大科学家牛顿也信教了哦!

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发表于 2014-2-6 12:27|只看该作者|倒序浏览|打印
据说牛顿后来研究神学了 [color=rgb(153, 153, 153) !important][size=0.83em][复制链接]

 

 

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发表于 2011-5-23 22:00 |只看该作者 |倒序浏览 |打印


 
一两个世纪之前,欧洲的学者很容易就能在几何学、数学、天体物理学方面取得成就,他们往往同时也是哲学家。

牛顿在发现万有引力,研究物理学达到一定程度之后,发现了很多无法解决的问题,用唯物主义无法解决的问题,所以后来他就开始研究世界的起源,终点,最后归结于神学。




 

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发表于 2011-6-23 12:15 |只看该作者


 
我听说的是,他想证明神的存在,如果神真的存在,那么“他”便不会让人类证明他的存在,如果他不存在,他所作的也是徒劳,所以晚年的牛顿在人看来是高傲,甚至目中无人,既违背了神学的,自谦自卑,也违背了唯物主义的原则。因为仅仅是听说,所以,乱扯的,不做深刻评论




 
 

 

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发表于 2011-6-25 05:32 |只看该作者


 
WrongRich 发表于 2011-6-24 04:15
我听说的是,他想证明神的存在,如果神真的存在,那么“他”便不会让人类证明他的存在,如果他不存在,他所 ...


你是说,神学是一个悖论?




 
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地板
发表于 2011-7-17 17:53 |只看该作者


 
牛顿是吃饱了,没事干,闲着也是闲着后才研究神学的。
我们现在很多人还饿着,很多日常事务要处理,没有时间时间去研究神学。但是你不能因此而认为我们的研究成果质量差,水平低。




 
论文漫天飞舞,科学进展鲜有

 

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5#
发表于 2011-9-10 02:53 |只看该作者


 
牛顿研究神学怎会是“吃饱了,没事干”?这样的解释也太不上档次了,作为追求理论严密性的学者,“第一推动”这个问题还不够重要吗,不足以让牛顿仔细追求进入神学领域吗?




 
 

 

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发表于 2011-9-13 00:51 |只看该作者


 
回复 techne 的帖子

是更高的理论追求




 
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发表于 2012-8-15 05:25 |只看该作者


 
  牛顿信教吗?

  作者:土摩托

  经常听到宗教人士说:“大科学家牛顿晚年也信教了哦!”出现几率更高的
一个句子是:“牛顿晚年沉溺于炼金术,晚节不保。”

  我无意于纠缠这两件事到底是不是真的,我只是想从当时的生活环境入手,
讨论一下这两件事到底意味着什么。

  在牛顿生活的时代,化学还在襁褓之中,元素的概念尚未出现,人们不知道
物质只能细分到元素这个层次,不同元素之间也无法用常规手段相互转换。在这
种情况下,牛顿试图通过某种手段把普通物质炼成黄金,恰恰是一个非常合理的
想法,甚至可以说是任何聪明人都应该有的想法,你不这么想反而说明你迂腐了。

  同样,宗教在牛顿的时代是最强大的思想体系,上帝的概念比现在的民主自
由更加深入人心。事实上,牛顿之所以潜心研究星体的运动轨迹,恰恰是为了解
读上帝的思想,而不是为了了解宇宙的奥秘。换句话说,那个年代的无神论者们
很可能都是一些脑后有反骨的叛逆者,和智商什么的没太大关系。

  这件事说明,我们考察一个历史事件的时候,必须从当时的环境入手,按照
那个年代的逻辑来做出是非判断。类似的案例还有很多,随手翻翻我们的中小学
历史课本就能找出一大堆。想想中国历史上那些耳熟能详的历史人物,几乎都是
按照现代社会的是非标准做的定论,你有没有想过,为什么岳飞文天祥屈原诸葛
亮都是好人,赵高秦桧魏忠贤李莲英都是坏蛋呢?你有没有考虑过当时的社会状
况?

  如果你还想不通的话,看看近代史上那些人物,无论是孙中山张学良蒋介石
还是毛泽东周恩来邓小平,将来的人会如何评价他们?如果500年后的历史学家
把他们轻易地归类,你会同意吗?

