Brain Bent Toward God
Isaac Newton by Mitch Stokes (along with biographies of Jane Austen, Saint Patrick and John Bunyan and Winston Churchill) is part of a new Christian Encounters series released by Thomas Nelson on 3/2/10. About five more titles will be added in August, and I impressed with the affordable price that was affixed to them. About these important people, the publisher writes, “We are now living in a world they created and understand both it and ourselves better in the light of their lives.”
Alexander Pope wrote an epitaph that was carved above the fireplace of the room in which Newton was born. It reads,
Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in night;
God said, “Let Newton be,” and all was light.
Truly, Newton was an epic force in changing the way the world thought about a wide swath of subjects. Truths that we now carry as assumptions and consider almost innate knowledge, were first elucidated by Newton in the 1600s and early 1700s. At the same time, Newton was foremost a godward man. The common view of the day was that science and philosophy were meant to better man and his condition. “Newton believed that all knowledge–including knowledge of nature–was, in the end, knowledge of God. Knowing was worship.” And this permeated everything.
I do not have a deep background in science or mathematics, and those who don’t may struggle with portions of this book that describe the content and depth of Newton’s drive and study. But I do understand the fundamental and original nature of ideas that he laid out, despite obstacles and naysayers.
This book is a quality summary of Newton’s life, and I appreciate owning it.
(This particular copy had some differing depths of inkprint, which was a little annoying and hard on the eyes.)
