During the Reformation the watchword was Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone, as the authority for belief and practice. If the reformers were active in denouncing the pope of the Vatican, they were also vigorous in challenging ‘the pope of philosophy’, Aristotle. For the Reformation to succeed, it was believed that both the pope of religion and the pope of philosophy had to be dethroned. Eagerly the reformers tested every practice in the corrupt Roman Catholic Church against the Bible, and stripped away all that was contrary to God’s authority. Likewise, Aristotle, Pliny, Ptolemy, Galen and others from a pagan philosophical worldview were also scientifically cross-examined, and what was based on assumptions and metaphysics was overturned, and replaced by enquiring minds that tested and tried theories, looking for solid evidence.
It was out of this crucible of the Reformation that modern empirical science was born. Peter Harrison, formerly Professor of Science and Religion at Oxford University, wrote: ‘Strange as it may seem, the Bible played a positive role in the development of science… Had it not been for the rise of the literal interpretation of the Bible and subsequent appropriation of biblical narratives by early modern scientists, modern science may not have arisen at all. In sum, the Bible and its literal interpretation have played a vital role in the development of western science.’1
In Scotland, as in Europe, religious and philosophical debates erupted among the intellectuals. In some cases, scholars lost their jobs for daring to question the pagan philosophers, in a similar way to critics of Darwinist macro-evolution today. But Aristotle was on the way out; his rule was disintegrating. Holding on to the good, the reformers shed his errors, alongside those of Galen’s human/ape anatomy, and Ptolemy’s earth-centred universe.
John Napier (1550-1617) was an extraordinary Scottish genius. The Encyclopaedia says about him: ‘There is no British author [scientist] of the time except Napier whose name can be placed in the same rank as those of Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, or Stevinus.’ Even David Hume, Edinburgh’s famous sceptic, said Napier was one of the greatest men that Scotland had ever produced. And yet he is largely forgotten today. Napier was a mathematician and astronomer who was born in Merchiston, Edinburgh, who invented the logarithm in 1614. He created what he called ‘Napier’s Bones’, which were rods of ivory with integers on them that were laid down side by side. From these rods mathematicians could calculate sums, quotients, products, square and cube roots. Both the logarithm and Napier’s Bones were the forerunners of our calculator, and were essential for astronomers like Kepler to calculate with huge numbers. Napier was also a dedicated reformed Christian who wrote one of the first biblical commentaries in Scotland called ‘A Plaine Discourse on the Whole Revelation of St John’. His remains are buried in St Cuthbert’s Church just below Edinburgh Castle, and Edinburgh Napier University has been named after him.
‘Test all things; hold fast what is good’ (1 Thessalonians 5:21, NKJV).
1The Bible and the rise of science, Australasian Science 23(3):14–15, 2002).
Image: John Napier at St Cuthbert’s Church, Paul James-Griffiths.