  以上的想法来自我最近看的一本历史书,书名叫做《哥伦布大交换》,该书
第一版出版于1972年,作者艾尔弗雷德·克罗斯比原是一位生物学爱好者,正是
这个爱好让他意识到应该好好研究一下1492年之后地球生态系统发生的变化,从
中寻找历史发展的逻辑。在他看来,人,首先是一个生物性的实体,然后才是一
位罗马天主教徒、资本家,或者其他任何身份。只有把一个人放在恰当的时空脉
络之下,才能有把握地审视他的社会行为。所以他把注意力放到了哥伦布之后地
球各大洲之间的物种交换上,正是这种交换带来了生活方式的根本变化,并拓宽
了人类的视野,直接导致了很多根本性的变革。

  此种思维方式的一个最佳案例就是关于宗教信仰的探讨。在克罗斯比看来,
欧洲人带着两套知识体系走出了中世纪,一套是基督教,一套是亚里士多德,但
是新世界一出现,两大体系立即左支右绌。航海家的发现轻易地把希波克拉底、
盖伦、托勒密等古典学者们关于世界的理论击垮了,而作为当时大多数知识的来
源,《圣经》完全是来自旧世界的产物,解释亚洲和非洲时已然非常吃力,完全
无力应付新世界。所以说,哥伦布最伟大的贡献就在于“迫使基督教的许多有学
之士不得不去把整件事情好好想个清楚。”这种思考的结果就是让那些真正的聪
明人终于看出了《圣经》的荒谬,达尔文就是其中的佼佼者。

  我不是学历史的,不知道上述这种思考方式的真正来源。我简单地做了点考
证,发现类似的思想早在14世纪时就被提出来了。一位名叫Ibn Khaldun的阿拉
伯历史学家提出应该从生活环境和生产方式的角度讨论历史事件,这个思想早于
欧洲学者很多年。这是有原因的。Ibn Khaldun的先祖来自阿拉伯半岛,后来又
移居西班牙,最后又到了突尼斯,并在这个北非国家生下了他。从这条迁徙路线
就可以看出,阿拉伯人重经商,常旅行,见多识广。阿拉伯学者之所以强大,不
是因为他们比别人聪明,而是因为他们善于借鉴别人的研究成果。

  之后,才是“现代环境主义之父”Aldo Leopold出版于1949年的《沙乡年
鉴》,号召历史学家们以生态学的观点重写历史。克罗斯比独立地提出了同样的
想法,《哥伦布大交换》成为那个时代的一本经典著作。再后面就是我推荐过很
多次的Jared Diamond,他那本《枪炮病菌与钢铁》毫无疑问是这类历史书的扛
鼎之作,把前人的研究一网打尽。

  最后回到牛顿的话题。牛顿到底信不信教?这事根本不重要。重要的是,你
现在还信吗?




 
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发表于 2012-8-27 18:32 |只看该作者


 
rbhuang5907 发表于 2012-8-15 21:25
  牛顿信教吗?

  作者:土摩托


我觉得,唯物主义者应该容忍科学对神学的研究,呵呵




 
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发表于 2012-8-27 19:57 |只看该作者


 
"唯物主义者应该容忍科学对神学的研究"

此话不通。科学没有办法研究神学的,无法实证啊。研究神学不叫科学研究,就叫神学研究吧。

神学、科学、哲学、文学等,是并列关系。

人家有兴趣进行神学研究,唯物主义着无权不容忍。




 
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发表于 2012-8-28 18:21 |只看该作者


 
回复 rbhuang5907 的帖子

当下,唯物主义者必须是无神论者,对么?




 
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发表于 2012-8-28 18:59 |只看该作者


 
唯物主义者必须是无神论者,但唯物主义者无权禁止别人是有神论者。




 
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发表于 2012-8-29 22:04 |只看该作者


 
rbhuang5907 发表于 2012-8-29 10:59
唯物主义者必须是无神论者,但唯物主义者无权禁止别人是有神论者。


唯物主义者,坚持实践是检验真理的唯一标准,所以可以参与研究神学,研究不明飞行物,研究外星人文明,研究神是否存在,等等


 
 
 
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发表于 2014-2-7 09:39|只看该作者
His own opinion only, which has not been the main stream, however, quite side-tracked.
姓名:艾尔弗雷德·克罗斯比
  学历:
工作单位:德州大学奥斯汀分校
  职务:教授
  其它:
艾尔弗雷德·克罗斯比(Affred W.Crosby),全球通史研究领域创始人,美国著名环境史大师,现为美国德州大学奥斯汀分校历史系、地理系和美国研究系荣誉教授,曾任教于耶鲁大学、华盛顿州立大学。其重要著作包括《哥伦布带来的交流:1492年的生物学与文化成就》、《生态帝国主义》等,其著作曾荣获爱默生奖、医学作家协会奖、洛杉矶时报年度最佳选书。


主要作品:
[著作选载] 生态扩张主义:欧洲900-1900年的生态扩张
[著作选载] 人类能源史——危机与希望
Alfred W. Crosby
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alfred W. Crosby (born January 15, 1931, Boston, Massachusetts) is a historian, professor and author of such books as The Columbian Exchange (1972) and Ecological Imperialism (1986). In these works, he provides biological and geographical explanations for why Europeans were able to succeed with relative ease in what he refers to as the Neo-Europes of Australasia, North America, and southern South America. Reference to his works is made by Indian scholar Ramachandra Guha in his publication(s).

