Editing Spontaneous generation (section)

=== Latin and early Christian sources ===

Athenaeus dissented towards spontaneous generation, claiming that a variety of [[anchovy]] did not generate from [[roe]], as Aristotle stated, but rather, from [[sea foam]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Athenaeus of Naucratis |author-link=Athenaeus |editor-last=Yonge |editor-first=C. D. |title=The deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the learned of Athenæus |url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=article&did=Literature.AthV1.i0010&id=Literature.AthV1&isize=M&pview=hide |series=University of Wisconsin Digital Collection |volume= I |publisher=Henry G. Bohn |location=London |pages=433–521 |chapter=Book VII |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021022851/http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=article&did=Literature.AthV1.i0010&id=Literature.AthV1&isize=M&pview=hide |archive-date=21 October 2012 |chapter-url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=article&did=LITERATURE.ATHV1.I0010&isize=M&pview=hide }}</ref>

As the dominant view of philosophers and thinkers continued to be in favour of spontaneous generation, some Christian [[Theology|theologians]] accepted the view. The Berber theologian and philosopher [[Augustine of Hippo]] discussed spontaneous generation in ''[[City of God (book)|The City of God]]'' and ''The Literal Meaning of Genesis'', citing Biblical passages such as "Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life" ({{bibleverse||Genesis|1:20|KJV|}}) as decrees that would enable ongoing creation.<ref name="irisfry">{{cite book |last=Fry |first=Iris |title=The Emergence of Life on Earth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6KoRvUeUUuEC |chapter=Chapter 2: Spontaneous Generation – Ups and Downs |access-date=2009-01-21 |year=2000 |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8135-2740-6}}</ref>