David Bossard

Interdisciplinary Biblical Research Institute, Hatfield, Pennsylvania

Bio: Dr. Bossard earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 1967 after a B.Sc. (Drexel) and A.M. (Dartmouth) in Physics. His thesis in probability theory was published in the Transactions of the American Mathematical Society (1971). He also earned a M.Div. from Biblical Theological Seminary in 1982. His primary work has been in scientific computer modeling and simulation, with emphasis on military applications. He has had a particular interest in ocean science, and this eventually led him to the H.M.S. Challenger Exploratory Expedition of 1872-1876, which was perhaps the most extensively documented deep ocean voyage of exploration. All of the reports of this Expedition are posted at the 19th Century Science website http://www.19thcenturyscience.org, which includes along with the Challenger reports, some contemporary accounts of this and similar voyages, in the HMS Challenger Library (http://www.19thcenturyscience.org/HMSC/README.htm). From that work, he turned his attention to the development of the Geological Sciences in the 19th Century, and posted many of the prominent books from this era in the Golden Age of Geology Library (http://www.geology.19thcenturyscience.org).

Dr. Bossard has had a lifelong interest in understanding the parts of the Bible that relate to science, and has used his scientific knowledge to explore that relationship. He believes that the Bible is inspired by God the Creator, and therefore it is accurate in the statements it makes of a scientific nature — understanding that the Bible was written for all people, not just for scientists, and that language by its very nature is metaphorical, so any scientific content can be expected to be explained in ways that could and can be understood in all ages by the typical intelligent person of the time, using the common language, figures of speech, analogy and other literary devices, to make the message relevant and clear (unless it is intentionally obscured), without mis-statements of fact. Many silly statements pointing out supposed scientific errors in the Bible, result when modern notions of accuracy, grammar and scientific expression are erroneously projected onto the Biblical writings.

http://19thpsalm.org – 19th Psalm website

http://www.creationnarrative.org – Creation Narrative website