The Bible, Protestantism and the rise of Natural Science: A response to Harrison’s thesis

Harrison has proposed that the rise of modern science required as its most
important condition the decline of religious nature symbolism (allegory)
across early modern Western culture because it diverted attention away from
nature to God. He identifies the main cause of this decline as the rejection of
religious nature symbolism by the Protestant reformers. They rejected
symbolic interpretation of Scripture texts because it made the meaning of the
text indeterminate. We offer six reasons for doubting the proposed role of the
Protestant Reformation and suggest other possible causes for the rise of
modern science. There is another reading of Harrison’s thesis. For Harrison
the rejection of symbolism in Scripture interpretation removes a veil from
nature and its particular order the exploration of which still requires other
causes. According to what we call the analogy thesis the rejection of
religious nature symbolism removed a source of ambiguity and led to the use
of precision in the language of biblical scholarship. By analogy of the two
books this actively encouraged precise unequivocal language and attention
to empirical detail in the study of nature. We argue that disagreements over
Scripture interpretation render this thesis implausible as well.