Recognizing the majority of modern day wealth is located in Europe and the Neo-Europes, Crosby set out to investigate what historical causes are behind the disparity. According to Hal Rothman, a Professor of History at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Crosby “added biology to the process of human exploration, coming up with explanations for events as diverse as Cortez’s conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Inca empire that made vital use of the physical essence of humanity.”.[1]

Crosby is Professor Emeritus of History, Geography, and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at Washington State University, Yale University, the Alexander Turnbull Library in New Zealand, and the University of Helsinki. He was appointed an academician by Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.

Contents [hide]
1 Publications
2 Notes
3 References
4 External links
Publications[edit]

His books include:

America, Russia, Hemp, and Napoleon: American Trade with Russia and the Baltic, 1793-1812. Ohio State University Press 1965.
Epidemic and Peace, 1918. Greenwood Press 1976. Republished as America's Forgotten Pandemic.
The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Greenwood Press 1972, Praeger Publishers 2003. Available in Spanish, Italian, and Korean translations.
Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. Cambridge University Press 1986, 1993, 2004. Available in German, Swedish, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean translations.
America's Forgotten Pandemic: The Influenza of 1918. Cambridge University Press 1989, 2003. Originally published as Epidemic and Peace, 1918. Available in Japanese translation.
Germs, Seeds, and Animals: Studies in Ecological History. M. E. Sharpe 1994.
The Measure of Reality: Quantification and Western Society, 1250-1600. Cambridge University Press 1997. Available in Spanish, Portuguese,French, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Slovennian and Korean translations.
Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History. Cambridge University Press 2002. Available in Turkish and Japanese translations.
Children of the Sun: A History of Humanity's Unappeasable Appetite for Energy. W.W. Norton 2006.
 
 
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发表于 2014-2-7 10:45|只看该作者
Isaac Newton on Religion

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a deeply religious person who wrote far more words on religion than he did on science. Early on, as an undergraduate at Trinity College Cambridge, he wrote a list of sins, itself a mark of his religious convictions. Many of these since relate to his non-attendance at church on Sunday. At some point he moved away from the orthodox (conventional) thinking of the Church of England and became a radical heretic, denying that Jesus Christ shared any essential characteristics of God. Because he denied the existence of the Holy Trinity that was believed by all orthodox Catholics and Protestants, Newton's position is characterized as antitrinitarian. Because there were severe legal and social penalties for holding such beliefs, he was forced to keep his views quiet and they became known only after he had died.

By far the most systematic theological research undertaken by Newton concerned the field of prophecy, in which he wrote over 2 million words (which still survive). He wrote in one place that he had been chosen by God to offer an explanation of these texts to his contemporaries, though any plans in this direction were presumably thwarted by their radical nature. In other areas he analysed the character of the fourth century Roman Catholics whom he believed had worked on behalf of the devil and had perverted the Christian religion. He carried out a great deal of research on the nature of Christ's relationship to his father, and also wrote a lengthy Analysis of dimensions of Solomon's Temple, an attempt to ascertain the true dimensions of the temple based on the description given in Ezekiel chs 40-8. In the last three decades of his life he spent vast amounts of time attempting to give a true chronology of events preceding Christ, much of which depended on his redating of the voyage of the Argonauts to 936BCE. On at least one occasion, he gave a sermon on his favourite subject, idolatry.

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发表于 2014-2-7 10:49|只看该作者
I's taken by surprise to read about the following and cleared for the myth about Newton's belief.

A Brief Survey of Sir Isaac Newton's Views on Religion

Front Matter
Faith and the Scientific Method
In Your Mind and in Your Heart
Concerning Astronomical References Found in the Scriptures
A Brief Survey of Sir Isaac Newton's Views on Religion
The Quest for Truth: Science and Religion in the Best of All Worlds
Time in Scripture and Science: A Conciliatory Key?
The Scriptural Accounts of the Creation: A Scientific Perspective
Evolution and the Gospel: Seeking Grandeur in This View of Life
Steven E. Jones, “A Brief Survey of Sir Isaac Newton's Views on Religion,” in Converging Paths to Truth, ed. Michael D. Rhodes and J. Ward Moody (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 2011), 61–78.

A Brief Survey of Sir Isaac Newton’s Views on Religion

Steven E. Jones

Steven E. Jones is a professor emeritus of physics, Brigham Young University.


