.(4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) was considered an insightful and erudite theologian by his contemporaries. He wrote many works that would now be classified as and dealing with the.Newton's conception of the physical world provided a stable model of the natural world that would reinforce stability and harmony in the civic world. Newton saw a as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation. Although born into an family, by his thirties Newton held a that, had it been made public, would not have been considered orthodox by mainstream; in recent times he has been described as a. Contents.Christian orthodoxy Newton was born into an Anglican family three months after the death of his father, a prosperous farmer also named Isaac Newton.
When Newton was three, his mother married the of the neighbouring parish of and went to live with her new husband, the Reverend Barnabus Smith, leaving her son in the care of his maternal grandmother, Margery Ayscough. Isaac apparently hated his step-father, and had nothing to do with Smith during his childhood. His maternal uncle, the rector serving the parish of, was involved to some extent in the care of Isaac.In 1667 Newton became a Fellow of, making necessary his commitment to taking within seven years of completing his, which he did the following year. He was also required to take a vow of celibacy and recognize the of the Church of England. Newton considered ceasing his studies prior to completion in order to avoid the ordination made necessary by law of. He was eventually successful in avoiding the statute, assisted in this by the efforts of, as in 1676 the then, changed the relevant statute of Trinity College to provide dispensation from this duty. After taking advantage of that, Newton embarked on an investigative study of the early history of the Church, which developed, during the 1680s, into inquiries about the origins of religion.
At around the same time, he developed a scientific view on motion and matter. Of he stated:When I wrote my treatise about our Systeme I had an eye upon such Principles as might work with considering men for the beliefe of a Deity and nothing can rejoyce me more than to find it useful for that purpose.Newton's religious views developed as a result of participation in an investigative discourse with Nature (the nature of the world), and developed from the apparent between biblical reality and the increasing revelation of the structure of reality from investigation. Newton saw these truths of nature as challenging established religion, particularly as embodied in Christian scriptural belief. Unorthodoxy was made necessary for Newton, and those affiliated with him, by the need for rediscovery of a truth that had been hidden somewhere in the time of classical history. By this they might have the capacity to engage in open dialogue with an investigation into Nature.
In this conflict of ecclesiastical order and the liberating effects of scientific enquiry, he and others turned to the prisca in all the security of a classical civilization having been supposedly founded on bona fide insights. So, for them, the truth lay within the perception of reality attained by and communicated, supposedly in a secret way, to a specific circle of people.As is found among some of the established intellectuals of the age, Newton believed that ancient philosophers and religious persons had gained insight into the truth of the nature of the world and universe, but this truth having become hidden within the language of the recording of the truth at the time and by later medieval scholars (, and ) that required deciphering in order to be understood. The belief in the wisdom of the ancients, that thinking was intelligent and knowing in the civilization of classical religious figures (Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet Isaiah and ) and writers (Plato and Democritus) is known as prisca sapientia.Like many contemporaries (e.g., ) he lived with the threat of severe punishment if he had been open about his religious beliefs. Heresy was a crime that could have been punishable by the loss of all property and status or even death (see, e.g., the ).
Because of his secrecy over his religious beliefs, Newton has been described as a.According to most scholars, Newton was, not holding to. 'In Newton's eyes, worshipping Christ as God was, to him the fundamental sin'. As well as being, Newton allegedly rejected the orthodox doctrines of the, a personal and literal.
Although he was not a he shared many similar beliefs with them. A manuscript he sent to in which he disputed the existence of the was never published. In a minority view, T.C. Pfizenmaier argued Newton was neither 'orthodox' nor an Arian, but that, rather, Newton believed both of these groups had wandered into metaphysical speculation.
Pfizenmaier also argued that Newton held closer to the view of the Trinity that was of a 'similar substance' from the Father rather than the orthodox view that Jesus Christ is of the 'same substance' of the Father as endorsed by modern,. Has also argued against this from manuscripts produced late in Newton's life which demonstrate Newton rejected the Eastern view of the Trinity.Newton refused before his death. God as masterful creator Newton saw God as the masterful creator whose existence could not be denied in the face of the grandeur of all creation. Nevertheless, he rejected 's thesis that God would necessarily make a perfect world which requires no intervention from the creator. Newton's grave in's belief in the universe and rejection of may have influenced Newton's religious ideas. Later works— The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728) and Observations Upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John (1733)—were published after his death.Newton and 's mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox clergy as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians.
The clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way in which to combat the emotional and mystical superlatives of superstitious enthusiasm, as well as the threat of atheism.The attacks made against pre-, and the elements of, were given their foundation with Boyle's mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle's ideas their completion through, and more importantly was very successful in popularizing them. Newton refashioned the world governed by an interventionist God into a world crafted by a God that designs along rational and universal principles. These principles were available for all people to discover, allowed man to pursue his own aims fruitfully in this life, not the next, and to perfect himself with his own rational powers. Writings His first writing on the subject of religion was Introductio.
