Sir Isaac Newton: Scientific Legend, Theological Scholar or Both?

The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets could only proceed from the counsel and dominion on an intelligent and powerful Being.

—Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727), Principia (1687)

The "secret" is out concerning Sir Isaac Newton! That is, if you didn't know it already. Now, The National Library of Israel has made Newton's Theological Manuscripts available to the world. Yesterday, Wednesday, February 15th, this information was released by Aron Heller of Associated Press in the article, "Israeli library uploads Newton's theological texts."

Here's an excerpt;

Israeli library uploads Newton's theological texts
By ARON HELLER, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) -- He's considered to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. But Sir Isaac Newton was also an influential theologian who applied a scientific approach to the study of scripture, Hebrew and Jewish mysticism.

Now Israel's national library, an unlikely owner of a vast trove of Newton's writings, has digitized his theological collection - some 7,500 pages in Newton's own handwriting - and put it online. Among the yellowed texts are Newton's famous prediction of the apocalypse in 2060.

Newton revolutionized physics, mathematics and astronomy in the 17th and 18th century, laying the foundations for most of classical mechanics - with the principal of universal gravitation and the three laws of motion bearing his name.

However, the curator of Israel's national library's humanities collection said Newton was also a devout Christian who dealt far more in theology than he did in physics and believed that scripture provided a "code" to the natural world.

"Today, we tend to make a distinction between science and faith, but to Newton it was all part of the same world," said Milka Levy-Rubin. "He believed that careful study of holy texts was a type of science, that if analyzed correctly could predict what was to come."

So he learned how to read Hebrew, scrolled through the Bible and delved into the study of Jewish philosophy, the mysticism of Kabbalah and the Talmud - a compendium of Jewish oral law and stories about 1,500 years old.

If you're interested, here is a direct link to The Newton Papers! Since the release of my book, Faith Science, "I've shouted from the mountain tops" that faith and science are not logical opposites. Now you can see it for yourself in the original words of one of the greatest scientists of all time.

Here's an excerpt from Faith Science;

Science and theology are not mutually exclusive. Sir Isaac Newton is considered to be one of the most prominent physicists, mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, and theologians. Newton’s laws of motion are the foundational principles for classical mechanics. He also wrote the book “Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John.” If I were to respond with the same logic as those secular scientists who think Christians can’t also be scientists, I would say, “These guys are agnostics and atheists; they are not scientists.”