Newton was certainly one of the greatest scientists who ever lived. He laid out the three laws of motion in his extraordinary Principia Mathematica. He discovered the law of universal gravitation, the famous inverse-distance-squared law. He wrote much about light and optics after performing his own original experiments on light. He invented calculus. He rejected the authority of the Greek philosopher Aristotle and promoted experiment-based science.

But it is not commonly known that Newton was also a devout Christian who wrote extensively about Christianity. We learn from his writings that he deeply studied the Bible along with writings of early Christian leaders. Notably, Newton concluded that the dogma of a Triune god was false doctrine and therefore refused ordination in the Anglican Church, a most unpopular decision that almost cost him his position at Cambridge University. Newton also believed that a general apostasy from Christ’s doctrines occurred early on in the history of the Christian church, and he wrote that a restoration of the Lord’s church would come at some future time.

Although none of Newton’s religious writings were published during his lifetime, after his death in 1727, John Conduitt, executor of Newton’s will,[1] published some of his theological manuscripts. Eventually the remainder came forth when the manuscripts were auctioned off in 1936.[2] In this paper we will examine some of Newton’s copious writings on religion.

Introductory Thought Experiment

Let us consider a quick thought experiment to get us thinking along Newtonian lines. Imagine a puck held by a string on a central peg so that it travels in a circular path on a “frictionless” air table like those used in air hockey games.



Suddenly, at point P at the bottom the string breaks. Approximately which way will the puck go—path number 1, 2, 3, or 4? When I have put this question to groups of people, the answers have included 1, 2, 3, and 4, with many not being at all sure what will happen.

But we do not do science by voting. We perform an experiment. And when we actually perform the experiment, we find that the moving puck follows path 2. It does not travel outward or continue in a circle.

Newton generalized the results of many such experiments in his famous three Laws of Motion. Newton’s first law of motion can be expressed this way: An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Initially the hockey puck was constrained by the unbalanced force of the string to move in a circle. However, at the moment the string broke, it was moving in the direction of 2, and Newton’s first law says that it will continue moving in that direction; this result has been confirmed by numerous actual experiments.

Experiments, careful observations, and measurements form the basis of the scientific method, and anyone can use it, Mormon or Muslim, Baptist or Buddhist. The scientific method works in repeatable fashion, independent of one’s beliefs. Repeatability is the core strength of the scientific method.

During the Middle Ages, people would often answer questions by an appeal to authority. They would use the Latin term ipse dixit, “he himself said it,” meaning that some recognized authority—Aristotle, Ptolemy, or one of the church fathers such as Augustine or Thomas Aquinas—had said it. This appeal to authority was the end of the discussion for many. Newton, however, rejected this appeal to authority and instead advocated the use of experiments and careful observations to find out what is true, which is the basis of the modern scientific method.[3] Aristotle maintained that the motion of the sun, moon, stars, and planets was circular.[4] However, Johannes Kepler, using the careful observations by Tycho Brahe, showed that they were in fact elliptical and derived equations that described their motion. A hundred years later, Newton showed that these elliptical orbits were the result of the gravitational force of the sun that could accurately be calculated using his famous law of gravity: Every point mass attracts every other point mass by a force pointing along the line intersecting both points. The force is directly proportional to the product of the two masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between the point masses—in equation form: F = G((m1m2)/(r2)).

We have important issues today that are of general concern for society. For example, is global warming real? Is it man-caused or the result of natural fluctuations in temperature? We can get the answer by repeated, careful experiments, observations, and measurements rather than by dogmatic or political statements.

A true scientist requires analysis based on experiments and observational evidence—it is not a matter of popular opinion or what some authority figure states. Questions important to society can be addressed by the scientific method, using experiments, then published in refereed journals. This system of review by knowledgeable peers was worked out during Newton’s lifetime by the British Royal Academy of Sciences. It is generally considered a major step in a nascent field of science when results are finally published in established peer-reviewed venues and journals. The scientific method has served us well for about 350 years.

Newton in Historical Context

The following time line places Newton in historical context with other notables.

Aristotle and Plato lived about four hundred years before Christ and their impact on Western culture has been considerable. Newton was certainly heavily influenced by Jesus Christ and the early Christian writers, for he quoted them abundantly in his writings. He took exception with some of the later Christian writers, after about AD 200. Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, and Galileo appeared on the scene just before Newton and paved the way for his research. Newton was born on the same day in 1642 that Galileo passed away, and he used many of Galileo’s findings in developing his famous laws of motion. Isaac Newton died in 1727.

