The Bible and Science
(1889)

URL: http://www.rae.org/b19th00.html

SITE SUMMARY: This book was written by Professor L.T. Townsend of Boston University, and was first presented, before publication, at a meeting in 1874, then again in 1883 under the title The Bible in Light of Modern Science, and then in lectures in 1884. It is provided online, introduced, and commented on by Doug Sharp, who declares: "although this volume is well over a hundred years old, the argument is timeless and still powerful." The book has nine parts sub-divided into various sub-topics; including: The Bible and the Exact Language of Science, Conflicts Between Science and the Bible, Author of Nature is Author of Bible, The Bible and Scientific Classification; The Art of Healing and the Bible; The Mind and the Bible; The Bible and Natural History, Geology, and Astronomy; plus Science Confirms Bible Theology.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES

1. Choose one sub-topic from three of the nine parts featured in Townsend's book, then describe each topic as Townsend viewed it.
2. Visit at least two of the Web sites cited in the Related Internet Sites section below. Find something on the topic you chose from Townsend's book, or another topic. Describe similarities and/or differences between his views and what you find on the topic or subject at the Web sites. Include information on how the present time's views of the topic or subject reflect modern times or seem to stand beyond particular times (i.e., Townsend's), and therefore are relevant for any time (i.e., yours).
3. Choose a particular subject you can think of which is based on a topic Townsend mentioned (e.g., Plants in the Bible as a particular Bible and Natural History subject; Star of Bethlehem as a particular Bible and Astronomy subject). Describe its scientific and Biblical aspects; comparing and/or contrasting them. (Find information at the Web sites referred to in Question/Activity no. 2 above.)
4. Think of, and/or find, at one of the Web sites referred to in Question/Activity no. 2 above: a Bible-related science general topic or particular subject not mentioned by Townsend. Describe, with data from a suggested Web site, how the Bible seems to agree with the scientific view, or not. (Hints: Great Flood; dinosaurs and people living at same time.)

RELATED INTERNET SITE(S)

Bible Science Web Sites

http://www.pb.org/science.html

This site features links to sites on Biblical archeology and to Scientific Creationism (a view of creation opposite from evolution) and advocated by organizations linked here, such as the Biblical Creation Society.

The Bible and Science at the American Scientific Affiliation Online

http://www.asa3.org/topics/Bible-Science/index.htm

This page is part of the site for this organization of scientists interested in religion. The page features a series of papers on Biblical and scientific insights in dealing with questions about natural phenomena and the place of the Bible in stimulating modern science and scientific ideas.

Fitting the Bible to the Data

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/vic_stenger/schrev.html

A review by Victor Stenger of the book Convergence of Scientific and Biblical Wisdom, 1998, by Israeli physicist Gerald Schroeder of the University of Hawaii.

Science and Christianity: Allies or Enemies?

http://homepages.tcp.co.uk/∼carling/main_sci.html

This site features links to articles such as "God and the Big Bang" (with references to Bible verses), and organizations such as the Evangelical Environmental Network.

Center for Scientific Creationism

http://www.creationscience.com

See the online book In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood; etc. Scroll to bottom left for "Questions Raised By the Bible's Book of Genesis, part 1:8a."

Supposed Bible/Science Conflicts

http://christiananswers.net/creation/menu-bible.html (click link)

Mysteries of the Bible—Science

http://www.biblemysteries.com/library/biblescience

This just started in-progress area features Bible verses seeming to refer to things scientific (e.g., the fossil bird/reptile: archaeopteryx).

The Qur'an and the Bible Foretelling Modern Science

http://www.answering-islam.org/Campbell/s4c1.html