Chapter 15 Age of Reason

Scientific Revolution

What, if any, are the limitations of knowledge gained through experience and reason?

This chapter will focus on the 'tension' between science and faith.

​Scientific Revolution

Assess the significance of the Scientific Revolution.

Guiding Questions

How did medieval scientific thinking compare with early modern scientific thinking?

Scientific Revolution

• Europeans relied on the church tradition and ancient philosophers

• Scholars begin promoting experimentation and observation

• Through searching many issues are found with church tradition and ancient philosophers

• Three major fields: Astronomy, Medicine, and Chemistry

​Astronomy

• Study of celestial bodies

• Prior thinking "earth-centered" theory -Earth centered universe

• Polish astronomer- Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) produced heliocentric (sun-centered) theory without telescopes

• German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) pg.318

​Astronomy

• Italian Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) improved telescope to confirm elliptical orbits of planets- retracted his findings publicly due to church pressure.

• Isaac Newton (1642-1727)- "white light" and laws of nature

​Medicine

• Father of Anatomy- Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) used cadavers to examine the human body and improve medicine

• Englishman William Harvey (1578-1657)- Father of Experimental biology- discovered the heart is the only blood pumper

• Edward Jenner (1749-1823) developed smallpox vaccine

​Chemistry

• Irishman Robert Boyle (1627-91) law of inverse gas pressure- devote Christian

• Unitarian minister Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) discovered many important chemical substances-oxygen, ammonia, carbon dioxide

• Father of Modern Chemistry-Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

The Enlightenment

Evaluate major Enlightenment viewpoints from Scripture

Did Enlightenment thinking align with Scripture?

​Age of Reason

• Strong emphasis on human reason

• Rationalism-Reason was the only source for gaining knowledge

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• feared people are deceived by their senses

​Deductive Reasoning

• Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

• Questioned all existing knowledge.

​Inductive Reasoning

• start with a simple premise, through careful logic, people could arrive at another more complex truth

​Deductive Reasoning

Scientist should form tentative conclusions and then gather more information to verify-from specific cases to a general conclusion

​Inductive Reasoning

• "I doubt, therefore I think; I think, therefore I am"

• John Locke- Rejected that God has implanted certain truths within each person from birth."

​Deductive Reasoning

"If the matter be truly considered, natural philosophy is, after the word of God, at once the surest medicine against superstition and approved nourishment for faith"

​Inductive Reasoning

The Enlightenment

Evaluate major Enlightenment viewpoints from Scripture

Did Enlightenment thinking align with Scripture?

​View of Reality

Descartes "We should never allow ourselves to be persuaded of anything except by the evidence of our reason"

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)- Bible interpreter, reason judged scripture to be true or not, Bible was a historical book without relevance to the present. Taught Pantheism-all part of one great substance called "god"

​View of Government- Philosophes

18th century French writers and social critics

social reformers

pushed against many religious institutions that restricted a person's freedom to think and express himself.

Secular society, religious toleration, freedom of speech, natural rights

​View of Government

John Locke

Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755)

Francois-Marie Arouet "Voltaire" (1694-1778)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)

Religion and the Enlightenment

Evaluate Enlightenment and evangelical religion.

How did the evangelical movement differ from the Enlightenment view of religion?

Religion and the Enlightenment

Enlightenment Philosopes secularized Christian ideas.

Enlightenment thought is just Christian heresy, pirated Christian thought. Christian principles without the person of Christ.

Did not believe in miracles but believed the human race could be perfected.

Deists

• faith in reason and not God's revelation

• man born basically good and not in sin

• reason was standard of truth and proper way to worship God

• Clock maker God; God was First Cause or Grand Architect

• 1 Corinthians 2:5, 14, 16

Pietism in Germany

• originated in 1689 as a term of ridicule for those who gathered for Bible study

• Lutheran church in decline in Germany

• Philipp Spener (1635-1705)- saw the spiritual needs of his congregation and gathered for home Bible studies and worship

• wrote book calling out issues of church and need for spiritual renewal

Pietism in Germany

• August Francke (1663-1727) trained Piestist preachers which carried the gospel as missionaries to American and Indian colonies. Also established orphanages and 21 educational institutions.

• Nikolaus von Zinzendorf (1700-1760) reignited the Moravian mission movements (John Wesley came to salvation through Moravians)

Pietism in Germany

• many weakness- elevated personal experience over sound doctrine

• over time began following the 'spirit of the age' in looking to their own experience and reason as authorities since scriptural doctrinal authority had been minimized

Methodism in England

• John Wesley (1703-1791)- traveled 250,000 miles on horseback and preached 42,000 sermons.

• "I look on all the world as my parish"

• faced stone-throwing mobs, hostile clergymen

• Rose at 4:00AM and preached his first sermon at 5:00AM most days

Awakening in the American Colonies

• George Whitefield on the condition of the American churches, "I am verily persuaded, the generality of preachers talk of an unknown, unfelt Christ. And the reason why congregations have been so dead, is because dead men preach to them."

• Great Awakening 1740-1742 hit the climax

Awakening in the American Colonies

• Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)- graduated Yale at 17

• "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" 1741 Enfield, Connecticut. The people began crying out "What shall I do to be saved?"

Awakening in the American Colonies

• These men helped establish the Methodists.

• Jonathan Edwards

• Charles Wesley

• John Wesley

• George Whitefield

Religion and the Enlightenment

Evaluate Enlightenment and evangelical religion.

How did the evangelical movement differ from the Enlightenment view of religion?

• believed in a god; measured truth against man's reason

• discounted the Bible where it was "irrational"

​Enlightenment Religion

• believed in God; measured truth against the Bible as the ultimate authority

• humans are innately sinful

​Evangelical religion

• humans are basically good

• some believed God was still active while some believed in the watch maker god

​Enlightenment Religion

• God is active

• science could help human circumstantially but could not change human nature

​Evangelical religion

• most disregarded a need for salvation but sought to live virtuously, being guided by truths discovered naturally through reason

​Enlightenment Religion

• salvation came through repentance and faith in Christ alone

​Evangelical religion

Review

• Enlightenment Philosophers & Scientists rejected the supernatural

• 3 major leaders Piests leaders in Germany

• Evaluate Evangelical religion and Enlightenment religion

• Name the 3 major fields in the Scientific Revolution; know the major contributors and way of thinking.

Review

• Know the 2 new ways of learning, major contributors, and summarize their thoughts

• Pantheism- summarize

• Philosophes-summarize

• Deists-summarize

• Pietism-summarize

Review

• John Wesley and George Whitefield

• Evaluate Evangelical religion and Enlightenment religion- know the good, bad, ugly along with a summary of each

• Summarize the Enlightenment as a 'movement'