinate his philosophy to religion, reason to faith.
(This conclusion in agreement with my PhD research and findings, documented above)
He was, first of all, a Christian; the philosophical questions that occupied his mind constantly found themselves more and more relegated to the background" (op. cit., 155). But the method was a dangerous one; in thus seeking harmony between the two doctrines he thought too easily to find Christianity in Plato, or Platonism in the Gospel. More than once, in his "Retractations" and elsewhere, he acknowledges that he has not always shunned this danger. Thus he had imagined that in Platonism he discovered the entire doctrine of the Word and the whole prologue of St. John. He likewise disavowed a good number of neo-Platonic theories which had at first misled him — the cosmological thesis of the universal soul, which makes the world one immense animal — the Platonic doubts upon that grave question: Is there a single soul for all or a distinct soul for each? But on the other hand, he had always reproached the Platonists, as Schaff very properly remarks (Saint Augustine, New York, 1886, p. 51), with being ignorant of, or rejecting, the fundamental points of Christianity: "first, the great mystery, the Word made flesh; and then love, resting on the basis of humility." They also ignore grace, he says, giving sublime precepts of morality without any help towards realizing them.'
(Non-Christian worldviews can have overlap of agreement with statements and arguments of truth within biblical, New Testament, Christianity; while still being overall, distinctly different worldviews, in contrast to that Christianity)
Citations
'The Manichæan controversy and the problem of evil'
'After Augustine became bishop the zeal which, from the time of his baptism, he had manifested in bringing his former co-religionists into the true Church, took on a more paternal form without losing its pristine ardour — "let those rage against us who know not at what a bitter cost truth is attained. . . . As for me, I should show you the same forbearance that my brethren had for me when I blind, was wandering in your doctrines" (Contra Epistolam Fundamenti 3). Among the most memorable events that occurred during this controversy was the great victory won in 404 over Felix, one of the "elect" of the Manichæans and the great doctor of the sect. He was propagating his errors in Hippo, and Augustine invited him to a public conference the issue of which would necessarily cause a great stir; Felix declared himself vanquished, embraced the Faith, and, together with Augustine, subscribed the acts of the conference. In his writings Augustine successively refuted Mani (397), the famous Faustus (400), Secundinus (405), and (about 415) the fatalistic Priscillianists whom Paulus Orosius had denounced to him. These writings contain the saint's clear, unquestionable views on the eternal problem of evil, views based on an optimism proclaiming, like the Platonists, that every work of God is good and that the only source of moral evil is the liberty of creatures (City of God XIX.13.2).
(Here we can see why I reviewed Augustine under the umbrella of free will theodicy within my PhD work, and this supports the view that it was/is historically accurate to do so)
Augustine takes up the defence of free will, even in man as he is, with such ardour that his works against the Manichæan are an inexhaustible storehouse of arguments in this still living controversy.
In vain have the Jansenists maintained that Augustine was unconsciously a Pelagian and that he afterwards acknowledged the loss of liberty through the sin of Adam. Modern critics, doubtless unfamiliar with Augustine's complicated system and his peculiar terminology, have gone much farther. In the "Revue d'histoire et de littérature religieuses" (1899, p. 447), M. Margival exhibits St. Augustine as the victim of metaphysical pessimism unconsciously imbibed from Manichæan doctrines. "Never," says he, "will the Oriental idea of the necessity and the eternity of evil have a more zealous defender than this bishop." Nothing is more opposed to the facts. Augustine acknowledges that he had not yet understood how the first good inclination of the will is a gift of God (Retractions, I, xxiii, n, 3); but it should be remembered that he never retracted his leading theories on liberty, never modified his opinion upon what constitutes its essential condition, that is to say, the full power of choosing or of deciding. Who will dare to say that in revising his own writings on so important a point he lacked either clearness of perception or sincerity?'
References from New Advent
'APA citation. Portalié, E. (1907). Life of St. Augustine of Hippo. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm
MLA citation. Portalié, Eugène. "Life of St. Augustine of Hippo." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. .
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ReplyDeleteWell, at least some substance to the portion of that email spam I borrowed from the condo, downstairs.
ReplyDeleteWell, I used 30 SPF sunscreen for exposed skin on Sunday out in Vancouver at the beach and near and still was a little sunburned on my nose and forehead and right hand. Perhaps I need to use more. My arms and legs are fine. Sometimes we only receive perhaps five weeks of summer weather in the Lower Mainland but this year we have that already.
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I use 30SPF sunscreen also, but only because the swimmers itch can't penetrate through it during the swims.
