In the spring of 1676, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek looked down at his dinner and began to wonder why those little flecks of black pepper caused a stinging sensation on the tongue. Pondering the question, Leeuwenhoek offered a hypothesis—the pepper must be covered with thousands of tiny, unobservable spikes. To test his theory, he soaked some pepper in water for a few weeks. Then, using a set of lenses he had designed, he magnified the pepper more than 200 times. While Leeuwenhoek did not see any spikes, what he saw was even more astonishing. The drop of water was filled with thousands of little “animalcules” darting this way, flitting that way, or simply spinning like a top. For the first time in human history, Leeuwenhoek was observing microbes—bacteria—a discovery that revolutionized the scientific world.1

Leeuwenhoek lived at the end of an extraordinary period in Western history. For the previous two centuries, the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation had been breathing new life into both European culture and the Church. One impact of these movements was a renewed interest in the observable world. Churchmen such as Bacon, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton helped launch the “scientific revolution.”

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek did not set out to be a part of the revolution. Born in Delft, Holland in 1632, he only twice ventured from the area for any significant period of time—once for a year-long apprenticeship to an Amsterdam draper, and once for a short trip to London in 1668. Raised in the Dutch Calvinist tradition and the son-in-law of a minister, Leeuwenhoek was himself a devoted Christian. Motivated by a Christian work ethic, he became a prosperous linen tradesman. Magnifying lenses had been a part of his life since his apprenticeship in Amsterdam, where he learned how to magnify a piece of cloth, count its threads, and confound the crooks who tried to pass off their wares as higher quality than they really were.

Nevertheless, on his trip to London in 1668, lenses became a true obsession for Leeuwenhoek. There he saw a copy of Robert Hooke’s Micrographa and was enthralled by its sketches of magnified cork, insects, and textiles. Determined to improve on Hooke’s success, Leeuwenhoek set about grinding lenses no larger than a pinhead. By 1673, a friend was so impressed with Leeuwenhoek’s discoveries that he put him in touch with the Royal Society of London. Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of microbes three years later made him an international celebrity. During the last years of his life, dignitaries from all over Europe—among them Peter the Great, King James II of England, and King Frederick II of Prussia—visited his little shop in Delft to see his “wee animalcules.”2

It was not scientific fame, however, that drove Leeuwenhoek; it was his desire to observe God’s exquisite handiwork. His Dutch Reformed upbringing taught him that the Creator had revealed Himself clearly in His world, if only human beings would examine it with discernment.3 When Leeuwenhoek peered through his lenses at his tiny animals, he was driven, therefore, to worship: “Let us lay the hand on our mouth, and reflect that the All-wise hath deemed this needful for the reproduction of all that hath received movement and growth, and so, the why and the wherefore we can but guess after.”4 He had no patience for the commonly-accepted notion that life could “spontaneously generate” from non-living matter, but insisted that every living creature had its origin in the life-giving God: “This must appear wonderful,” he wrote, “and be a confirmation of the principle, that all living creatures deduce their origin from those which were formed at the Beginning.”5 Leeuwenhoek often interrupted his scientific descriptions with soaring praise to the One who made it all.

Faithful science leads to faithful worship. Contrary to the old fable that Christians are “anti-science,” the story of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek is a powerful reminder that the scientific revolution—along with its many benefits to humankind—was built on the backs of devoted Christians who were appropriately curious about God’s revelation of Himself in His creation. Thus, faithful worship also leads to faithful science.
 
Footnotes:
 
1  “Antonie van Leeuwenhoek,” The BBC Website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/leeuwenhoek_antonie_van.shtml.
 
2  David F. Coppedge, “Microscopic Magnificence,” Christian History 24.4 (Fall 2002): 42.
 
3  See Kairos Journal article, “God’s ‘Little Book’ of Nature.”
 
4  Abraham Schierbeek, ed., Measuring the Invisible World: The Life and Works of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (New York, 1959), 31.
 
5  Coppedge, 42.
from Kairos Journal

First Baptist Church of Perryville is located at 4800 W. Pulaski Hwy., Perryville, MD , Cecil County