Continens Apocalypseos rationem generalem ( Introduction. Containing an explanation of the Apocalypse), which has an unnumbered leaf between folios 1 and 2 with the subheading De prophetia prima, written in Latin some time prior to 1670. Written subsequently in English was Notes on early Church history and the moral superiority of the 'barbarians' to the Romans.
His last writing, in 1737, was entitled A Dissertation upon the Sacred Cubit of the Jews and the Cubits of the several Nations.Newton did not publish any of his works of biblical study during his lifetime. All of Newton's writings on corruption in biblical scripture and the church took place after the late 1670s and prior to the middle of 1690. See also. ^ Christianson, Gale E. (19 September 1996). – 155 pages Oxford portraits in science Oxford University Press.
Retrieved 28 January 2012. Austin, William H. (1970), 'Isaac Newton on Science and Religion', Journal of the History of Ideas, 31 (4): 521–542,:,. ^ ENGLISH & LATIN. Retrieved 28 January 2012. ^ (AHRC Newton Papers Project) THE NEWTON PROJECT – Newton's Religious Writings ENGLISH & LATIN.
University of Sussex. Retrieved 28 January 2012. The Newton Project. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2007. ^ Principia, Book III; cited in; Newton's Philosophy of Nature: Selections from his writings, p. Thayer, Hafner Library of Classics, NY, 1953.
A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster, Edinburgh, 1850; cited in; ibid, p. Retrieved 5 July 2008.
^ (1999). British Journal for the History of Science. 32 (4): 381–419. Archived from (PDF) on 8 September 2014. Nichols, John Bowyer (1822). Nichols, Son, and Bentley. P. 32.
(2000). P. 3. Retrieved 29 January 2012. ^ Professor Rob Iliffe (AHRC Newton Papers Project) THE NEWTON PROJECT. University of Sussex.
Retrieved 7 February 2012. ^. Retrieved 29 January 2012. S.D.Snobelen – To Discourse of God: Isaac Newton's Heterdox Theology and Natural Philosophy Retrieved 29 January 2012.
Matt Goldish (1998). Springer Netherlands. P. 9. Christianity Today International - Retrieved 28 January 2012.
2004 – 'The long lost truth' Sir Isaac Newton and the Newtonian pursuit of long lost knowledge 24 March 2012 at the Retrieved 29 January 2012. – Retrieved 29 January 2012. Hilary Gatti (2002). Cornell University Press. Cambridge University Press. P. 102.
^ Avery Cardinal Dulles. 2005. Richard Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton, (1980) pp.
103, 25. Westfall, Richard S. The Life of Isaac Newton.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pfizenmaier, T.C, 'The Trinitarian Theology of Dr. Samuel Clarke' (1675–1729).
^ Pfizenmaier, T.C., 'Was Isaac Newton an Arian?' Journal of the History of Ideas 68(1):57–80, 1997. Webb, R.K. Knud Haakonssen. 'The emergence of Rational Dissent.'
Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. P19. Newton, 1706 Opticks (2nd Edition), quoted in H. Alexander 1956 (ed): The Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, University of Manchester Press. Leibniz, first letter, in Alexander 1956, p. 11.
Caroline to Leibniz, 10 January 1716, quoted in Alexander 1956, p. = Chevalier i.e. Knight.).
Clarke, first reply, in Alexander 1956 p. Alexander 1956, p. Xvii. Newton to Bentley, 25 February 1693. Force, James E.; Popkin, Richard Henry (1990).
Force, James E.; Popkin, Richard Henry (eds.). Essays on the Context, Nature, and Influence of Isaac Newton's Theology. Newton has often been identified as a deist.In the 19th century, William Blake seems to have put Newton into the deistic camp. Scholars in the 20th-century have often continued to view Newton as a deist. Cragg views Newton as a kind of proto-deist and, as evidence, points to Newton's belief in a true, original, monotheistic religion first discovered in ancient times by natural reason. This position, in Cragg's view, leads to the elimination of the Christian revelation as neither necessary nor sufficient for human knowledge of God. This agenda is indeed the key point, as Leland describes above, of the deistic program which seeks to 'set aside' revelatory religious texts.
Cragg writes that, 'In effect, Newton ignored the claims of revelation and pointed in a direction which many eighteenth-century thinkers would willingly follow.' John Redwood has also recently linked anti-Trinitarian theology with both 'Newtonianism' and 'deism.' . Gieser, Suzanne (14 February 2005). The Innermost Kernel: Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics.
Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with C.G. Newton seems to have been closer to the deists in his conception of God and had no time for the doctrine of the Trinity.
