TORONTO, Canada, March 16, 2003 — Recently, people around the globe heard that Sir Isaac Newton believed the world would end in the year 2060, and that he arrived at this belief after extensive study of the Bible. Newton (1642 - 1727) has long been recognized as one of the greatest scientific intellects of all time, but until recently, little was known about his religious beliefs.
That's because he largely kept those beliefs private, according to one scholar, and wrote of his thoughts on theology only in his personal manuscripts.
Dr. Stephen Snobelen, assistant professor of the history of science and technology at University of King's College in Halifax, is one of only a handful of academics worldwide, who now study those manuscripts for insights into the theology of the 17th century scientist.
'Newton was a heretic'
He says that the man known widely for his contributions to the fields of math and physics was himself behind the secrecy. "Newton was a heretic. He denied the doctrine of the Trinity. So he himself wanted to keep (the manuscripts) secret. He only revealed his heresy to a select group of acolytes," Snobelen commented during a recent telephone interview.
"It was illegal to deny the doctrine of the Trinity in his lifetime and for some time afterwards. So there was that incentive. A by-product of that is that in Newton's own lifetime, only bits and pieces of his theology leaked out to the public. And much of what leaked out didn't indicate that he was a heretic," he added.
But Newton was in fact, an avid student of the Bible. Aided by an impressive memory and equally impressive recall, the scientist was recognized by his contemporary John Locke, as having greater Biblical knowledge than anyone of the time.
From Newton's Bibles, you can see 'the physical testimony of a lifetime'
| "We actually have 30 of his personal Bibles at Trinity College, Cambridge that can be examined," said Snobelen. "His personal Bible that he used for looking up references is a very small, hand-held Bible." |
"We actually have 30 of his personal Bibles at Trinity College, Cambridge that can be examined," said Snobelen. "His personal Bible that he used for looking up references is a very small, hand-held Bible. That is a remarkable artefact to handle physically, because you can actually see the dog-eared pages. You can see the soiling. You can see this physical testimony of a lifetime. There are annotations in the margins," he continued.
Snobelen went on to say that by looking at the relative darkness of the soiling on the various pages of the Bible, it is possible to determine which books held the most interest for Newton. "What the soiling shows, is that the portions of the Bible he was most interested in, were the end of the prophecies of Ezekiel, the entire book of Daniel and the book of Revelation."
'What he was trying to do is determine what the Bible actually taught'
Besides prophecy, Newton had a definite interest in sorting out the particulars of truth as they related to theology. Snobelen explained, "What Newton was doing is, he was not going back to the early fathers, or (even to) theologians. What he was trying to do is determine what the Bible actually taught. And what he did to uncover what the Bible actually taught, is employ some methods that are quite similar to some of the methods used in science."
As a result of 55 years of study, Newton came to some heretical conclusions.
"The Father equals God, exclusively for Newton. He looked at passages in the New Testament. One that he quoted all the time was 1 Corinthians 8:6, and also 1 Timothy 2:5," said Snobelen.
"And those passages read, literally, and I think to any unbiased reader stress that there is only one God and that's the Father. So he would focus on passages like that, and for him that was very compelling evidence for his particular theology, which he doesn't arrive at and attempt to foist on the Bible. He actually arrives at from his reading of the Bible."
'Denial of the Trinity. Denial of the immortality of the soul. Denial of the devil.'
Snobelen added that Newton held other unorthodox views. "He didn't believe in the immortality of the soul because he didn't find it in the Bible. He denied a personal devil and demons. Denial of the Trinity. Denial of the immortality of the soul. Denial of the devil. Those were really the three big heresies in Newton's day, and he was really involved in all of them."
It is perhaps fortunate for our world today that Newton's heresies were not exposed in his time. Snobelen explained why, "If Newton had been exposed as a heretic in the same year he became a heretic, which is around 1673, we wouldn't have Newton as a scientist, because he would have been a pariah. He would have been on the outside of society.
"So the fact that Newton kept his heresies secret is directly related to the fact that we have Newton today."
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