Underground Rivers - University of New Mexico

Chapter 4 -- The Cross
Bishop of Hippo and author of Confessions, Augustine (354-430) provided
emerging Christianity a philosophical -- as opposed to purely theological --
basis. According to Augustine, Plato's acquiescence to things supernatural
was well-suited for a faith based on grace. Aristotelian eternalism, on the
other hand, seemed incompatible. Plato’s world-view allowed divine will, while
Aristotle’s mechanistic arrangements constrained God's holy hand. Unlike
Aristotle’s “motionless mover,” a Neo-Platonic cosmology featured a creator
who shares his goodness from pre-existent and co-eternal matter.
To seal Plato's supremacy in matters philosophical,
Nothing is to be accepted save on the authority of Scripture, since greater is that authority than
all the powers of the human mind.
The meaning is simple: Believe what is told, not what is noticed. The fact that Platonic
philosophy is not as conducive to the study of nature as is an Aristotelian viewpoint poses little
problem a St. Augustine disinclined to study nature. Despite being translated into Latin by
Boethius (475-524), Aristotle’s observational -- often biological -- world-view was thus relegated
to disrepute.
Although Augustine had less interest in worldly questions, his writings occasionally spilled in that
direction. Consider, for example, The Works of St. Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century
(2002), edited by John Rotelle.
Since the actual site of Paradise totally escapes human ken, the waters from it are indeed
divided into four parts, as the utterly trustworthy testimony of scripture assures us, but that
those rivers whose sources are said to be known have gone underground somewhere, and
after wending their way through extensive regions have gushed out in other places, where their
sources are held to be known. Is anybody unaware, I mean, that there are streams which
regularly do this? But it only comes to our attention where they do not flow underground for
any great distance.
Though God created but four rivers, how can we now have many? One would doubt this to be a
pressing question in its own merit, but here a bishop could not concede an incomplete Holy Word.
A springhead is not a source, but one of many outlets from one of four underground waterways,
the good bishop instructs.
Augustine's philosophical framework would gird the evolving Church. As we will see shortly, his
passing mention of streams flowing underground would likewise guide the yet-to-come science.
The Spaniard, Isidore of Seville (570-639), produced the
encyclopedic Etymologies, the seminal compendium of secular
knowledge of his period. More than 1000 manuscripts in length,
Etymologies cataloged the seven liberal arts identified by the
Roman Encyclopedist Varro (Chapter 3) plus,
Medicine
Law
The Calendar
Theology
Anthropology (including monstrous races)
Geography
Cartography
Cosmology
Mineralogy
Agriculture
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