The Fathers of Science Understood the Bible and its Historical Importance

Science and religion have always been at war with one another, right? Isn’t that what we’ve all been taught? Isn’t that what the trial of Galileo was all about? This widely held view is a distortion of the historical truth. On the contrary, historians over the past fifty years have revealed that for most of history science and religion have been deeply entwined.

It has been routinely noted that the relationship between science and religion points out that for hundreds of years, one of the most prevailing models in Western culture was what was known as the “two books” – these being the books of Scripture and the book of Nature. From the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century, most people in the Western world believed that both books were the work of God, and so “it was impossible that the two should conflict.”

Throughout most of the Middle Ages up through the Renaissance, most scientific leaders were men of faith. Almost all the great pioneers and founders of the new science were religious men who wanted a science that would harmonize with their faith.

For example, the three founders of the heliocentric (Earth revolves around the sun) cosmology, Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, and Isaac Newton, understood that science is entwined with theology. Copernicus initiated the idea, Kepler’s analysis of Brahe’s data and his formulation of the laws of planetary motion provided strong mathematical and observational evidence that solidified the heliocentric model and contributed to the scientific revolution. 

Galileo was tried for heresy because he supported the idea of heliocentrism, which is that the Earth revolves around the sun. This idea went against the Catholic Church’s teachings at the time.

Isaac Newton built upon Kepler’s laws and Galileo’s observations to develop his theory of universal gravitation, which explained why planets move in elliptical paths. Newton wrote a vast amount of material on biblical interpretation, prophecy, and the chronology of ancient civilizations, far exceeding his scientific works in terms of volume.

They have laid the foundation for various theories that have been proven valid and have been enhanced by individuals such as Einstein explained gravity as a curvature of spacetime caused by mass and energy. Newton explained gravity as a force pulling objects with mass toward each other.

These above-mentioned scientific theories have arguably contributed to the broader concept of a universe seemingly designed for life, which is a core principle of the fine-tuning argument.