I Thessalonians 5:16-18

Here is a compilation of various resources for Catholics and other Christians to begin digging into the perennial beliefs regarding the historicity of the creation story laid out in the First Book of Moses. A lot of this was originally sourced by Gideon Lazar but I have tweaked some things and added imbedded links to all of the works cited. This is not a finished product and will continue to be a work in progress. I hope that people find this interesting and helpful.

Fathers and Doctors of the Church

Saint Theophilus of Antioch

Letter to Autocylus, Book II Chapters 10-32 (x)

Here note: God and the Hebrews imposed names on their people from events, namely names that signified an event, whether present or future; and then the names were like omens, or warnings, or wishes for the future; for by imposing a name on someone, they foretold or wished that person to be such as was signified by that name. That this is so is clear in the names Adam, Eve, Seth, Cain, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, etc., as I shall show in their proper places.

The Romans, Greeks, and Germans imitated this same practice. The Romans called Corvinus from the raven (corvus) that gave him an omen of victory in the camp; Caesar from the full head of hair (caesaries) with which he is reported to have been born; Caligula from the military boot (caliga) that he often wore. Thus the Pisos were so named because they sowed peas (pisa) excellently; just as the Ciceros received their name from chickpeas (cicer), the Fabii from beans (faba), and the Lentuli from lentils (lens) excellently sown. Thus Ancus was named from his crooked elbow, says Festus — for "elbow" in Greek is called ankon. Thus Servius, because he was born of a slave mother; Paulus, from his small stature; Torquatus, from the torque he stripped from a Gaul in battle; Plancus, from his flat feet. Thus Scipio was the cognomen of the Cornelii, which P. Cornelius (grandfather of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal) originated. For because he guided and led his father in place of a staff (scipio), he was the first to be surnamed Scipio, and transmitted that cognomen to his posterity.

The Greeks called Plato, as it were, "the broad one," from his broad shoulders, though he was previously called Aristocles; Chrysostom, as it were, "golden mouth," from his eloquence; Laonicus, as it were, "conqueror of the people"; Leonicus, as if "of a lion"; Stratonicus, as if "conqueror of an army"; Demosthenes, as if "the firmament of the people"; Aristotle, as if "the best end"; Gregory, as if "the watchful one"; Diogenes, as if "born of Zeus"; Aristobulus, as if "a man of the best counsel"; Theodore, as if "a gift of God"; Hippocrates, as if "endowed with the strength of a horse"; Callimachus, from "a beautiful battle."

The Germans and Belgians named Frederick, as it were, "rich in peace," that is, thoroughly peaceful; Leonard, as if "of leonine character"; Bernard, as if "of bear-like character"; Gerard, as if "of vulture-like character"; Cuno, as if "bold"; Conrad, as if "of bold counsel"; Adelgisius, as if "of noble spirit"; Canute, from draining cups; Pharamund or Framund, from beauty of face. Thus William from a gilded helmet; Gudela, as if "a good portion or lot"; Lothair, as if "leaden heart"; Leopold, as if "lion's foot"; Lanfranc, as if "long-lasting freedom"; Wolfgang, as if "wolfish gait." See more in Goropius, Scrieckius, and Pontus Heutterus on Belgium.