Thomas Henry Huxley et la Bible

Thomas Henry Huxley devoted several essays to the study of the Bible. This interest can only be accounted for if his ideas on history, religion as well as epistemology are examined. According to him, a struggle between free thought and supernaturalism was culminating during the Victorian era, hence the need for a “New Reformation” which was heir to the ideals of freedom defended by the humanists of the Renaissance. This movement opposed the principles of the supporters of what he called “ecclesiasticism”. The advocates of the “New Reformation” could rely on the progress of modern science, and agnosticism, which Huxley identified with scientific method, became its epistemological foundation. As a result, Huxley thought that the authority of physical science was in conflict with the infallibility of the Scriptures and with the theological arguments which rested on it, and this notably led him to the conclusion that the biblical narrative of the Flood was unhistorical. The naturalisation of the Scriptures seems then logically to follow his philosophical views based on the limits of human knowledge.It appears that it was the question of authority which underlay Huxley’s interest in the Bible. He thought that the authority of the Scriptures must be replaced by that of science