Hi JonF,
JonF writes:
Scientists knew the Earth was far older than 6,000 years in the early 1700's.
Aristotle knew the universe was very old as he held it to be eternal some 300 years BC.
The earliest attempt to prove the age being longer that a few thousand year is a science fiction story written by De Maillet.
Which no one of the 1740's would have considered anything but science fiction.
The book you referenced states Voltaire went to considerable lengths to refute such heretical notions. From what I have been able to find out about Voltaire's worldview he would not have wasted his time, other than to maybe call it foolishness.
De Maillet used other than careful scientific reasoning to base his case on.
Newton did not put forth evidence for an old earth.
Buffon showed caculation based on the cooling of the earth held some promise as a method of determining the age of the planet. This took place sometime after 1749.
This was not explored in detail until 1862 by a professor at the University of Glasgow. Who became known as Lord Kelvin.
During the 1860's and onward Kelvin was involved in trying to determine the age of the earth.
"In spite of the questionable assumptions and the high degree of uncertainty in the data, Kelvin's caculations of the ages of the Sun and Earth were, at the time, considered highly authoritative. For three decades they stood as the best that physics could offer on the subject." page 38 your source.
Clarence King was the next big nme to come along.
King's paper (1893) was to advance Kelvin's method of determining the Earth's age.
Chamberlain attacked Kelvin's age of the Earth and Sun.
In 1903 Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy determined the amount of heat generated by radioactive decay.
There was another attempt in the 1700's by Halley to date the earth using the salt content of water.
But Halley observed that the age of the Earth could not yet be caculated, because data was not available.
So my conclusions are:
In the 1700's there was not sufficient evidence from 2 men to cause religion a problem.
De Maillet's science fiction book would have been accepted as presetnted. Fiction.
Buffon's caculations showed promise of a way to date the earth.
These fellows probably got the same reaction to their beliefs and I do to mine. Are you out of your mind?
This was not explored until 1862 by Lord Kelvin.
Thomas Chalmers had taught as early as 1803 that Moses only dated the species not the earth. In 1804 He taught a gap between genesis 1:1 and 1:2.
Therefore the assertion that the gap theory was a knee jerk to science proving the earth to be old is false.
The gap was taught before the age of the earth was determined.
God Bless,
"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."
™ Version 4.2