ReplyDeleteAny thoughts on Augustine's Contra Academicos? My understanding is that the Academics were the only philosophical sect that Augustine had formally identified with for a time.
New Advent
ReplyDeleteQuote
'However, before embracing the Faith, Augustine underwent a three years' struggle during which his mind passed through several distinct phases. At first he turned towards the philosophy of the Academics, with its pessimistic scepticism; then neo-Platonic philosophy inspired him with genuine enthusiasm. At Milan he had scarcely read certain works of Plato and, more especially, of Plotinus, before the hope of finding the truth dawned upon him. Once more he began to dream that he and his friends might lead a life dedicated to the search for it, a life purged of all vulgar aspirations after honours, wealth, or pleasure, and with celibacy for its rule (Confessions VI). But it was only a dream; his passions still enslaved him.'
I have heard of that text, but did not read as it was not directly relevant, it appeared, to his work on the problem of evil and theodicy and with him being translated as well as he was repetitive and sometimes a confusing writer. Not as clear as Calvin, for example.
Thanks, sir.
You are reminding me that my memory of Confessions is fuzzy. I need to read it again. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteI found Augustine, that seemed more so philosopher than theologian, although debatable, somewhat fuzzy, but many in the RCC would find that offensive perhaps. I found Feinberg more enlightened in the context studied. My PhD adviser stated basically, in other words, that would be balked at.
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ReplyDeleteDr. Murray,
ReplyDeleteI was having a long debate with my youngest brother, who is a Charismatic, on the phone today. He believes that when Genesis says that God breathed the breath of life in Adam (he says the word is "Rhema"...and I just now realized that "Rhema" is Greek, but the O.T. was in Hebrew, unless you count the Septuagint, so the word would be a Hebrew word, not a Greek word), that God breathed the Holy Spirit into Adam, and when Adam sinned, Adam lost the Holy Spirit. I told him that when the Bible says God breathed the breath of life into Adam, it means He gave Adam physical life, but also spiritual life, in that He gave Adam the spirit of man (i.e., man's own spirit, which is eternal). He agrees with that, but says that in addition, God also gave Adam the Holy Spirit. He says that without the Holy Spirit man would not have eternal life, so, since Adam had eternal life before the fall, that means Adam had the Holy Spirit. I said that Adam had eternal life not because he had the Holy Spirit, but because he had not sinned. We just went back and forth. What would you say, and what Scriptures would you use?
Sorry, scratch what I said about the Greek word. I think he did mention the Hebrew word "ruach" for "spirit." I told him "ruach" can mean “wind, breath, air, spirit," which he agreed with, so he insists on saying that God breathed His own holy spirit into man, since God is holy. But we both agree that the Holy Spirit is a Person.
ReplyDeleteWe were also talking about Abraham's bosom, and talking about whether that is in Heaven or some other place. I said Abraham's bosom was before Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you," so apparently it was before Jesus prepared Heaven for us. We both agreed that neither of us knows exactly where (or even what) Abraham's bosom could be, other than a place of comfort and rest.
Another point my brother and I were discussing is about how people in the Old Testament were saved. I said they were saved in the same way that we are today, by faith. He agreed that they were saved, but he said they were not saved by the blood of Christ, because Jesus had not died yet. I told him they were saved by faith in the coming Messiah. He said there is no verse that says that the O.T. saints were saved by faith in the Messiah. I pointed out Hebrews 11 that says they were saved by faith in God, but he said that says faith in God, not faith in the Messiah.
ReplyDeleteHe says their sins were covered, but they were not cleansed. I don't see an effectual difference between the two words. I told him that God is not limited by time, and that it does not matter when Jesus died, but what matters is their faith/belief.
Erickson on page 613 of Christian Theology suggests conditional immortality before the fall. Basically not full immortality, but humans did not necessarily have to die. In other words if Adam and Eve had obeyed God and stayed within the Garden of Eden where certain conditions existed they could have maintained everlasting life. It can be reasoned outside on the rest of the Earth and the Universe it was not the case.
ReplyDeleteGenesis 3:24 NASB
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
'He says their sins were covered, but they were not cleansed. I don't see an effectual difference between the two words. I told him that God is not limited by time, and that it does not matter when Jesus died, but what matters is their faith/belief.'
There existed the Mosaic Law and old covenant. There was the concept of atonement in the old covenant as well as keeping the law, and this surely demonstrates that one could not keep the law and sets the place for the final atonement of Christ in the new covenant whether or not someone in the old covenant understood very well the divine nature of the messiah or not.
Thank you sir.