A Meshing of Science and Faith in God

Newton was both a scientist and a believer in God. He wrote Optics, a study of light. In this scientific treatise, he paused to ask: “Whence is it that Nature doth nothing in vain? And whence arises all that order and beauty which we see in the world? . . . Was the eye contrived without skill in optics? And the ear without knowledge of sounds?”[5] Then, in case the reader is not getting his point, he states plainly: “Does it not appear from phenomena that there is a Being incorporeal, living, intelligent, omnipresent, who in infinite space . . . sees the things themselves intimately, and thoroughly perceives them, and comprehends them wholly.”[6]

In his famous Principia, Newton wrote: “This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all. . . . The Supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect . . . and from his true dominion it follows that the true God is a living, intelligent, and powerful Being. . . . He is not eternity and infinity, but eternal and infinite; he is not duration or space, but he endures and is present.”[7]

Newton also wrote, “When I wrote my treatise about our system I had an eye upon such principles as might work with considering men for the belief of a Deity; and nothing can rejoice me more than to find it useful for that purpose.”[8] In other words, Newton hoped his scientific writings would lead people to think about and believe in God.

“In human affairs the father of a family or house is frequently taken for the common father of a kindred: here the whole creation is considered as one kindred or family so named from God, the common father of all.”[9] Thus, for Newton, there was a natural meshing of science and belief in God.

In the Book of Mormon, Alma speaks of performing an individual “experiment” (he uses the same term later used by Newton) in order to learn about religious principles:

Awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith. . . .
Now, we will compare the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place that a seed may be planted in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it beginneth to be delicious to me. . . .
And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good. (Alma 32: 28, 33)
Now compare this advice of Alma regarding an experiment on the word of God with this advice from Newton regarding the scriptures:

Let me therefore beg of thee not to trust to the opinion of any man concerning these things, for so it is great odds but thou shalt be deceived. Much less oughtest thou to rely upon the judgment of the multitude, for so thou shalt certainly be deceived. But search the scriptures thyself and that by frequent reading and constant meditation upon what thou readest, and earnest prayer to God to enlighten thine understanding if thou desirest to find the truth. Which if thou shalt at length attain thou wilt value above all other treasures in the world by reason of the assurance and vigour it will add to thy faith, and steady satisfaction to thy mind which he only can know how to estimate who shall experience it.[10]
It seems evident that Newton is sharing his own experience of studying the scriptures and the assurance and satisfaction the word of God brought to him, just as Alma shared his experience based on planting the word of God in his heart.

Newton’s Key to Correctly Understanding Scripture

With the foundation that Newton had obtained by reading the Bible and earnest meditation and prayer, how did he proceed to resolve other questions about religion? There were so many differing interpretations of scripture—how could one make progress in finding out the meaning intended in the Bible? Newton answers: “The first Principles of the Christian religion are founded, not on disputable conclusions, opinions, or conjectures, or on human sanctions, but on the express words of Christ and his Apostles; and we are to hold fast the form of sound words. 2 Tim. 1:13. And further, it is not enough that a proposition be true or in the express words of scripture: it must also appear to have been taught in the days of the Apostles.”[11] And again: “The first Principles of the Christian religion depend not on disputable conclusions. . . . Every truth, every sentence in scripture is not a fundamental article. It must be delivered in the express words of the first teachers, and appear to have been an article taught from the beginning.”[12] So here is Newton’s approach for understanding the Bible—read the “express words of scripture” and what was “taught in the days of the Apostles.”

At Cambridge University, where Newton studied, he had the writings of Ignatius, Irenaeus, Polycarp, and others of the earliest Christian writings, and he read their words in the original Latin and Greek. He quoted frequently from them and made a distinction between doctrines taught by those who lived during or soon after the Apostles and doctrines that appeared later in history.[13]

In 1661, Newton was admitted to Trinity College in Cambridge, England.[14] At that time, the college’s teachings were based largely on the teachings of Aristotle and other philosophers, but Newton preferred to study the experimentalists Galileo, Copernicus, and Kepler, and he came to challenge Aristotle’s teachings.[15] Shortly after he obtained his degree in April 1665, Newton left the university and for the next two years, during the pandemic known as the Great Plague, applied himself to the study of optics, gravitation, and mathematics at his mother’s home in Woolsthorpe, England.[16]

Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667 to continue his studies and obtain a Master of Arts degree, which he obtained the following year.[17] In 1669, he was named to the Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics, an elevated position at Trinity College in the Cambridge University system.[18] Already, at age twenty-six, his talents and contributions were recognized. In Newton’s day, any fellow of Cambridge or Oxford had to be an ordained priest in the Anglican Church.[19] When he accepted the position, Newton promised to take holy orders in the near future but kept postponing it for several years because his personal beliefs were in disagreement with Anglican doctrine.[20] However, the pressure to take holy orders increased, and Newton considered giving up his position rather than be ordained.[21] In March 1675 he applied to King Charles for a special dispensation, and to everyone’s surprise, within a month the king granted that the Lucasian Professor and all subsequent holders of the chair be exempt from holy orders.[22] Newton had expected a fight and had spent the preceding four years in preparation for it by immersing himself in the scriptures and other ancient texts including the earliest Christian writers.[23] He filled his notebooks with scriptural quotes, from both the Old and New Testament as well as from the earliest Christian writers.[24]

