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Writings on Newton by Stephen David Snobelen

At the end of the seventeenth century, Isaac Newton (1642-1727) initiated a revolution in science. At the end of the twentieth century, scholars began a revolution in the understanding of Newton. As Newton's long-concealed private papers on theology become increasingly accessible, students of Newton's thought are coming to see Newton as more than a scientist.

The author of the Principia mathematica was a true Renaissance man who spent decades delving in the secrets of alchemy and even longer studying the Bible, theology and church history. Leaving behind four million words on theology, Newton was one of the greatest lay theologians of his age. A study of Newton's theology and prophetic views illuminates the life of this great thinker and helps us understand his science.

This website provides downloadable academic papers (with some in pre-published form) that explore Newton's theology, prophetic views and the interaction between his science and his religion. These studies include substantial quotations from Newton's unpublished theological manuscripts. The most substantial upgrade involves the reordering and expansion of the list of papers on Newton’s theology.

Newton’s heresy and the reformation of science (2005)
This essay demonstrates the relationship between Newton’s science and his religion as well as
the connection between his reformist agendas in science and in religion

Newton and Socinianism (2005)
This essay, published in Germany, explores the many analogies between Newton's heretical
theology and that of the Polish Brethren, or Socinians (the leading antitrinitarian movement of
the seventeenth century).

Newton's heresy and his science (2004)
This essay, published by Ashgate, shows ways in which Newton's heretical theology interacted
with his natural philosophy (science)

Newton on the devil (2004)
This essay is the first full-length study of Newton's disbelief in a personal devil and ontologically
real demons

Isaac Newton, the Apocalypse and 2060 A.D. (2003)
This essay, published in the Canadian Journal of History, considers what Newton meant when
he jotted down the date 2060 on a scrap paper in the early eighteenth century

Newton's General Scholium (2001)
This essay, published in Osiris, reveals that the most famous book in the history of science
(Newton's Principia) concludes with an account of biblical monotheism and an attack on the
doctrine of the Trinity

Isaac Newton on the Return of the Jews (2001)
This essay, published in a collection of papers on millenarianism and science, outlines Newton's
prophetic belief in the return of the Jews to Israel, along with other aspects of his millenarian
eschatology

Isaac Newton, heretic (1999)
This essay, published in the British Journal for the History of Science, details Newton's
dissenting theology and his attempts to preach his antitrinitarian faith in secret

Science, Religion, and Society entry on Newton (2007)
This 8000-word study, published in Science, Religion, and Society: An Encyclopedia of History,
Culture, and Controversy, provides a more thorough and detailed analysis of the relationship
between Newton’s science and religion than the two shorter encyclopaedia entries given below

Encyclopedia of Science and Religion entry on Newton (2003)
This short essay stresses that there are many links between Newton's religious faith and his study
of nature

Oxford Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment entry on Newton (2003)
This short biography demonstrates that Newton was a profoundly religious man, not one of the
founders of the Age of Reason

Download Adobe Acrobat here

The Newton Project

Leading the current revolution in Newton scholarship, the Newton Project is employing innovative technology to make Newton's once-concealed private manuscripts accessible to the public. The Newton Project was founded in 1998 and is based at Imperial College, London and the University of Cambridge. For more information on Newton's theology, a complete list of Newton's unpublished theological and prophetic manuscripts, several transcriptions of Newton's theological manuscripts and colour images of some of these writings, visit the Newton Project website: www.newtonproject.sussex.ac.uk

The Newton Project Canada Founded in 2004 and based at King's College, Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Newton Project Canada works in conjunction with the Newton Project (UK) and serves as a Canadian centre of operations for transcription work and related Newton scholarship. Its website also includes some unique resources, including foreign language translations of one of Newton's theological manuscripts. Visit the Newton Project Canada website: www.isaacnewton.ca

Read an insider's account of the news story about Newton's "prediction" that circled the globe in late February and early March 2003.

To be published by Icon Books in the United Kingdom, this book will detail Newton's heretical theology, apocalyptic thought and alchemy.