“Manufacture of coal” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875) (all images via Internet Archive Book Images)
Galileo and other troublemakers aside, science and religion didn’t have such a complete falling out until the 19th century. It was roughly 200 years ago when researchers started regularly digging up archaeological and paleontological evidence that dated the Earth far earlier than Genesis suggested, and then a man named Darwin was publishing some troubling suggestions on the evolution of life in his 1859 The Origin of Species. But that didn’t mean the sides of belief and reason completely split in two. There were those who tried for a middle ground.
One of the forgotten natural theology books to come out of this era was God in Nature and Revelation (1875) by Reverend J. M. Woodman, published in the United States by J.G. Hodge & Co. It proclaims itself a “teacher of natural, mental, and moral philosophy, of natural and revealed religion” on its title page, joined by an illustration of Jesus standing on the planet encircled by man and beast alike. Throughout the text are links between the Bible and the scientific formation of the world, but questionable connections aside, the accompanying images are surprisingly intriguing. The world is shown as a repeating orb, changes in the rise and fall of the oceans and the sediments shaded in, all the while the sun never stops glaring down on the proceedings as a constant reminder of a holy influence. It’s the Victorian romanticizing of science and nature colliding with religion.
Below are some of these images recently posted by Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr Commons as part of their new project, which is sharing millions of images extracted from their book digitizing. (You can view the entire God in Nature and Revelation at the Internet Archive.)
“Kosmos in vapor” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Flood at its climax” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Fountains of the deep broken up” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Transverse view of the water, as it commenced togather and rotate upon the outside” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Gigantic fern” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Waters gathered into one place” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Condensing from the outside, with comfessed poles” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Dry land appearing” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Port Jackson shark – Cheiracanthus” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“A globe of water, holding earthy matter insolution” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
“Deposits of the sea, settling to their own specific gravity” illustration from “God in nature and revelation” (1875)
View more images from God in Nature and Revelation at the Internet Archive Book Images on Flickr Commons.
yet another amazing article by Allison Meier !!