Newton on the Nature of the Godhead

Just how did Newton apply his scientific approach in his religious studies? A prime example comes from his studies of the nature of God, which he based on the scriptures combined with the teachings of the early writers of the Christian church. Newton saw two major flaws in the Christian doctrine of the Trinity: it was unsupported from the scriptures and it was illogical.[25] Newton used scriptural passages to demonstrate that the Trinitarian doctrine was incorrect, and that the scriptures instead taught that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate and distinct beings, three members of the Godhead. For example, the Son confessed that the Father was greater than him[26] and called him his God.[27] The Son also acknowledged the original prescience of all future things to be in the Father only.[28] Newton especially took exception to the Athanasian Creed, which was the first creed in which the equality of the three persons of the Trinity was explicitly stated. It is now generally accepted by scholars that Athanasius was not its author and that it most likely dates from the late fifth or even early sixth century AD—at least one hundred years after Athanasius.[29] The text of the Athanasian Creed follows:

Whosover will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. . . . The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incomprehensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehensibles, but One Uncreated, and One Uncomprehensible. . . . So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and co-equal. So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped. He therefore that will be saved, must thus think of the Trinity.[30]
For Newton this was simply not logical. He wrote, “Let them make good sense of it who are able; for my part, I can make none.”[31]

Newton Rejects 1 John 5:7

Newton wrote a long article about the passage found in 1 John 5:7 in the King James Version, which indeed sounds a bit like the Athanasian Creed: “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). Not satisfied with this passage, Newton went back and read the text of the Vulgate as well as the original Greek. He showed that the words “in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one” did not appear in the original Greek manuscripts. He wrote that the phrase “was neither in the ancient Versions nor in the Greek but was wholly unknown to the first churches, is most certain by an argument hinted above; namely that in all that vehement, universal, and lasting controversy about the Trinity in Jerome’s time, and both before and long enough after it, this text of the Three in Heaven was never thought of. It is now in everybody’s mouth and accounted the main text for the business [of supporting the Trinitarian dogma].”[32] Newton concluded, based on early texts of the Bible, that 1 John 5:7 was a later addition. He also wrote, “That apostasy was to begin by corrupting the truth about the relation of the Son to the Father in putting them equal.”[33]

Scholars today agree that 1 John 5:7 is indeed spurious based on the same arguments that Newton used. The passage is not found in any early Greek manuscript, and it is not quoted by Greek Fathers, who, if they had known it, would certainly have used it in the Trinitarian controversies of the fourth century AD.[34]

Newton’s Views of a General Apostasy

Newton concluded a lengthy treatise on the Book of Revelation by saying: “If you now compare all with the Apocalyptic Visions, and particularly with the flight of the woman into the wilderness and the reign of the whore of Babylon, they will very much illustrate one another: for these visions are as plain as if it had been expressly said, that the true Church shall disappear, and in her stead an idolatrous church reign in the world.”[35] It is interesting to compare this with Doctrine and Covenants 86, where the Lord explains the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the tares:

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and the tares:
Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed; And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. (D&C 86:1–3)
Newton insisted that this was a “general Apostacy,”[36] and used such scriptures as 1 Timothy 1 and 2[37] and in particular 2 Thessalonians 2:3, which Newton translates as: “The day of the Lord shal not come except the Apostacy come first & that man of sin be revealed the Son of perdition.”[38] These, of course, are scriptures the Latter-day Saints also use to support the idea of a general apostasy.

Newton also remarked:

Now though the unity of the Church depended upon the unity of the faith and therefore the rule of faith was unalterable, yet before the end of the second century some of the Latin churches in opposition to heretics began to add new articles to it. And after they had, by adding some articles in the language of the scriptures, made precedents for creating to themselves a creed-making authority: they began to add articles in other language than that of the scripture till they lost the primitive Apostolic rule of faith, and by the loss of it brought all into confusion.[39]
On his deathbed, Newton openly disclosed his rejection of apostate Christianity by refusing to accept the last rites of the Anglican Church.[40]

Newton Predicts a Restoration of the True Gospel

Newton’s study of the scriptures brought him to the conclusion that just as there had been a falling away, there would also be a restoration of the true church of Jesus Christ. He quoted Malachi 3 and other scriptures in his commentary that are standard scriptural passages used by Latter-day Saints in discussing the restoration:

