Thomas Burnet

author

Thomas Burnet

d. 1715

Best known for a bold attempt to tell the history of the Earth from creation to apocalypse, this English theologian wrote some of the most imaginative and controversial religious science of the late 17th century. His work helped shape early debates about geology, biblical interpretation, and the age of the world.

2 Audiobooks

The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 2) : Containing an account of the original of the Earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things.

The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 1 (of 2) : Containing an account of the original of the Earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things.

by Thomas Burnet

The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 2 (of 2) : Containing an account of the original of the Earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things.

The sacred theory of the Earth, Volume 2 (of 2) : Containing an account of the original of the Earth, and of all the general changes which it hath already undergone, or is to undergo, till the consummation of all things.

by Thomas Burnet

About the author

Born around 1635 at Croft in Yorkshire, Thomas Burnet was educated at Northallerton and Cambridge, where he became a fellow of Christ's College and later senior proctor of the university. He went on to hold important church and court posts, including master of the Charterhouse and clerk of the closet to William III.

Burnet is remembered chiefly for The Sacred Theory of the Earth (Telluris Theoria Sacra), a sweeping account of the Earth's origins, structure, and final destruction. In it, he tried to bring natural philosophy and Scripture into a single grand narrative, and his vivid ideas about the early Earth made him a striking figure in the history of geology as well as theology.

His writings were admired for their ambition and style, even when readers disagreed with his conclusions. Today he stands out as a writer who treated questions about creation, time, and the natural world with unusual scale and imagination.