Scientific foreknowledge in sacred texts

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Scientific foreknowledge in Sacred Texts is the belief that certain sacred texts document an awareness of the natural world that was later discovered by technology and science. This includes the belief that the sacred text grants a higher awareness if the natural world, like those views held by some Orthodox Jews about the Hebrew Bible (Tanach),[citation needed] by some Muslims regarding the Qur'an,[1] by certain Christian fundamentalists regarding the Christian Bible, and by certain adherents of Hindu revivalism regarding the Vedas.

Scriptural literalism (specifically Creationism, Biblical archaeology) is a related ideology, but strictly the reverse process of aligning scientific observation with scriptural reading rather than aligning scriptural reading with scientific observation.

Contents

[edit] Bible

Further information: Biblical inspiration

Supporters of biblical scientific foreknowledge believe that parts of the Bible contain observations regarding aspects of the natural world in line with modern scientific and medical research. This includes the view that such technology and knowledge would not have been discovered with the technology of the times and are therefore evidence of Biblical inspiration and of Biblical inerrancy.[2]

Critics contend that these references either represent information that was common at the time, or even no real knowledge of the scientific reasons behind the phenomena described. (see Criticism section)

[edit] History and Advocacy

An early example of claimed Biblical scientific foresight was the interpretation of passages of the Bible as showing Copernican motion, suggested in 1584 by Spanish Theologian Diego de Zuñiga in his Commentary on Job:

"Therefore the present passage [Job 9:6],[3] which we have been discussing, is easily reconciled with Copernicus' opinion. And in order to show the marvelous power and wisdom of God, who initiates and maintains the motion of the whole earth, which is enormous by nature, the text adds, 'and its pillars are shaken.' This teaching means that it is moved from its foundations."[4]

William Harvey, the medical doctor who in the 1600s discovered the circulation of blood, believed that this discovery was proof of Biblical foreknowledge. In his 1628 work De motu cordis, he supported this claim in On Generation by stating, "the life, therefore, resides in the blood (as we are informed in our sacred writing)," referring to Leviticus 17:11,14.[5]

David Macht, a pharmacologist and doctor of Hebrew Literature was a notable advocate of biblical health practices.[6][7] In Dr. Macht's 1953 study entitled An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV, he suggested that the Levitical clean animals were less toxic than the Levitical unclean animals:

Every word of the Hebrew Scriptures is well chosen and carries valuable knowledge and deep significance[8]

The Old Earth Creationist and astronomer, Hugh Ross, Ph.D., is a notable advocate of Bible scientific foreknowledge.

"Some of the latest discoveries about the universe, specifically about the hot big bang model, speak volumes about the predictive power of a Bible-based, science-affirming perspective on the cosmos."[9]

Henry M. Morris, a hydraulics engineer, in 1951 published Science and the Bible which based on the work of George McCready Price. The first chapter of Science and the Bible dealt with Biblical scientific foreknowledge and set forth many of the arguments that are still in use by proponents today.[citation needed]

Harry Rimmer (1890 - 1952) was president of the "Science Research bureau"[citation needed] and published "Harmony of Science and Scripture" (1936),[citation needed] which attributed much scientific foresight to the Bible, including the wave nature and spectrographic analysis of light, stating "either Job knew this, or supernatural wisdom is revealed here!"[10] Rimmer had no earned college degree, although he was awarded an honorary "Doctor of Science" degree from Wheaton College (Illinois), an evangelical religious institution.[11]

[edit] Qur'an

See also: Qur'an and science

Muslims believe that the Qur'an contains scientific signs that would be discovered by the world in modern time, centuries after the revelation. The scientific signs claimed to be in the Qur'an exist in different subjects, including creation, astronomy, the animal and vegetables kingdom, and human reproduction.[1]

