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23 - Science and religion

from Part V - Religion, Society, and Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Ann Blair
Edited by
R. Po-chia Hsia
R. Po-chia Hsia
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
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Summary

The period of religious transformations covered in this volume corresponds closely in time to a series of major scientific developments traditionally known as the ‘Scientific Revolution’, which is commonly considered to extend from the publication of Copernicus’s heliocentric thesis (in De Revolutionibus, 1543) to that of Newton’s laws of physics (in the Principia, 1687). In the course of these 150 years, Aristotelian natural philosophy, which had been dominant since its introduction to the Latin West c. 1200, came under attack in many quarters and gradually lost its hold on the curriculum. Various alternative authorities and new interpretations of nature were advanced, but by 1650 the new philosophy which had become dominant was a mechanical philosophy premised on the notion that all phenomena could be explained as particles of matter in motion, according to mathematical laws open to empirical observation and experimentation. The historiography on the Scientific Revolution is vast. Alongside detailed studies of the central figures and texts of the Scientific Revolution, we have a rich array of studies which highlight the role of the social, cultural, and intellectual contexts of these developments. Among these, religion has long been and continues to be acknowledged as a particularly important factor.

The historiography on science and religion across the centuries predates the professionalization of the history of science and has from the beginning singled out the early modern period for developments which were taken as paradigmatic both of conflict (the Galileo Affair) and of cooperation (‘Protestantism and science’). Although recent work on the interactions between science and religion has moved away from such starkly articulated theses, the early modern period remains a particularly rich area of study.

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The Cambridge History of Christianity , pp. 425 - 443
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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  • Science and religion
  • Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Christianity
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521811620.024
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  • Science and religion
  • Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Christianity
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521811620.024
Available formats
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  • Science and religion
  • Edited by R. Po-chia Hsia, Pennsylvania State University
  • Book: The Cambridge History of Christianity
  • Online publication: 28 March 2008
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521811620.024
Available formats
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