"[133]
[133] See his Commentary on Genesis, cited by Zoeckler,
Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen Theologie und
Naturwissenschaft, vol. i, p. 690.
In the times immediately succeeding the Reformation matters went
from bad to worse. Under Luther and Melanchthon there was some
little freedom of speculation, but under their successors there
was none; to question any interpretation of Luther came to be
thought almost as wicked as to question the literal
interpretation of the Scriptures themselves. Examples of this
are seen in the struggles between those who held that birds were
created entirely from water and those who held that they were
created out of water and mud. In the city of Lubeck, the ancient
centre of the Hanseatic League, close at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, Pfeiffer, "General Superintendent" or bishop
in those parts, published his Pansophia Mosaica, calculated, as
he believed, to beat back science forever. In a long series of
declamations he insisted that in the strict text of Genesis alone
is safety, that it contains all wisdom and knowledge, human and
divine. This being the case, who could care to waste time on the
study of material things and give thought to the structure of the
world? Above all, who, after such a proclamation by such a ruler
in the Lutheran Israel, would dare to talk of the "days"
mentioned in Genesis as "periods of time"; or of the "firmament"
as not meaning a solid vault over the universe; or of the
"waters above the heavens" as not contained in a vast cistern
supported by the heavenly vault; or of the "windows of heaven" as
a figure of speech?[134]
[134] For Pfeiffer, see Zoeckler, vol.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393