Newton the Scientist and Newton the Theologian / Standing on the Shoulders of Giants (1)

"The immortal figure who brought the greatest progress to philosophy through tremendous genius and tireless diligence, and who brought the lamp of knowledge to paths of knowledge that had never been explored before, is none other than Sir Isaac Newton." John Wesley (1703-1791), a British revivalist, highly praised Newton (Isaac Newton, 1643-1727) and quoted Newtonian scientific knowledge in his sermons.

 

Isaac Newton brought to a conclusion the 15th-17th century European Scientific Revolution that Copernicus had initiated, and that Galileo, Kepler, and others had elaborately developed. His representative work, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (hereafter referred to as the Principia), was the culmination of the Scientific Revolution. Here, Newton synthesized the motions of the celestial and terrestrial realms, which had been considered separate since ancient Greek times, through various mechanical laws including the principle of universal gravitation. He also proposed a scientific method that combined mathematical methods, which had been rejected since Aristotle's time, with empirical methods. Through this, Newton advanced European astronomy and mechanics.

 

Isaac Newton

 

Such historical evaluation gives Newton the impression of being a great scientist. However, Newton was not simply a scientist. He did not devote himself solely to scientific research. He had interests in various fields. When analyzing the various records he left by word count, he used approximately one million words related to science. However, there was a field where Newton used even more words than science: theology and religion. He conducted meticulous research work using approximately 1.4 million words. Furthermore, he used about 550,000 words on alchemy (Shin Jae-sik, 2013). Newton's interests in various fields can also be found in his life history. Science historian Richard S. Westfall vividly describes Newton's life by contrasting various scenes in his famous Newton biography, The Genius of the Principia. Newton worked passionately not only as a university researcher and professor, but also as a theologian, ordnance manager, mint director, and member of parliament (Westfall, 2001).

 

The upcoming serial publication Standing on the Shoulders of Giants focuses on Isaac Newton's theology. It seeks to examine how his theological research influenced his science. He did not begin theological work in his old age. He had been interested in theology since his young days in his twenties and thirties. Newton began studying theology in the 1660s, and in the early 1670s, he intensively studied theology proper and ancient church history. At that time, theology was basic liberal arts for intellectuals and a required subject for obtaining university research positions. In 1667, Newton was selected as a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, became a full fellow the following year, and simultaneously received his master's degree.

 

However, Newton did not conduct theological research merely at the level of qualification requirements for fellowship. He was sincere about theological research. During his fellowship period, he was mainly interested in the doctrine of the Trinity and came to take an Arian position that denied the Trinity doctrine. He believed that Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373), a 4th-century bishop, had inserted the Trinity doctrine, and argued that this doctrine was false and blind. Newton viewed the Son as a mediator with divinity between God and humans but subordinate to the Father, and saw worshiping the Son as God as idolatry, superstition, and fundamental sin (Maniani, 2002; Davis, 2010).

 

 

Newton's theological work topics can be broadly classified into two categories, one of which is biblical studies. Newton particularly pursued deep interpretation of the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel. Based on these biblical studies, he traced the history of the ancient church. But why did Newton conduct biblical and historical research? For Newton, the Bible had two meanings. To him, the Bible was literally a historical document and simultaneously a future cipher document. Therefore, Newton carefully studied the history of the ancient Middle East and the church, examining whether events recorded in the Bible matched events that occurred in actual history. He also studied the symbolic system of prophecies contained in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation to decode cryptograms containing God's plan and learn about future events (Westfall, 1996; Maniani, 2002).

 

But why was the correspondence between the Bible and actual history important to Newton? Newton wanted to prove God's dominion and rule. He wanted to show a God who rules and governs not only the natural world but also human history. In this regard, the core theological concept in Newton's theology is 'pantokrator' (παντοκράτωρ), that is, the ruler of the universe. This ruler creates the world and governs the history of human society and the natural world. And he reveals himself through the nature he created and through the Bible (Shin Jae-sik, 2004; 2013). Newton described the pantokrator in the General Scholium of the Principia as follows:

 

"This omnipotent God is not the world soul (anima mundi) but the lord of all things (universorum dominus) who rules everything. And because of that dominion, it is appropriate that he be called 'lord god pantokrator' (dominus deus pantokratōr). For 'god' is a relative term and has a relationship to servants, and 'divinity' means God's dominion" (Newton, 2006).

