Does

the Scientific Method have Roots in the Bible?

Is it any Wonder the Scientific Revolution Arose from Reformation Europe?
People use the scientific method to comprehend the physical Universe. With the scientific method,
people can attempt to sufficiently comprehend something to either accurately predict or
reproduce an event. The essential elements of the scientific method include characterizations or
observations, hypotheses, prediction, and experiments. People can have flexibility in what order
they choose to consider these essential elements. In doing so, the process can be an ongoing cycle
of iterations and orderings as people constantly develop useful, accurate, and comprehensive
models and methods to describe some phenomena.
Reading about the history of the scientific method starting with ancient Greek philosopher
Aristotle, Arab scholar Ibn al-Haytham, Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and on to modern
times, it seems there is significant formative history that people lack knowledge of.
Did the Bible outline a method for developing reliable interpretations of both Bible and natures
record?
Well, among the worlds holy books, the Bible alone instructs readers to objectively test before
they believe.1 Ambassador Paul wrote identifiers in Thessalonica: Test everything. Hold on to the
good. He also urged identifiers that such testing, to be effective, requires objectivity, education,
and training.2
Did Christian or Messianic scholars throughout congregation or church history, from early
congregation fathers to present-day evangelical scientists, philosophers, and theologians note a
pattern in biblical narratives and descriptions of sequential physical events? Did Bible authors
typically preface depictions by stating the narrative or descriptions frame of reference or point of
view? Did they list initial conditions for the narrative or description? Did they describe final
conditions and conclusions about what transpired? Does this process describe the scientific
method?
In the Bible, there are frequently several narratives or descriptions of physical or historical events.
Consequently, each of these descriptive accounts can be used to test the validity of event
interpretations. After all, if the claim that the Bible is inspired by the Creator is true, then these
narratives and descriptions must be consistent with one another.
Consider the following linearized guidelines. Near the top and to the left on the next page is the
scientific method guidelines presented by Susan Crawford and Loretta Stucki. They present their
guidelines in their Journal of the American Society for Information Science article entitled Peer
Review and the Changing Research Record.3 Near the top and to the right on the next page is the
biblical testing method astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross used to apply to the Genesis or Bresheet
creation account in his book The Genesis Question.4

1 1 Thessalonians 5:21; 1 John 4:1; Acts 17:11; Revelation 2:2b.
2 Romans 12:2.
3 Crawford, Susan, and Stucki, Loretta, "Peer Review and the Changing Research Record", Journal of the

American Society for Information Science (1990), Vol. 41, pp. 223228.
4 Astrophysicist Hugh Ross, The Genesis Question: Scientific Advances and the Accuracy of Genesis (NavPress
Publishing Group, 2001), Second Edition.
Continued on the back of this sheet.

Does the Scientific Method have Roots in the Bible?

Crawford and Stuckis

Scientific Method Guidelines
1. Define a question.
2. Gather information and resources
(observe).
3. Form an explanatory hypothesis.
4. Test the hypothesis by performing
an experiment and collecting data
in a reproducible manner.
5. Analyze the data.
6. Interpret the data and draw
conclusions that serve as a starting
point for a new hypothesis.
7. Publish results.
8. Retest (frequently done by other
scientists).

Biblical Testing Method Guidelines

1. Identify the phenomenon to be investigated
and explained using biblical texts.
2. Identify the frame of reference or point of
view being used to study and describe the
phenomenon.
3. Determine the initial condition(s) from
which the phenomenon begins.
4. Make note of what takes place in what
sequence as it proceeds.
5. Describe the final conditions.
6. Form a tentative explanation (hypothesis or
interpretation) of what occurred.
7. Test that initial explanation with further
biblical texts.
8. Revise or refine the explanation accordingly.

Aside from the general science versus biblical contexts and choice of words, are these guidelines
nearly identical? If we simply replace or substitute observations/experiments for biblical texts
in Biblical Testing Method Guidelines step numbers one (1) and seven (7), does the Biblical
Testing Method become just another set of scientific method guidelines? If we substitute
observations/experiments/text for biblical texts in these steps, could one use these guidelines
to investigate any natural, historical, or biblical phenomenon?
Both of these guidelines work best when practiced continuously and cyclically. It moves
researchers closer to truth, or to a more complete grasp of it.
With Johannes Gutenbergs printing press invention and Bible prints in AD 1451 starting the
Reformation era and William Tyndale translating the Bible into English in AD 1525 allowing people
to read the Bible, did reformers passionate about studying the record of nature note the biblical
testing method? Did they apply it to their research of the natural realm? Did this application
spawn the Scientific Revolution around AD 1543 and within a few generations become known as
the scientific method? Was it any wonder the Scientific Revolution arose from Reformation
Europe? Did the Bible say it first and best, while others simply applied it to science?
According to Dr. Hugh Ross, Scottish theologian Thomas Torrance wrote and edited book-length
discussions about how Christian theology played a critical role in scientific method development
and achievements.5

5 Thomas F. Torrance, Theology in Reconstruction (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1965); Thomas F.

Torrance, Reality and Scientific Theology (Edinburgh, UK: Scottish Academic Press, 1985); Thomas F.
Torrance, Ultimate and Penultimate Beliefs in Science, Facets of Faith & Science, Volume 1, edited by Jitse
M. van der Meer (NY: University Press of America, 1996) pp. 151-176.