Thomas Burnet Facts
Thomas Burnet Facts
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| Interesting Thomas Burnet Facts: |
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| We know little of Burnet's early life but he attended the Freeschool of Northallerton. |
| In 1651 he entered Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1655. |
| He transferred to Christ's College in 1657 when Ralph Cudworth, the Master of Clare moved there. |
| Burnet earned his MA in 1658. |
| He became proctor in 1667. |
| He was employed as a traveling companion to Lord Wiltshire and tutor to Lord Ossory. |
| James Butler, grandfather of Lord Ossory, helped him get an appointment as master of Charterhouse School. |
| He participated in the Revolution of 1688 which overthrew King James II and replaced him with William of Orange. |
| He received appointment as Clerk of the Closet to William. |
| In 1681 Burnet published Sacred Theory of the Earth in Latin and followed it in 1684 with an English translation. |
| It was an attempt to reconcile the events of Creation as described in Genesis with observable facts. |
| For example he posited a hollow earth full of water since his calculations of the amount of water on the Earth's surface would not be enough to fit the account of the Flood of Noah. |
| Burnet's book engendered a great deal of controversy in its day. |
| In 1692 Burnet published Archaeologiae Philosophicae sive Doctrina Antiqua de Rerum Originibus. |
| In it he questioned whether the Fall of Man was a symbolic event rather than a literal one. |
| The resulting furor among his contemporary theologians caused him to resign his post as Clerk. |
| Isaac Newton was one of Burnet's supporters. |
| Newton tried to reconcile the history of the earth and the Genesis account by suggesting to Burnet that when God created the earth the days were longer. |
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