 

 

Then what kind of relationship do Newton's theology and science have? Richard Westfall, who had been studying Newton's scientific thought, analyzed Newton's church history and prophetic book research and concluded that theology's influence on Newton's science was not very clear. On the other hand, he believed that Newton's science had considerable influence on his theological work in the context of European culture shifting from 17th and 18th century Christian culture to modern scientific culture (Westfall, 1996). In a similar vein, Frank E. Manuel believed that Newton's biblical research influenced the Newton science contained in Newton's science. He argued that Newton consistently tested and explored biblical truth by applying scientific proof logic to biblical studies (Manuel, 1983).

 

Conversely, there are also opinions that Newton's theological thought influenced his science. James E. Force argued that the concept of 'ruling God' consistently weaves together Newton's theology, science, and political activities (Force, 1990). Maurizio Maniani analyzed Newton's eschatology shown in Newton's science (Maniani, 2002). Domestic researcher Shin Jae-sik reviewed Newton's overall thinking and described Newton as someone who pursued unified knowledge based on his understanding of God as the 'ruling Lord.' According to Shin Jae-sik, both Newton's scientific and theological work were in the process of pursuing the unity of truth based on Newton's understanding of God, so the two works have interrelationships (Shin Jae-sik, 2004).

 

As mentioned earlier, the serial publication Standing on the Shoulders of Giants seeks to reveal theology's influence on Newton's science based on various research achievements. In particular, it aims to focus on the 'General Scholium' of Newton's Principia. This General Scholium well describes the philosophy of Newton's scientific program. It also contains the theological thought that underlies Newton's scientific research activities. Over several installments, I will analyze Newton's theology appearing in the General Scholium of the Principia and examine how theology influenced the formation process of major elements of Newton's science.

 

The flow of Standing on the Shoulders of Giants is as follows. First, by clarifying the reasons why Newton wrote the Principia and the General Scholium, I aim to find Newton's understanding of God and major scientific elements. Next, I want to share theology's influence shown in the formation process of absolute space and the inverse square law of gravity, which are major elements in Newton's science. Through exchanges with Cambridge Platonists, criticism of Cartesian mechanism, alchemical work, etc., I aim to specifically introduce what kind of understanding of God Newton came to have and how this understanding of God influenced his scientific work. ￭

References

Shin, Jae-sik. 2004. "A Study on the Interrelationship between Isaac Newton's Religion and Science: Focusing on the Concept of God." Religious Studies 34: 99-140.

Shin, Jae-sik. 2013. Walking Together with Jesus and Darwin: Seeking Coexistence between Christianity and Evolution. Seoul: Science Books.

Davis, Edward B. 2010. "Did Newton's Mechanical Cosmology Eliminate the Need for God?" In Are Science and Religion Enemies or Allies?, edited by Ronald L. Numbers, translated by Kim Jeong-eun. Seoul: Dduin-dol.

Force, James E. 1990. "Newton's God of Dominion: The Unity of Newton's Theological, Scientific, and Political Thought." In Essays on the Context, Nature, and Influence of Isaac Newton's Theology, edited by James E. Force and Richard H. Popkin, 75-102. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Maniani, Maurizio. 2002. "Newton on Prophecy and the Apocalypse." In The Cambridge Companion to Newton, edited by I. Bernard Cohen & George E. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Manuel, Frank E. 1983. The Changing of Gods. Hanover, NH: New England University Press.

Newton, Isaac. 2004. "Principia." In Classical Science Collection, edited and translated by Hong Sung-wook. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.

Westfall, Richard S. 2001. The Genius of the Principia, translated by Choi Sang-don. Seoul: Science Books.

Westfall, Richard S. 1996. "Newton and Christianity." In Facets of Faith and Science 3: The Role of Beliefs in the Natural Sciences, edited by J. M. van Meer. Ancaster, Canada: Pascal Center.