IN THE BEGINNING: RELIGION AND GEOLOGY IN THE ERA OF NICOLAUS STENO

To many people, the "Genesis versus geology" question epitomizes the historical conflict between religion and science. It is, then, perhaps ironic that the founder of historical geology, Nicolaus Steno (1638-1686), spent the last years of his life as a theologically conservative priest. Given the Church's harsh treatment of Galileo a few years earlier, it has often been assumed that on joining the Church Steno repudiated his geological theories or was at least under pressure to do so. There is no evidence to support this, however. In fact, Steno published his most important geological work after converting to Catholicism, and his ultra-orthodox patron, Cosimo II d' Medici, enthusiastically supported his geological studies. To make sense of this apparent paradox, it is important to view Steno's work within the religious and scientific climate of the time. Conservative as it was, the Catholic Church was generally more open to allegorical interpretations of the Bible than were its Protestant counterparts. In fact, the differing approaches to interpreting Scripture between Protestants and Catholics were among the reasons cited by Steno for converting to Catholicism. Also, preserving the Biblical chronology of Ussher and others was less important to many orthodox Christians than was thwarting the heresy of an eternal or cyclical world, which implicitly denied the existence of a Creator. The unidirectional earth history implied by Steno's study of Tuscan strata may therefore have been seen as a bulwark against eternalism rather than a threat to Biblical literalism. Though Steno tried to harmonize geological history with Genesis,, and though he certainly had no concept of the true scope of geological time, the mechanisms he proposed for the rise and fall of sea level imply that he was open to the possibility of an earth history longer than six thousand years. In 1988, Pope John Paul II beatified Steno, citing him as a symbol of appropriate respect and harmony between science and faith. Acknowledging the complexity of the past relationship between science and religion may help dispel the stereotypes that can mar modern-day debates.