Isabelle Duncan (2 July 1812 – 26 December 1878) was a British author known for her book which explained scientific theories in terms of the accounts known from the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

Early life

Isabelle Wight was born on 2 July 1852 in Dumfries,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, in 1812.

Career

She wrote a book, ''Pre-Adamite man : or, the story of our old planet & its inhabitants, told by Scripture & science'', about the creation which combined scientific theories with the stories from

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

in the

. This

pre-Adamite The pre-Adamite hypothesis or pre-Adamism is the theological belief that humans (or intelligent yet non-human creatures) existed before the biblical character Adam. Pre-Adamism is therefore distinct from the conventional Abrahamic belief that A ...

theory postulated a race of people before Adam, and also explained the origin of

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inc ...

. The book was published just after Darwin published ''

On the Origin of Species ''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...

'' and after the evidence that mammoths and humans lived at the same time. At that time, the Bible gave evidence that the earth was thousands and not millions of years old. She explained the recent findings from

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...

but surmising that chapter one of Genesis described a race before Adam and the second chapter described the classical story of biblical creation. Her husband, a minister, did not agree with the main idea of her book, but he offered his expertise with theology and created some illustrations. This was uncredited as the book went through many editions by an unknown author. Isabelle was annoyed that the author was assumed to be male. For later editions, it was published under her name.

Personal life and death

She married George John Craig Duncan, who was the minister of

Kirkpatrick Durham Kirkpatrick Durham (Scottish Gaelic: Cill Phàdraig) is a village and parish in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire, Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is located north of Castle Douglas. History An old church dedicated to ...

. His father was Scottish banker, minister and social reformer

Henry Duncan Henry Duncan may refer to: *Henry Duncan (minister) (1774–1846), Scottish minister, geologist and social reformer; founder of the savings bank movement *Henry Duncan (naval officer, born 1735) (1735–1814), Naval captain and Deputy Comptroller of ...

. She relocated to London with her husband and bore nine children. Duncan died in

Bayswater Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 26 December 1878.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Isabelle 1812 births 1878 deaths People from Dumfries