I. D. the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

Welcome to I. D. The Future. I'm Andrew McDermott. Today we're pleased to bring you a longer-form conversation between philosopher of science Dr Stephen Meyer and Rice University chemist and professor Dr James Tour.

The topic? One of the Giants of Modern Science, Sir Isaac Newton.

Dr Meyer did some work on Newton during his master's degree program and writes at length about

Newton in his latest book, Return of the God Hypotheses.

Here, the pair discuss Newton's work and his contributions to Modern Science on Dr Tours's

Science and Faith Podcast.

Meyer begins by explaining how the Scientific revolution was a consequence of Judeo-Christian thinking.

Though the material conditions for doing science had existed in many cultures,

the systematic approach to studying nature that ignited the scientific

revolution can be linked to theological ideas unique to Western Judeo-Christian tradition. Meyer then illuminates Newton's background from his birth to his college

education before describing his singular contributions to modern science. Meyer and tour also discuss some of the controversies over Newton's ideas,

including clarity on Newton's theory of gravitation

and his debate with German mathematician and philosopher Gottfried Leibniz.

The conversation rounds out with some discussion of Newton's theology.

Was he a Theist or a deist?

Was he Orthodox, heterodox, or a heretic as some claim? By all accounts,

Newton was a deep original thinker, and attempts to reduce his work and ideas to simple labels typically fall short.

This discussion runs about an hour and a half.

Enjoy this interaction between two great thinkers,

Dr Stephen Meyer and Dr James Tour.

Well, I'm here today with my good friend Stephen Meyer.

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