Newton’s theory of gravity was superseded in the 20th century. Orthodox Popperians should therefore throw it on the dustbin of history. But Newton’s theory is not rejected because his laws are still valid within a limited range that is very useful. Similarly, we still speak of the sun rising and setting even though absolute geo-staticism has been superseded.
In short, the narrative that science “disproves” old theories is wrong. Old theories do not necessarily go away; they may remain indefinitely. True, some theories such as the phlogiston theory of combustion collapse on their own. But well-established theories persist as limiting cases of more general theories.
Niels Bohr called this the correspondence principle and applied it to quantum mechanics. This principle should be applied to ancient science as well, notably the science contained in the Bible. While it would be improper to speak of the Bible as proposing a theory, the Bible does use the vocabulary of ancient science.
This means we should not interpret the Bible in terms of modern science; instead modern science should include science in the Bible as a limiting case. The refusal to do this retards science today.
Every scientific theory has limits which will be found after sufficient investigation. If the limits of a theory are unknown, it is foolish to say or imply that the theory has no limits. Notably, evolutionary theory has limits. Once we accept that we can investigate the limits but if such investigation is hampered, the development of science will be retarded.
November 2014