[...] Personalità complessa e curiosa, Isaac Newton era mosso da una grande passione per la faccia misteriosa della realtà, quella che la scienza ha sempre bollato di ’superstizione’: l’alchimia come il millenarismo, la possibilità di trasformare i metalli più vili in oro lucente e il calcolo matematico per prevedere il giorno dell’Apocalisse. E questa inquietudine scientifica si è accompagnata a un amore per lo studio dei testi sacri che ha fatto dello scienziato anche un discusso teologo (...)

Newton’s Temple

A brilliant scientist as well as a prophet of doom counting down to the End of Days. A gifted physicist and a messianic mystic. Isaac Newton was a man of many contradictions. *

" [...] Albert Einstein, who understood the significance of these manuscripts, sent a letter to Avraham Shalom Yahuda which answers this very question:

• “My Dear Yahuda,

• Newton’s writings on biblical subjects seem to me especially interesting because they provide deep insight into the characteristic intellectual features and working methods of this important man. The divine origin of the Bible is for Newton absolutely certain, a conviction that stands in curious contrast to the critical skepticism that characterizes his attitude toward the churches. From this confidence stems the firm conviction that the seemingly obscure parts of the Bible must contain important revelations, to illuminate which one need only decipher its symbolic language. Newton seeks this decipherment, or interpretation, by means of his sharp systematic thinking grounded on the careful use of all the sources at his disposal.

• While the formative development of Newton’s lasting physics works must remain shrouded in darkness, because Newton apparently destroyed his preparatory works, we do have in this domain of his works on the Bible drafts and their repeated modification; these mostly unpublished writings therefore allow a highly interesting insight into the mental workshop of this unique thinker.

• Einstein. September 1940, Saranac Lake

• P.S. I think that it is wonderful that the writings will all be kept together and made available for research.

And so, without any further delay, let’s examine some of these documents...

The text below dates back to 1710 and, like other writings from this collection, contains content from two seemingly unrelated fields. At the top of the page are calculations for Queen Anne’s currency tax. Newton was appointed Master of the Royal Mint in 1700, a post he held until his death in 1727. The lower part of the page contains commentary on the concept of the Trinity. Newton first discusses Sabellianism - a doctrine that argues that divinity is embodied in one entity, alternating between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
  Newton believed that the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament present God as one entity (the Father). He was of the opinion that men and women do not possess souls and that eternal life could only be achieved with the resurrection of the dead. Newton believed that Jesus was the son of God in the literal sense, not an embodiment of God himself. In his eyes, Jesus was not mortal, as he was not born to a human father.
  The denial of the Holy Trinity and the existence of the eternal soul were considered heresy by the Catholic Church and the Church of England, under whose auspices Newton lived and worked. Therefore, he was forced to keep his views secret, managing to evade the watchful eye of the Church. [...]"

* Cfr. https://blog.nli.org.il/en/newtons-temple/ (21.07.2019).