One claim of the scientific miracles is the reference in the Qur'an to the heavens and earth being originally an integrated mass before God split them "Have not those who disbelieve known that the heavens and the earth were of one piece, then We parted them",[Qur'an 21:30] which is nothing short of a condensed version of the Big bang theory.[1] Another claim that the Qur'an talked about cosmic orbital motion: "It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit"[Qur'an 36:40] at a period of time when people thought that earth was flat and stationary.[12]

The most famous proponent of this argument is perhaps Maurice Bucaille, a French physician and author of the popular book The Bible, The Quran and Science. Maurice Bucaille asserts in his book that "he could not find a single error in the Qur'an", and that the Qur'an does "not contain a single statement which is assailable from a modern scientific point of view", which led him to believe that no human author in the seventh century could have written "facts" which "today are shown to be keeping with modern scientific knowledge".[1]

[edit] Criticism

Critics of biblical scientific foreknowledge believe that parts of various sacred text may simply contain observations regarding aspects of the the technology of the times. Scientific and engineering knowledge have been documented in early cultures that claimed no divine guidance.[13] For example, scientists of Ancient Egypt documented knowledge of engineering and anatomy that were unknown to medieval Europe thousands of years later, such as the existence of cerebrospinal fluid: see Ancient Egyptian medicine and Ancient Egyptian technology.

Farrell Till asserts that biblical passages with supposed foresight can be interpreted in a number of ways, and that believers "see prophecies and their fulfillments in passages so obscurely written that no one can really determine what the writers originally intended in the statements."[14] Till is an author with master's degree in English (and a former pastor and missionary of the Church of Christ) who has had public debates with well-known Bible inerrantists such as Dr. Norman Geisler[15] and Kent Hovind.[16]

Anthropologist Mary Douglas who wrote in her book "Purity and Danger" that the biblical cleanliness passages merely represent cultural concepts of symbolic boundary integrity.[17]

Many classical Muslim commentators and scientists criticized the scientific exegesis of the Qur'an, and held that the Qur'an does not interfere in the business of science nor does it infringe on the realm of science.[1]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Ahmad Dallal, Science and the Qur'an, Encyclopedia of the Qur'an
  2. ^ Bible scientific foreknowledge - CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
  3. ^ Job 9:6, NIV
  4. ^ De Zuñiga, Diego, Commentary on Job (1584), p205
  5. ^ Ferngren, Larson, Amundsen (Editors). "Encyclopedia of the History of Science and Religion in the Western Tradition", Garland Publishing Inc,US (29 Jun 2000), p. 470. ISBN 0815316569
  6. ^ An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV, Bulletin of the History of Medicine - David Macht
  7. ^ Ask the Rabbi - 199
  8. ^ An Experimental Pharmacological Appreciation of Leviticus XI and Deuteronomy XIV, Bulletin of the History of Medicine - David Macht
  9. ^ Hugh Ross, Ph.D. "Predictive Power: Confirming Cosmic Creation". http://www.reasons.org/resources/fff/2002issue09/index.shtml#predictive_power (accessed: October 06, 2006).
  10. ^ Harmony of Science and Scripture, Harry Rimmer (1936)(p131-132)
  11. ^ Froth and Fraud in Fundamentalism
  12. ^ Science and Islam in Conflict Discover magazine 06.21.2007
  13. ^ Parkins, Michael D,(Preceptor, J. Szekrenyes), Pharmocological Practices of Ancient Egypt, Proceedings of the 10th Annual History of Medicine Days, Faculty of the University of Calgary, edited by Dr. WA Whitelaw
  14. ^ Farrell Till, The Skeptical Review 1990, What About Scientific Foreknowledge in the Bible? p2-5
  15. ^ [http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/farrell_till/geisler-till/geisler1.html Farrell Till debate with Dr. Norman Geisler
  16. ^ Audio of Hovind-Till debate at sermonaudio.com
  17. ^ Dr. Diane M. Sharon, 1998, Parashah Commentary

[edit] External links

[edit] Apologetics

[edit] Skeptical views