Science and the Bible

Johann Jacob Scheuchzer, Geestelycke natuurkunde. Amsterdam: Petrus II Schenk, 1735-1738 (19 parts in 15 vols.).

Dutch translation of Scheuchzer’s Physica sacra, which tries to give a scientific explanation of all phenomena occurring in the Bible, demonstrating a convergence of science and religion. Scheuchzer (1672-1733) supported the Biblical creation myth, and believed that fossils were evidence of the Biblical Deluge, but he was also an adherent of the Copernican system, which forced him to have his works printed outside Switzerland. Most famously, he claimed that a fossilized skeleton found in a quarry in Baden was the remains of a human perished in the Deluge. This prehistoric salamander (which is what it was) is now on permanent display in Teylers Museum in Haarlem.