RELIGION & SCIENCE

Strayer Ch. 16

THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

In what ways did the Protestant Reformation transform European society, culture, & politics?

IN WHAT WAYS DID THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION TRANSFORM EUROPEAN SOCIETY, CULTURE, & POLITICS?

Created a permanent schism within Catholic Christendom

Gave some kings & princes a justification for their own independence from the Church & an opportunity to gain lands & taxes held by the Church

IN WHAT WAYS DID THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION TRANSFORM EUROPEAN SOCIETY, CULTURE, & POLITICS?

Provided urban middle classes a new religious legitimacy for their growing role in society

Common people’s expression of opposition to the whole social order

Less impact on the lives of women, although it did stimulate female education & literacy, even if there was little space for women to make use of that education outside the family

IN WHAT WAYS DID THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION TRANSFORM EUROPEAN SOCIETY, CULTURE, & POLITICS? Religious difference led to sectarian violence, to war, and ultimately to religious coexistence. Successful challenge to immense prestige & power of the pope & the establish Church Encouraged a skeptical attitude toward authority & tradition Fostered religious individualism as people were encouraged to read & interpret the scriptures themselves And why could people now READ books?

Because of the full-scale implementation of the printing press!

ERASMUS & CHRISTIAN HUMANISM Best known Christian humanist was Desiderius Erasmus

Developed The Philosophy of Christ – meant to show people how to live good lives on a daily basis rather than how to achieve salvation

He did not wish to break from the church, just reform it

1509 work The Praise of Folly, he especially criticized the monks

MARTIN LUTHER & THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION Major goal of humanism in Northern Europe: Reform Christendom

Martin Luther’s religious reforms led to the emergence of Protestantism

Christian humanists believed humans can improve themselves

Reform would occur through developing

Inner Piety – or religious feeling – based on studying the works of Christianity, not rules & rituals

CATHOLIC CHURCH CORRUPTION: SALE OF INDULGENCES Church officials seemed ignorant of their spiritual duties Especially instructing the faithful on achieving salvation (acceptance into heaven)

Obtaining salvation became mechanical (example: collecting relics)

Venerating a saint could earn indulgence – release from all or part of punishment for sing, according to the Church at the time

MARTIN LUTHER & THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION Martin Luther was a monk & professor at the University of Wittenberg, where he lectured on the Bible.

Through his study of the Bible, Luther came to reject the Catholic teaching that faith & good works were necessary for salvation.

He believed human deeds were powerless to affect God & that salvation was through faith alone.

EDICT OF WORMS Made Luther an outlaw in the empire

His books were to be burned & Luther was to be delivered to the emperor (Holy Roman Empire)

However, Luther’s local ruler protected him

Map of Europe before and after Protestant Reformation. Olive color = Catholicism (which was 'the only Christian game in town') and the Blue = Protestant Religions.

MAJOR BRANCHES WITHIN PROTESTANTISM

THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND Politics, not religion, brought about the English Reformation

King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, whom he thought could not give him a male heir.

The pope was unwilling to annul (declare invalid) his marriage, however, and Henry turned to England’s church courts.

The archbishop of Canterbury ruled that Henry’s marriage to Catherine was null & void.

THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND Henry then married Anne Boleyn, who was crowded queen… and gave birth to another girl! This child later would become Queen Elizabeth I.

Anne was executed for treason (specially, because of adultery) when she could not produce a male heir.

THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND

Annulled: Catherine of Aragon No male heirs, daughter Mary (tried to bring Catholicism back to

England, rule for 5 years)

Beheaded: Anne Boleyn No male heirs, daughter Elizabeth (crowded upon Mary’s death,

never married)

Died: Jane Seymour Died about 3 weeks after giving birth, most likely due to infection One son, Edward VI (ruled for 6 years following Henry’s death,

died at age 15)

Annulled: Anne of Cleves He thought she was ugly; she thought he smelled. Remained close friends after the annulment – liked to play card

together.

Beheaded: Catherine Howard Cousin of Anne Boleyn 17 when married; 19 when executed for treason & adultery

Survived: Catherine Parr

THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND The break from Rome & the Catholic church was centuries in the making. The land that the Catholic church owned on English soil bothered some Englishmen.

The taxes that England had to pay to Rome did not seem right to some Englishmen.

So, this reformation was not totally due to Henry’s marriage “needs”, but it was accelerated by it.

GLOBALIZATION OF CHRISTIANITY

CONVERSION & ADAPTATION IN SPANISH AMERICA Population collapse, conquest, & resettlement made Native Americans receptive to the conquering religion

Occasionally, campaigns led to the destruction of old religions

Blending religious traditions was more commons Local gods (huacas) remained influential Christian saints took on functions as precolonial gods

Many rituals survived, often with some Christian influence

CHINA & THE JESUITS Christianity reached China during the Ming & Qing dynasties Called for a different missionary strategy; needed government permission for operation

Jesuits especially targeted the official China elite

No mass conversion in China Some scholar converted Jesuits were appreciated for mathematical, astronomical, technological, & cartographical skills

Missionary efforts gained 200,000 – 300,000 converts in 250 years

Missionaries didn’t offer much that the Chinese needed Christianity called for rejection of much Chinese culture By early 18th-century, papacy & other missionary orders opposed Jesuit accommodation place

AFRO-ASIAN CULTURAL TRADITIONS

African religious elements accompanied slaves to the Americas Development of Africanized forms of Christianity in the Americans with divination, dream interpretation, visions, spirit possession

Europeans often tried to suppress African elements as sorcery

Persistence of syncretic religions (voodoo, Santeria, candomble, macumba)