Massive comments update
ReplyDeleteErickson on page 613 of Christian Theology suggests conditional immortality before the fall. Basically not full immortality, but humans did not necessarily have to die. In other words if Adam and Eve had obeyed God and stayed within the Garden of Eden where certain conditions existed they could have maintained everlasting life. It can be reasoned outside on the rest of the Earth and the Universe it was not the case.
ReplyDeleteGenesis 3:24 NASB
So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Since my comments, I have done some additional research, which I think agrees with what you stated.
First, I read that the Hebrew word ruwach is indeed used to designate God’s Spirit in the Old Testament, and sometimes it's also used to designate man’s spirit. However, when God breathed life into Adam, a different word is used, which is neshamah, which means breath, according to Strong's. This word is used in association with giving life to a human soul. So, from what I read, Genesis 2:7 does not use ruwach, but rather neshamah.
Secondly, I read something I had never considered before, but which makes sense to me, and this is the part that I think would agree with what you stated, Dr. Murray. The breath of life (neshamah) that we inherit from our parents was never intended to give eternal life. The longevity that was imparted to Adam and Eve was actually through their diet, the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22), [Remember there were two trees, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, and they were never told not to eat of the Tree of Life until after the Fall, when the angel guarded it with a flaming sword]. When we receive salvation, we receive the Holy Spirit, which enables our souls to have the same life as Jesus, which is eternal. But Adam had the Tree of Life. So apparently that is how his eternal life was maintained, which I would say agrees with what you stated, that "if Adam and Eve had obeyed God and stayed within the Garden of Eden where certain conditions existed they could have maintained everlasting life." The "certain conditions" could be the Tree of Life.
There existed the Mosaic Law and old covenant. There was the concept of atonement in the old covenant as well as keeping the law, and this surely demonstrates that one could not keep the law and sets the place for the final atonement of Christ in the new covenant whether or not someone in the old covenant understood very well the divine nature of the messiah or not.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. So I would say it this way:
Isaiah and other books prophesy about how the Messiah would suffer and die and be glorified, so the Old Testament prophets and those who believed them looked forward to the coming Christ. The Old Testament Scriptures contained, for them, the gospel message, and faith in that message was how people got saved back then, even though Jesus had not died yet.
"Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into." (1 Peter 1:10–12)
So the “prophets...who prophesied” longed for the arrival of an era of grace. The “Spirit of Christ” within them was filling them with this great desire, witnessing through them and to them in advance of the work of Christ. The Spirit of Christ witnessed in advance about the sufferings and glories of Christ. Even before the completion of the New Testament, the Old Testament served as the Scripture for Israel, and it contained a gospel theme concerning the coming, sufferings, and glory of Messiah.
Acts 3:18 says, "But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled." So the gospel theme was in the Old Testament. It continues through verse 24 and says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began."
So the gospel message of salvation was preached in the Old Testament, and faith in that gospel message is how people got saved, even though Jesus had not died yet. Paul explained in Romans 4 that salvation has always been, and will always be, by God’s grace, and received through faith alone. Genesis 3:15 promised that Someone would come to clear up the sin problem created by our first father, Adam. As the Seed of the woman, He would be the one to battle and defeat the serpent. Even Abel understood the nature of a bloody sacrifice and the death of a substitute, and because of his faith in God, he was regarded by God as righteous (Hebrews 11:4). God has onecovenant of grace, which was promised right after the fall in Genesis 3:15 proclaiming that the seed of the woman would crush the seed of the serpent.
Yes, thank you. In agreement with this post remember...
ReplyDeleteDo You Have Soul-Spirit
Massive comments update
ReplyDeleteWow. I took a glance, and I see what you mean. I'll have to check it out further, later.
Yes, including a mysterious commmenter.
ReplyDeleteDo You Have Soul-Spirit
ReplyDeleteInteresting; that past blog article references Clarence Darrow.
From the blog post:
For Clarence Darrow the immaterial soul does not exist and cannot be reasonably conceived. Darrow (1928)(1973: 261).
Is that the same Clarence Darrow as the famed defense attorney of the Scopes Trial, where Nebraska Man (later proved as a hoax: a single tooth, discovered in Nebraska in 1922, grew an entire evolutionary link between man and monkey, until another identical tooth was found which was protruding from the jawbone of a wild pig) was the main evidence in favor of evolution?
Also from your past blog article:
For Strong. the most often documented word used for spirit in the Hebrew Bible is ‘ruwach’ roo’-akh. Strong (1986: 142). The most common word used in the Hebrew Bible for soul is ‘nephesh’ neh’-fesh. Strong (1986: 105). The most used word for spirit in the New Testament is ‘pneuma’ pnyoo’mah. Strong (1986: 78). The most common world for soul is ‘psuche’ psoo-khay. Strong (1986: 106).
