"Iliffe's outstanding contribution to our knowledge of Newton will be of considerable relevance not only to historians of science and religion, but also to anyone interested in the important topics that were debated in the late seventeenth-century Europe." - William R. It is destined to become an indispensable reference for every serious Newton scholar, as well as for anyone dealing with religion and natural philosophy in the early modern period." - Franco Giudice, Metascience "Iliffe's book is not only an accurate and detailed reconstruction of Newton's religious thought, but it is also an important study of the great themes of freedom of conscience and religious tolerance, as well as the key political question of the relationship between church and state, which are at the roots of European culture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Both the academic and lay reader will appreciate how, in shattering the simplistic Enlightenment account of Newton, the book reveals the flexibility of the great man's capacious mind."-David Davis, Wall Street Journal Iliffe's 'Priest of Nature' a robust portrait with broad appeal. Attention to such detail, woven deftly into a finely constructed and well-written narrative, makes Mr. Iliffe also attends carefully to neglected periods of Newton's life, including the teen years he spent laboring in an apothecary's workshop and his stints as a Member of Parliament. Iliffe presents a syncretism in Newton's thinking that eludes simple classification.Mr.
He completely recasts the relationship of Newton's scientific inquiry to his religious beliefs, tying the two together to an unparalleled degree.Mr. Iliffe serves up the most complicated picture to date of the faith itself. "hile other biographies acknowledge that Newton possessed a sincere, though heterodox, faith, Mr. "This book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in learning more about Sir Isaac Newton, or about how someone with a scientific mind might approach religion.Essential."-C. Righter, Journal of Ecclesiastical History "Who was Isaac Newton? Rob Iliffe has responded to this problem by providing such a thoroughly researched and carefully constructed account of Newton's life and work that certain propositions can hardly be doubted." - Adam D. "Rob Iliffe's Priest of Nature: The Religious Worlds of Isaac Newton is a work of excellent historical scholarship." - Paul R.
"One of the great strengths of this book is the degree to which Iliffe places Newton's religious research in the context of the debates of his own day." - Harvey Hill, Anglican and Episcopal History A vibrant biography of one of history's towering scientific figures, Priest of Nature is the definitive work on the spiritual views of the man who fundamentally changed how we look at the universe. Iliffe's book allows readers to fully engage in the theological discussion that dominated Newton's age. Previous scholars and biographers have generally underestimated the range and complexity of Newton's religious writings, but Iliffe shows how wide-ranging his observations and interests were, spanning the entirety of Christian history from Creation to the Apocalypse. In Priest of Nature, historian Rob Iliffe introduces readers to Newton the religious animal, deepening our understanding of the relationship between faith and science at a formative moment in history and thought. Little wonder that he and his inheritors suppressed them, and that for centuries they were largely inaccessible. An utterly original but obsessively private religious thinker, Newton composed some of the most daring works of any writer of the early modern period. Instead, he proposed as "simple Christianity"-a faith that would center on a few core beliefs and celebrate diversity in religious thinking and practice. Newton believed that the central concept of the Trinity was a diabolical fraud and loathed the idolatry, cruelty, and persecution that had come to characterize orthodox religion. They make clear that his theological positions rendered him a heretic. Religion and faith dominated much of Newton's thought and his manuscripts, in various states of completion and numbering in the thousands of pages, are filled with biblical speculation and timelines, along with passages that excoriated the early Church Fathers. Yet alongside his public success, Sir Isaac Newton harbored private religious convictions that set him at odds with established law and Anglican doctrine, and, if revealed, threatened not just his livelihood but his life. His renown opened doors throughout his career, securing him prestigious positions at Cambridge, the Royal Mint, and the Royal Society. His published works, including the Principia Mathematica and Opticks, reached across the scientific spectrum, revealing the degree of his interdisciplinary genius. He was the dominant intellectual figure of his age.
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