<blockquote>In a striking blow against the simplified story of religion vs. geology, Montgomery describes the views of the early leaders of the Christian church. Major figures in Christian history—including Origen, Clement, Augustine, Jerome, and Thomas Aquinas—considered literal readings of Genesis to be a sign that one was uneducated. Faced with evidence in nature that contradicted a certain reading of the Bible, all of them decided that the only sensible response was to adjust how they read the Bible. In their view, nature clearly showed the way things were, so any discrepancy had to lie with one’s understanding of scripture. It actually wasn’t until the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s that literalism became prominent.</blockquote>
via <a href="http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/08/geology-and-genesis-how-noahs-flood-shaped-ideas-but-not-landscapes/">Geology and Genesis: how Noah’s flood shaped ideas but not landscapes | Ars Technica</a>.