That is helpful.
Looks like a fun conversation. Checking my Bibleworks, neshamah is a rare word that is used both for human life and animal life (24 occurrences). Ruach has a broader meaning, ranging from the four winds to the spirit of God, but also can mean animal life. The broader sense of Ruach may just be a function of the 394 occurrences. In Job 27:3, the two words are used in poetic parallelism.
ReplyDeleteThe note on Clarence Darrow reminds me that for much of the 19th and 20th centuries, a "moderate" was a rabid atheist and a "conservative" was a universalist who still had some people in his congregation who thought there was something special about Jesus.
Sounds reasonable, sir.
ReplyDeleteThe comments on the other blog are presently more wild...;)
neshamah is a rare word that is used both for human life and animal life (24 occurrences). Ruach has a broader meaning, ranging from the four winds to the spirit of God, but also can mean animal life.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Looney, that is helpful.
I said previously:
ReplyDelete...the Scopes Trial, where Nebraska Man...was the main evidence in favor of evolution?
Oops! The trial of John T. Scopes for teaching the evolution of man from lower animals in 1925 has passed from historical event into cultural legend, and, upon further research, it seems I fell prey to the legend portion of it and was mistaken.
I found out that:
There was no physical evidence presented at the Scopes Trial. No expert witness testified before the jury. Only one expert was allowed to speak directly to the court (Judge Raulston did not permit any testimony in the official presence of the jury, but one witness testified and several affidavits were read into the record when the jury was excused). Statements from experts were read into the transcript at one point. However, no expert, whether speaking directly or via affidavit, mentioned Nebraska Man in the trial. Nebraska man was never introduced into the trial, since the lead paleoanthropologist Dr. Fay Cooper Cole had some misgivings about it. The Scopes Trial generated a lot of publicity, and the possibility remains that commentators outside the trial made mention of Nebraska Man. However, this still renders the original assertion false. Nebraska Man was not entered as evidence.
Now, on the other hand, though it is not true that Piltdown Man*** played a large role in expert testimony, Piltdown Man was mentioned by two experts in affidavits, though in each case Piltdown was given no special status. The sense of the affidavits indicates that Piltdown Man was considered to be anomalous (i.e., of uncertain nature or classification; marked by incongruity or contradiction).
As a side note, trying to flatly state who won or lost the Scopes Trial is a futile endeavor. The facts are that the purpose of the Scopes Trial was to begin a process of judicial review of the Butler Act, which did not proceed to a federal court as the ACLU had planned. The Butler Act provided penalties for the teaching of evolution. And contrary to some common assertions today, Darrow was actually defending the right to teach science in a science classroom, and not arguing for exclusivity. Scopes was convicted and fined under the Butler Act, but the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the law while overturning the conviction on a technicality. The ACLU's primary purpose was thwarted, and the Butler Act remained on the Tennessee books until the 1960's, and its success led to anti-evolution legislation in two other states, as well as proposed legislative action in many more states. So, some say that the creationists won. The creationists, however, received quite a lot of bad publicity.
***The "Piltdown Man" is a famous hoax consisting of fragments of a skull and jawbone collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, a village near Uckfield, East Sussex, in England. The fragments were thought by many experts of the day to be the fossilized remains of a hitherto unknown form of early human. The significance of the specimen remained the subject of controversy until it was exposed in 1953 as a forgery, consisting of the lower jawbone of an orangutan combined with the skull of a fully developed, modern man. The Piltdown hoax is perhaps the most famous archaeological hoax in history. It has been prominent for two reasons: the attention paid to the issue of human evolution, and the length of time (more than 40 years) that elapsed from its discovery to its full exposure as a forgery. Clarence Darrow died in 1938, more than ten years before Piltdown Man was exposed as a fraud. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard met less fortunate timing, listing Piltdown Man as one of the ancestors of humanity in his book Scientology: A History of Man, and describing him as having "enormous" teeth and being "quite careless as to whom and what he bit." Piltdown Man would be exposed as a hoax just months after the publication of Hubbard's book.
Heya! I'm at work surfing around your blog from my new iphone 4! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the excellent work!
ReplyDelete'The Phony Man' was discovered showing off his muscles for what he really was circa Columbia Bible College 1991-1993, but that is another story...
ReplyDeleteAfter pressing the unhide button, open the Gallery to find the content unhidden from public view.
ReplyDeleteThis is not that kind of blog...
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