Religion and Science1450–1750
The Globalization of Christianity
In 1500, Christianity was mostly limited to Europe.small communities in Egypt, Ethiopia, southern India, and CentralAsiaserious divisions within Christianity (Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox)on the defensive against Islamloss of the Holy Land by1300fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453Ottoman siege of Vienna in 1529
Western Christendom Fragmented: The Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation began in1517Martin Luther posted the Ninety-five Theses, asking for debate about ecclesiastical abusesLuther’s was one of many criticisms of the Roman ChurchLuther’s protest was more deeply grounded in theologicaldifferencequestioned the special role of the clerical hierarchy (including the pope)
Luther’s ideas provoked a massive schism in CatholicChristendomsome monarchs used Luther to justify independence from thepapacygave a new religious legitimacy to the middle classcommoners were attracted to the new religious ideas as a tool for protest against the whole social order
many women were attracted to Protestantism, but the Reformation didn’t give them a greater role in church orsocietyProtestants ended veneration of Mary and other female saintsProtestants closed convents, which had given some women an alternative to marriageonly Quakers among the Protestants gave women an official role in theirchurchessome increase in the education of women, because of emphasis on Bible reading
the recently invented printing press helped Reformation thought spread rapidlyasthe Reformation spread, it splintered into an array of competing Protestantchurchesreligious difference made Europe’s fractured political system even more volatile1562–1598: French Wars of Religion (Catholics vs. Huguenots)1618–1648: the Thirty Years’ War
Protestant Reformation provoked a CatholicCounter-ReformationCouncil of Trent (1545–1563) clarified Catholic doctrines andpracticescorrected the abuses and corruption that the Protestants hadprotestednew emphasis on education and supervision ofpriestsnew attention given to individual spirituality and pietynew religious orders (e.g., the Society of Jesus [Jesuits]) were committed to renewal and expansion
Christianity Outward Bound
Christianity motivated and benefited from European expansionSpaniards and Portuguese saw overseas expansion as a continuation of the crusadingtraditionexplorers combined religious and material interestsimperialism made the globalization of Christianitypossiblemissionaries, mostly Catholic, actively spreadChristianitymissionarieswere most successful in Spanish America and the Philippines
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Conversion and Adaptation in Spanish AmericaChristianity reached China in the powerful, prosperous Ming and Qing dynasties
Persistence and Change in Afro-Asian Cultural Traditions
African religious elements accompanied slaves to the Americasdevelopment of Africanized forms of Christianity in the Americas, with divination, dream interpretation, visions, spirit possessionEuropeans often tried to suppress African elements as sorcerypersistence ofsyncreticreligions
Expansion and Renewal in the Islamic World
continued spread of Islam depended not on conquest but on wandering holy men, scholars, and tradersthe syncretism ofIslamizationwas increasingly offensive to orthodox Muslimsthe most well-known Islamic renewal movement of the period wasWahhabismdeveloped in the Arabian Peninsula in mid-eighteenth centuryfounderAbdal-Wahhab(1703–1792) was a theologianaimed to restore strict adherence to thesharia(Islamic law)the state was “purified”the political power of theWahhabiswas broken in 1818, but the movement remained influential in Islamic world
China: New Directions in an Old Tradition
Chinese and Indian cultural/religious change wasn’t as dramatic as what occurred in EuropeConfucian and Hindu cultures didn’t spread widely in early modern periodMing and Qing dynasty China still operated within a Confucian frameworkaddition of Buddhist andDaoistthought led to creation of Neo-Confucianism
new thinking in ChinaWangYangmin(1472–1529): anyone can achieve a virtuous life by introspection, without Confucian educationChinese Buddhists also tried to make religion more accessible to commoners—withdrawal from the world not necessary for enlightenmentsimilarity to Martin Luther’s argument that individuals could seek salvation without help from a priestly hierarchykaozheng(“research based on evidence”) was a new direction in Chinese elite culturelively popular culture among the less well educatedgreat age of novels, such as CaoXueqin’sThe Dream of the Red Chamber
India: Bridging the Hindu/Muslim Divide
several movements brought Hindus and Muslims together in new forms of religious expressionbhaktimovementdevotional Hinduismeffort to achieve union with the divine through songs, prayers, dances, poetry, and ritualsoften set aside caste distinctionsmuch common ground with Sufism, helped to blur the line between Islam and Hinduism in India
growth of Sikhism, a religion that blended Islam and Hinduismfounder Guru Nanak (1469–1539) had been part of thebhaktimovement; came to believe that Islam and Hinduism were onegradually developed as a new religion of the Punjab
A New Way of Thinking:The Birth of Modern Science
The Scientific Revolution was an intellectual and cultural transformation that occurred between the mid-sixteenth century and the early eighteenth century.was based on careful observations, controlled experiments, and formulation of general laws to explain the worldcreators of the movement saw themselves as making a radical departureScientific Revolution was vastly significantfundamentally altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmoschallenged the teachings and authority of the Churchchallenged ancient social hierarchies and political systemsby the twentieth century, science had become the chief symbol of modernity around the world
initial breakthrough was byNicolausCopernicusother scientists built on Copernicus’s insightJohannesKeplerdemonstrated elliptical orbits of the planetsGalileoGalileideveloped an improved telescopeSir Isaac Newton was the apogee of the Scientific Revolutioncentral concept: universal gravitationby Newton’s death, educated Europeans had a fundamentally different view of the physical universenot propelled by angels and spirits but functioned according to mathematical principlesknowledge of the universe can be obtained through reasonCatholic Church strenuously opposed much of this thinkingburning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 for proclaiming an infinite universeGalileo was forced to renounce his belief that the earth moved around an orbit and rotated on its axis
Science and Enlightenmentthe Scientific Revolution gradually reached a wider European audienceAdam Smith (1723–1790) formulated economic lawspeople believed that scientific development would bring “enlightenment” to humankindImmanuel Kant (1724–1804) defined Enlightenment as a “daring to know”Enlightenment thinkers believed that knowledge could transform human societyJohn Locke (1632–1704) articulated ideas of constitutional government
much Enlightenment thought attacked established religionin hisTreatise on Toleration,Voltaire (1694–1778) attacked the narrowparticuliarismof organized religionmany thinkers were deists—belief in a remote deity who created the world but doesn’t intervenesome were pantheists—equated God and naturecentral theme of Enlightenment: the idea of progressJean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) argued for immersion in nature rather than book learning
Science in the 19thcentury
in the nineteenth century, science was applied to new sorts of inquiry; in some ways, it undermined Enlightenment assumptionsCharles Darwin (1809–1882) argued that all of life was in fluxKarl Marx (1818–1883)preOttomanEmpire chose not to translate major European scientific workssentedhuman history as a process of change and struggleSigmund Freud (1856–1939) cast doubt on human rationality
European Science beyond the West
Japan kept up some European contact via trade with the DutchOttoman Empire chose not to translate major European scientific worksChinese had selective interest in Jesuits’ teachingmost interested in astronomy and mathematics
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