| Popis: |
Recast into a tool of anti-Christian propaganda, the antiquity of the Earth came to be perceived in conservative milieus as a direct threat to the basis of the existing social order, rooted in the proverbial alliance of the throne and the altar. Using eighteenth-century Venice as a case study, this chapter argues that fears of social subversion contributed powerfully to the politicization and polarization of Earth history. Venetian ruling elites espoused diluvialism and a young Creation as instruments of social and political preservation, using their social clout to impose a diluvialist orthodoxy where none had existed before. Ultimately, the identification of an ancient Earth with irreligion was instrumental in establishing the new narrative of the history of deep time. Conservatives bolstered the legitimacy of their positions by claiming, too, that the biblical chronology had always been an essential tenet of Christianity, only recently challenged by modern secularism. |
