Granville Penn
Encyclopedia
Granville Penn was a great-grandson of Admiral Sir William Penn, a British author, and scriptural geologist.
and his wife, Lady Juliana Fermor, fourth daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Pomfret
. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford
, but did not complete his degree. He then became an assistant clerk in the war department.
In 1834 he succeeded his brother, John Penn
, in the estates of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire
, and Pennsylvania Castle, Portland
.
He died at Stoke Park on 28 September 1844.
In the rhetoric of enlightened inquiry pitted against clerical dogmatism, Penn used the example of Galileo to protest against what he saw as over-zealous attacks on his attitude towards biblical and scientific authority long before Lyell and Buckland took it up. The idea of Penn as a latter-day Galileo might strike a modern reader as risible, but in the context of geological debate in the early 1820s his point was both serious and justified. The image of science struggling against bigotry proved useful on both sides of the cosmological divide, helping both the Scriptural geologists and the new geologists to claim the moral high ground.
While discussing the relationship between scripture and geology Penn said that the Bible did not include "a SYSTEM [i.e., science] of physical truth," it was not a scientific text, as Conybeare (and others) claimed that people such as Penn and Andrew Ure did believe.
Penn argued that the God of Scripture, who was also the God of Nature, had communicated certain historical facts about the original creation of the earth and the Flood. "It would not be prudent to disconnect them from the geological study of the surface of the earth. Fundamental physical facts, which the Mosaical revelation alone either does or can supply, are most certainly imparted to us, in order that we may have a secure and certain basis on which to found the historical science of Geology which, … we may construct. Our reason is, indeed, to work; but, it is set right in the first instance, that it might not necessarily work wrong."
Penn repeatedly stressed that geology was different from other sciences in that it dealt with past history, rather than merely presently observable processes. Therefore, expertise in the study of the latter, was no guarantee of accuracy in the reconstruction of the former. Like George Young, Penn found that he disagreed with geologists over interpretation of facts, rather than the facts themselves. Ostensible facts were not truly facts, but rather theoretical inferences. He contended that the view that the "facts in geology are self-evident and need only to be seen to be believed" was a deceptive premise. Geologists were therefore often not aware of how theory-laden were such "facts." Their Mineral Geology was as theory-laden (or presuppositionally loaded) as his alternative Mosaic Geology.
Biography
He was born 9 December 1761 in Spring Gardens, London, the second surviving son of Thomas PennThomas Penn
Thomas Penn was a son of William Penn, founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony that became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Thomas Penn was born in Bristol, England after his father returned there in 1701 because of financial difficulties...
and his wife, Lady Juliana Fermor, fourth daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Pomfret
Earl of Pomfret
Earl of Pomfret , in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1721 for Thomas Fermor, 2nd Baron Leominster. The Fermor family descended from Richard Fermor who acquired great wealth as a merchant. However, he fell out with Henry VIII after remaining an...
. He studied at Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
, but did not complete his degree. He then became an assistant clerk in the war department.
In 1834 he succeeded his brother, John Penn
John Penn (writer)
John Penn was an Anglo-American writer, a part proprietor of the Province of Pennsylvania , and a governor of the Isle of Portland.-Life:John Penn was the son of Thomas Penn and his wife Juliana John Penn (aka "John Penn, Jr."[sic], "John Penn of Stoke") (22 February 1760, London, England – 21...
, in the estates of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
, and Pennsylvania Castle, Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
.
He died at Stoke Park on 28 September 1844.
Writings
Penn, fluent in French, Greek, Latin and Hebrew, was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and wrote several books dealing with Biblical criticism and published a number of competent translations of ancient Greek works, including a critical revision of the English version of the New Testament. He also wrote some theological works particularly related to Biblical chronology (past and future) and the early history of post-Flood mankind. In 1833 he wrote theLife of Admiral Sir William Penn, on his great-grandfather.A Comparative Estimate
His major work as a scriptural geologist was A Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies, published in 1822. Penn added a supplement in 1823 in response to Buckland's theory on Kirkdale Cave, and then revised and enlarged it to two volumes in 1825 in response to criticisms. Like most Scriptural geologists, Penn, whose name became indelibly associated with Scriptural geology, participated only transiently with it during his career. For example, between the production of his book when he was 62 and his death in 1844 he focusing on philological scholarship.In the rhetoric of enlightened inquiry pitted against clerical dogmatism, Penn used the example of Galileo to protest against what he saw as over-zealous attacks on his attitude towards biblical and scientific authority long before Lyell and Buckland took it up. The idea of Penn as a latter-day Galileo might strike a modern reader as risible, but in the context of geological debate in the early 1820s his point was both serious and justified. The image of science struggling against bigotry proved useful on both sides of the cosmological divide, helping both the Scriptural geologists and the new geologists to claim the moral high ground.
Attitude toward geology
Penn made no claim to be a geologist, but he was well read in the geological literature of his day. He considered geology to be a delightful study and mineralogy a sound and valuable science, saying, “The science of Geology … has this remarkable character above all the preceding physical sciences; that, it not only conducts the intelligence, like them, to the discernment of the God of Nature, but advances it further, to a distinct recognition of that God of Nature in the God of Scripture.”While discussing the relationship between scripture and geology Penn said that the Bible did not include "a SYSTEM [i.e., science] of physical truth," it was not a scientific text, as Conybeare (and others) claimed that people such as Penn and Andrew Ure did believe.
Penn argued that the God of Scripture, who was also the God of Nature, had communicated certain historical facts about the original creation of the earth and the Flood. "It would not be prudent to disconnect them from the geological study of the surface of the earth. Fundamental physical facts, which the Mosaical revelation alone either does or can supply, are most certainly imparted to us, in order that we may have a secure and certain basis on which to found the historical science of Geology which, … we may construct. Our reason is, indeed, to work; but, it is set right in the first instance, that it might not necessarily work wrong."
Penn repeatedly stressed that geology was different from other sciences in that it dealt with past history, rather than merely presently observable processes. Therefore, expertise in the study of the latter, was no guarantee of accuracy in the reconstruction of the former. Like George Young, Penn found that he disagreed with geologists over interpretation of facts, rather than the facts themselves. Ostensible facts were not truly facts, but rather theoretical inferences. He contended that the view that the "facts in geology are self-evident and need only to be seen to be believed" was a deceptive premise. Geologists were therefore often not aware of how theory-laden were such "facts." Their Mineral Geology was as theory-laden (or presuppositionally loaded) as his alternative Mosaic Geology.
View on Creation
Penn held two rules for proper interpretation of Genesis: 1) all of Genesis is strictly historical and 2) this history was adapted to the comprehension of the common man by the use of phenomenological language. Moses described "the effects of creation optically, or, as they would have appeared to the eye; and without any assignment of the physical causes." He believed that God’s creative acts were antecedent to the laws of nature, which were then set in operation. And that the "Days" of Genesis 1 were literal twenty-four hour periods.Works
- Critical Remarks on Isaiah vii. 18, 1799.
- Remarks on the Eastern Origination of Mankind and of the Arts of Cultivated Life, 1799.
- A Greek Version of the Inscription on the Rosetta Stone, containing a decree of the priests in honor of Ptolemy the Fifth, 1802.
- The Bioscope. Or Dial of Life, explained. To which is added, a Translation of St.Paulinu's Epistle to Celantia, on the Rule of Christian Life; and an Elementary View of General Chronology, 1814.
- A Comparative Estimate of the Mineral and Mosaical Geologies, 1822
- Life of Admiral Sir William Penn, 1833