Behold I will send my messenger & he shall prepare the way before me & the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple—But who may abide the day of his coming? & who shall stand when he appeareth. Malachi 3.1, 2.[41]
And there appeared unto them Moses & Elias & they were talking with Jesus—And (the disciples) asked him saying why say the Scribes that Elias must first come And he answered & told them Elias verily cometh first & restoreth all things. . . . Mark 9.4, 11[–]13. . . . Jesus said unto them (his disciples) Elias shall first come & restore all things. . . . Matth 17.11.[42]
Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. Acts 3.21.[43]
I will lay the Land most desolate & the pomp of her strength shall cease, & the Mountains (i.e. Cities) of Israel shall be desolate. Ezek 33.28.[44]
Jerusalem shall become heaps, & the Mountain of the house as the high-places of the Forest: But in the last days it shall come to pass that the Mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the Mountains & it shall be exalted above the hills &c i.e. above all other temples. Mica 3.12.[45]
So in Dan 2 The new Jerusalem extending its dominion over the earth is represented by a great mountain which filled the whole Earth.[46]

Newton found multiple examples throughout history of reformations by God:

The worship which is due to this God we are to give to no other nor to ascribe anything absurd or contradictious to his nature or actions lest we be found to blaspheme him or to deny him or to make a step towards atheism or irreligion. . . . For as often as mankind has swerved from them, God has made a reformation. When the sons of Adam erred and the thoughts of their heart became evil continually, God selected Noah to people a new world. And when the posterity of Noah transgressed and began to invoke dead men, God selected Abraham and his posterity. And when they transgressed in Egypt God reformed them by Moses. And when they relapsed to idolatry and immorality, God sent Prophets to reform them and punished them by the Babylonian captivity. And when they that returned from captivity, mixed human inventions with the law of Moses under the name of traditions, and laid the stress of religion not upon the acts of the mind, but upon outward acts and ceremonies, God sent Christ to reform them. And when the nation received him not, God called the Gentiles. And now the Gentiles have corrupted themselves, we may expect that God in due time will make a new reformation. And in all the reformations of religion hitherto made, the religion in respect of God and our neighbor is one and the same religion . . . so that this is the oldest religion in the world.[47]
Newton argued that it was the same religion that was restored from time to time by God because men deviated from this true religion. He concluded: “So then the mystery of this restitution of all things is to be found in all the Prophets: which makes me wonder with great admiration that so few Christians of our age can find it there.”[48]

Conclusion

Newton died on March 20, 1727, and was buried in Westminster Abby on April 4. His coffin was carried by “the Lord High Chancellor, the Dukes of Montrose and Roxborough, and the Earls of Pembroke, Sussex and Macclesfield.”[49] Other great scientists buried near him include James Clerk Maxwell and Michael Faraday.

Isaac Newton was one of the world’s greatest scientists. He utilized his great genius and powers of reasoning to produce his famous scientific discoveries including his laws of motion, the law of universal gravitation, studies in optics, and the invention of calculus. But he was also a devout Christian, and he brought this same intellectual genius to bear in his analysis of Christianity, and he based his beliefs on his own studies of the Bible along with the earliest Christian writers. Based on his studies he rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and proved that it was unbiblical. He also concluded from that there had been an apostasy from the true Church of Christ, and that at some future time there would be a restoration.

Notes


The author acknowledges Professor Michael D. Rhodes for a careful reading of this paper and numerous useful suggestions.

[1] Michael White, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1997), 360.

[2] White, Isaac Newton, 346.

[3] Isaac Newton, The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, trans. Andrew Motte (Berkley University of California Press, 1946), Rule 4 in Book III, 400.

[4] Aristotle, On the Heavens, 1.9.

[5] Isaac Newton, Opticks, 4th ed. (London: William Innys, 1730), 344; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[6] Isaac Newton, Opticks, 345; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[7] Isaac Newton, Principia, ed. Stephen Hawking (Philadelphia: Running Press, 2002), 426–27.

[8] Isaac Newton, Original letter from Isaac Newton to Richard Bentley, 189.R.4.47, ff. 4A-5, Trinity College Library, Cambridge, UK; found on the Newton Project website: http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00254; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[9] Isaac Newton, Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (part 4: ff. 70–83), ms. 361(4), f. 94, New College Library, Oxford, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00263; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[10] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.1), Yahuda Ms. 1.1, 1r–2r. Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00135; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[11] Isaac Newton, Irenicum, Keynes Ms. 3, King’s College, Cambridge, 13, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00003; spelling and punctuation modernized, emphasis added.

[12] Newton, Irenicum, 25; spelling and punctuation modernized, emphasis added.

