HOW THE RELIGIOUS AND THE SCIENTIFIC INTERACT? (PETAR BERON – „THE FLOOD, HIS REASON, ACTION AND CONSEQUENCE”)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to help us to acquire a better understanding of one of the great geniuses of the Bulgarian Renaissance who is mostly famous for his Fish Primer (1824). However, Petar Beron had built up considerable expertise in natural science and his enthusiasm soon grew into an ambitious project. He strove to give a scientific explanation (backed by real facts and wellestablished physical laws) of an apocalyptic phenomenon, The Flood, which he described in religious and literary terms. He referred to the biblical legend and proved that the Flood had really occurred and that the modern world owes its existence to it. Beron also proves that the view of the Flood’s description in the next ages is too exaggerated, as it is constructed as a worldwide apocalyptic phenomenon. His theory is anachronistic to Western science, but the questions he puts forward in his work strike the eye indeed.