The deists did not recognize the divine nature of Christ. According to Fierz, Newton's conception of God permeated his entire scientific work: God's universality and eternity express themselves in the dominion of the laws of nature. Time and space are regarded as the 'organs' of God. All is contained and moves in God but without having any effect on God himself. Thus space and time become metaphysical entities, superordinate existences that are not associated with any interaction, activity or observation on man's part. McCauley, Joseph L.
Classical Mechanics: Transformations, Flows, Integrable and Chaotic Dynamics. Cambridge University Press. Newton (1642–1727), as a seventeenth century nonChristian Deist, would have been susceptible to an accusation of heresy by either the Anglican Church or the Puritans. Hans S. Philosophical problems of modern physics. Newton expressed the same conception of the nature of atoms in his deistic view of the Universe. Brewster, Sir David.
A Short Scheme of the True Religion, manuscript quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton Edinburgh, 1850. The Newton Project. East Sussex:. From the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013. ^ Jacob, Margaret C.
The Newtonians and the English Revolution: 1689–1720. ^. Associated Press. 19 June 2007. Archived from on 29 June 2007.
Retrieved 17 May 2018. Joalland, Michael. 'Isaac Newton Reads the King James Version: The Marginal Notes and Reading Marks of a Natural Philosopher'. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 3 (2019): 297–339. Newton, Isaac (5 April 2007). The Newton Project.
Archived from on 8 November 2007. Retrieved 15 August 2007. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton, 1733, J. BROWNE,. ^ Snobelen, Stephen D.
Archived from on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 4 February 2014. 21 February 2014 at the. the 'time, times and half a time' of Daniel 7:25 and 12:7.
the '42 months' of Revelation 11:2 and 13:5 equals the '1260 days' of Revelation 11:3 and 12:6. Jonathan Edwards ”History of Redemption' New York: T. Swords (1793) page 431: 'The Beginning of the reign of Antichrist. The best interpreters (as Mr. Fleming, Sir I. Doddridge, Bp. Newton, and Mr.
Reader) are pretty well agreed that this reign is to be dated from about A. 756, when the Pope began to be a temporal power, (that is, in prophetic language, a beast) by assuming temporal dominion; 1260 years from this period will bring us to about A. 2000, and about the 6000th year of the world, which agrees with a tradition at least as ancient as the epistle ascribed to the apostle Barnabas (f 15. which says, that ' in six thousand years shall all things be accomplished.'
Cox 'Outlines of Lectures on the Book of Daniel' London: Westley and Davis (1833) 2nd Edition Page 152. Thomas Williams 'The Cottage Bible and family expositor' Hartford: D.F. Robinson and H. Sumner (1837) Vol. 2-page 1417. Bishop Thomas Newton 'DISSERTATIONS ON THE PROPHECIES' London: J.F.
Rivington (1789) 8th Edition Page 327: 'As the stone in Nebuchadnezzar's dream was cut out of the mountain without hands, that is not by human, but by supernatural means; so the little horn shall be broken without hand, not die the common death, not fall by the hand of men, but perish by a stroke from heaven.' . East Apthorp, D.D. 'Discourses on Prophecy' (1786) Discourse XI, Page 273: 'Rome the seat of Antichrist will be consumed with fire, at the coming of Christ, or when the period of her apostacy is expired, in 1260 years from the rise of Antichrist.' Page 275: '.present Rome, when by an eruption of fire the mountainous soil, being undermined, will fall into an abyss, and be covered with the sea. Rev.
David Simpson 'A Plea for Religion and the Sacred Writings' London: W. Baynes, and Paternoster-Row. (1808) 5th Edition, pages 131 and 133. ^ Westfall, Richard S. (1973) 1964. Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England.
U of Michigan Press. Fitzpatrick, Martin. Knud Haakonssen.
'The Enlightenment, politics and providence: some Scottish and English comparisons.' Enlightenment and Religion: Rational Dissent in eighteenth-century Britain.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 1996. P64. Frankel, Charles. The Faith of Reason: The Idea of Progress in the French Enlightenment. King's Crown Press, New York: 1948.
P1. The Newton Project, retrieved 20 January 2014. James E. Force; Richard Henry Popkin (1990).
Springer Science & Business Media. P. 103.Further reading. Eamon Duffy, 'Far from the Tree' (review of Rob Iliffe, Priest of Nature: the Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2017, vol. 4 (8 March 2018), pp. 28–29. Iliffe, Rob.
Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton. Oxford University Press: 2017, 536 pp.
Joalland, Michael. 'Isaac Newton Reads the King James Version: The Marginal Notes and Reading Marks of a Natural Philosopher'. Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 3 (2019): 297–339. Manuel, Frank. The Religion of Isaac Newton.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974.External links Wikiquote has quotations related to:. – writings on Newton by.
– the collection of all his religious writings.