ISLAMIC WORLD, CHINA, & INDIA

EXPANSION & RENEWAL IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

Islam continued to spread due to wandering holy men, scholars, & traders – not conquest

Syncretism of Islamization was increasingly offensive to orthodox Muslims Helped provoke movements of religious renewal in the 18th

century Series of jihads in W. Africa attacked corrupt Islamic practices Growing tension between localized & “pure” Islam

Most well-known Islamic renewal movement was Wahhabism Arabian Peninsula, mid-18th century Founder Abud al-Wahhab Aimed to restore strict adherence to sharia (Islamic law),

restore absolute monotheism, end veneration of saints

Subsequent reform movements persisted & became associated with resistance to Western cultural intrusion

CHINA: NEW DIRECTIONS IN AN OLD TRADITION Chinese & Indian cultural/religious change wasn’t as dramatic as what occurred in Europe Confucian & Hindu cultures didn’t spread widely in early modern period

Neither remained static

Ming & China dynasty China still operated within a Confucian frameworkBuddhist & Daoist traditions still existed

Both dynasties embraced Confucianism

CHINA: NEW DIRECTIONS IN AN OLD TRADITIONConsiderable amount of debate & new thinking in China Buddhists tried to make religion more accessible to commoners

Similarity to Luther’s argument that individuals could seek salvation without help from a priestly heriarchy

Lively popular culture among the less well educated Production of plays, paintings, & literature

Great age of novels

INDIA: BRIDGING THE HINDU/MUSLIM DIVIDE Bhakti Movement: devotional Hinduism; effort to achieve union with the divine through songs, prayers, dances, poetry, & rituals Appealed especially to women Often set aside caste distinctions Much common ground with Sufism, helped to blur line between Islam & Hinduism in India

Sikhism: religion blended Islam & Hinduism Founded Guru Nanak – had been part of bhakti movement, came to believe that Islam & Hinduism were one

Nanak & his successors set aside caste distinctions & proclaimed essential equality of men & women

THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

BEFORE THE ENLIGHTENMENT In the late 1500s, a revolution began – a period of great change known as the Scientific Revolution

In the late 1500s, men like Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, & others began to explain the nature of both the seen & the unseen universe – natural law They devised new methods of calculation &

measurement – the Scientific Method

This revolution questioned everything – they observed, measured, experimented, and formulated hypotheses & theories to explain why things were the way they were.

BEFORE THE ENLIGHTENMENT Ideas about human society, government, religion, & culture began to be questioned.

Intellectuals in the later 17th and early 18th centuries thought that if people had been so wrong about the nature of the universe, perhaps they could be wrong about a great many other things, including the rights of man. These thinkers, known as the

“Philosophes,” ushered in an age called the Enlightenment.

The Scientific Revolution & Enlightenment are closely tied together. They influenced each other and led to massive changes throughout the world.

RATIONALISM Ideas of the Scientific Revolution & the Enlightenment laid the foundation for a modern worldview based on rationalism & secularism.

Enlightenment thought led some rulers to advocate such natural rights as equality before the law & freedom of religion.

Rationalism: Reason is the chief source of knowledge. While some Europeans were actively attempting to spread the Christian faith, others were nurturing an understanding of nature very much at odds with traditional Christian teaching.

EUROPE’S SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Vast intellectual & cultural transformation – between mid-16th century and early 18th century

Knowledge would be acquired through a combination of careful observations, controlled experiments, & the formulation of general laws, expressed in mathematical terms.

EUROPE’S SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Fundamentally altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmos & sharply challenged both the teachings & the authority of the Church.

Scientific ways of thinking challenged: Ancient social hierarchies Political systems Played a role in revolutionary upheavals of the modern era

Science was also used in other ways, trying to justify the world through “natural methods” was not a smooth transition: Tried to legitimize racial inequalities Tried to legitimize gender inequalities

WHY EUROPE? Islamic world was most scientifically advanced realm in period 800 – 1400

China’s technological accomplishments & economic growth were unmatched for several centuries

European conditions were uniquely favorable to rise of science Evolution of a legal system that guaranteed some

independence for a variety of institutions by 12th/13th centuries Universities became zones of intellectual autonomy

In the Islamic world, science remained mostly outside of the system of higher education

Chinese authorities did not permit independent institutions of higher learning Chinese education focused on preparing for civil service

exams, emphasis on Confucian texts

Western Europe could draw on the knowledge of other cultures, especially that of the Arab world

WHY DID THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION OCCUR IN EUROPE RATHER THAN IN CHINA OR THE ISLAMIC WORLD?

Europe Islamic World China Europe’s historical development as

a reinvigorated and fragmented civilization gave rise to conditions favorable to scientific enterprise.

Europeans had evolved including a legal system that guaranteed a measure of independence from the Church, universities, and other professional associations. They didn’t have to operate under the dictates of the Church

Western Europe was in a position to draw extensively upon the knowledge of other cultures, especially that of the Islamic world.

In the 16th-18th centuries, Europeans had engaged in the Columbian Exchange and found themselves at the center of a massive new exchange of information of lands, peoples, animals, societies, and religions from around the world. These new concepts shook older ways of thinking and opened up a new way of thinking.

Science was patronized by a variety of local authorities, but it occurred outside the formal system of higher education. Quranic studies and religious law held the central place, whereas philosophy and natural science were viewed with great suspicion.

Chinese education focused on preparing for a rigidly defined set of civil service examinations and emphasized the humanistic and moral texts of classical Confucianism. Scientific subjects were relegated to the margins of the Chinese educational system.