[13] For example, see Isaac Newton, Drafts on the History of the Church (Section 6), Yahuda Ms. 15.6, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00223; Isaac Newton, Paradoxical Questions concerning the morals & actions of Athanasius & his followers, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, Los Angeles, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00117.

[14] White, Isaac Newton, 46, 55.

[15] White, Isaac Newton, 53.

[16] White, Isaac Newton, 58.

[17] White, Isaac Newton, 94–95.

[18] White, Isaac Newton, 103.

[19] White, Isaac Newton, 150.

[20] White, Isaac Newton, 150.

[21] White, Isaac Newton, 150.

[22] White, Isaac Newton, 151.

[23] White, Isaac Newton, 151–52.

[24] See footnotes 8–10.

[25] White, Isaac Newton, 152.

[26] Drafts on the history of the Church (Section 3), Yahuda Ms. 15.3, 47v., National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00220.

[27] Isaac Newton, Drafts on the history of the Church (Section 7), Yahuda Ms. 15.7, 154r, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00237.

[28] Isaac Newton, Drafts on the history of the Church (Section 3), Yahuda Ms. 15.3, 66r.

[29] Frederick W. Norris, “Athanasian Creed,” in Encyclopedia of Early Christianity, 2nd ed., ed. Everett Fergusen (New York: Garland, 1997); Michael O’Carroll, “Athanasian Creed,” in Trinitas (Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier, 1987); Concordia Triglotta (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921), 13.

[30] Charles G. Herbermann and others, eds., The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York: The Universal Knowledge Foundation, 1907), s.v. Athanasian Creed.

[31] Isaac Newton, Two Notable Corruptions of the Scriptures (part 1: ff. 1–41), ms. 361(4).

[32] Isaac Newton, Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (part 1: ff. 1–41), ms 361(4), f. 7.

[33] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.4), Yahuda Ms. 1.4, 158r, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00182; spelling modernized.

[34] Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart: German Bible Society, 1994), 647–49.

[35] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.2), Yahuda Ms. 1.2, 27v, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00137; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[36] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.2), Yahuda Ms. 1.2, 24r.

[37] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.2), Yahuda Ms. 1.2, 24r.

[38] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.2), Yahuda Ms. 1.2, 24v.

[39] Isaac Newton, Drafts on the history of the Church (Section 5), Yahuda Ms. 15.5, 92v, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00222; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[40] White, Isaac Newton, 360.

[41] Isaac Newton, Prophesies concerning Christs 2d coming, ASC Ms. N47 HER, James White Library, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, USA, 8, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00088; spelling modernized.

[42] Isaac Newton, Prophesies concerning Christs 2d coming, ASC Ms. N47 HER; spelling modernized.

[43] Isaac Newton, Prophesies concerning Christs 2d coming, ASC Ms. N47 HER; spelling modernized.

[44] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.1a), Yahuda Ms. 1.1a, 3v, Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem, http://www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/THEM00136.

[45] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.1a), Yahuda Ms. 1.1a, 4r; spelling modernized.

[46] Isaac Newton, Untitled Treatise on Revelation (section 1.1a), Yahuda Ms. 1.1a, 3r; spelling modernized.

[47] Isaac Newton, Irenicum, 35; spelling and punctuation modernized.

[48] Yahuda MS 6, folio 12, cited in Frank E. Manuel, The Religion of Isaac Newton (Oxford: Clarendon, 1974), 126.

[49] White, Isaac Newton, 360.

https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/converging-paths-truth/brief-survey-sir-isaac-newtons-views-religion
 
 
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5#
 
发表于 2014-2-7 11:22|只看该作者
Nature, and Nature’s Laws, lay hid in Night.
God said, Let Newton be! and All was Light.
–Alexander Pope
Newton’s Faith

For Newton the world of science was by no means the whole of life. He spent more time on theology than on science; indeed, he wrote about 1.3 million words on biblical subjects. Yet this vast legacy lay hidden from public view for two centuries until the auction of his nonscientific writings in 1936.
http://www.ctlibrary.com/ch/1991/issue30/3038.html
 
 
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发表于 2014-2-7 13:10|只看该作者

With this side by side comparison between Chinese statement and English description, I hope all the readers can make their own conclusion. At least, I've learned much more than before.:)
 
 
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发表于 昨天 23:53|只看该作者
据说牛顿一直就是信教的。
发现万有引力与信教不信教无关的。
在神学方面,牛顿的著作的贡献巨大。
至于说未信教前发现万有引力,信教后无所建树。这是扯淡了。有目的的说法而已。
就像爱因斯坦的天才与汗水的论述一下,很多人都故意说一半。
 
 
 
 
   
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