A New Theory of the Earth

A New Theory of the Earth was a book written by William Whiston, in which he presented a description of the divine creation of the Earth and a posited global flood. He also postulated that the earth originated from the atmosphere of a comet and that all major changes in earth's history could be attributed to the action of comets. It was published in 1696 and was well-received by intellectuals of the day such as Isaac Newton and John Locke.

Summary of the book

The book is organized as follows:

• Introduction, discussing the text of Creation according to Genesis
• Book I: Lematta, discussing the premises and assumptions on which his argument is based;
• Book II: Hypotheses, discussing his model for the origin of the Earth;
• Book III: Phaenomena, discussing evidence predicted by his model;
• Book IV: Solutions, discussing how his model explains the evidence;
• Appendix: An abstract of his theory drawn from various sources.

Introduction

In the introduction, Whiston discusses the Mosaic account of creation. He argues for a literal interpretation of Genesis, writing:

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