The Relevance Of Scriptural Interpretation To Scientific Thought -- By: James D. Bales

Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 04:4 (Dec 1961)
Article: The Relevance Of Scriptural Interpretation To Scientific Thought
Author: James D. Bales


The Relevance Of Scriptural
Interpretation To Scientific Thought

James D. Bales

Paper presented at the biennial joint American Scientific Affiliation-Evangelical Theological Society meeting, Goshen, Indiana, June 1961.

There are those who maintain that Scripture and Science move in, two entirely different realms and therefore there can be no relevancy between the two. There can be no conflict for never the twain shall meet.

The author believes that there is some relationship between scriptural interpretation and scientific thought. The Bible does have a bearing on science.

We do find points of harmony and points of conflict between science and Scripture. It seems to me that it is inevitable that the historical revelation, and its view of man’s nature and needs, should come into contact with various sciences.

If the peoples of the Bible really lived, then whenever their remains are located by the archaeologists, the Bible and the archaeologists are both dealing with at least some aspects of the same subject—although one may furnish some information which the other does not.

When a scientist studies man as a material being, to see how much can be learned on that plane, this is one thing. However, if he maintains that this is the whole story about man and that science proves that it is, immediately there is conflict between that science and Scripture.

When man is studied as an animal in order to learn all about man that can be learned about him as an animated physical body, the Scripture does not stand in the way. If one maintains that science shows that man is just an animal, conflict is introduced. The Biblical interpretation of man has priority for the believer, although the believer recognizes that the Bible does not tell us all there is to know about man, and thus we should learn from any source what it can teach us about man.

When so-called scientific socialism, as held by Marxists, maintains that there is no basic human nature, but only a reflection of a temporary economic system which will give way to another system, it comes into conflict with the Bible.

It seems to me, therefore, that to maintain that there is no relevancy is to imply that the Bible does not deal at all with the physical world, that it is unrelated to history and to human nature and that it is just a system of ideas which are unrelated to the world of reality with which science deals.

The Bible Is Not Anti-Intellectual

The relationship is not, as some on both sides have assumed, one of necessary antagonism. There may be believers who are against science, and scientists who are against the Bible, but it does not follo...

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