Christian Worldview In The 17th Century

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Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries Europe underwent a scientific revolution that changed Europeans worldviews. The Christian worldview based on the teachings of Aristotle and Plomley was replaced by Newton and other scientists whose teachings flourished during this time period. The Renaissance which was fueled by the ideas of rationalism, helped to erase the false teachings of earlier philosophers and allow for provable and rational ideas to replace them. Due to an increase of rational thinking during the Renaissance, a new and provable worldview spread throughout 17th century Europe.
The Christian worldview was based mostly off the teachings of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Aristotle believed that all knowledge came from the use of the five …show more content…

For example, the Neoplatonists began challenging the Church’s worldview in the 200’s. Neoplatonists believed that the entire universe was alive and interconnected. There was no difference between the heavenly sphere and the earthly sphere. Thus, one set of universal laws governed both. Another group called the Pythagoreans believed that everything in the universe was made up of numbers, and the relationships between those numbers. They believed that by manipulating said ratios, they could better understand the rules that govern the universe and thus control them to change the world. Other groups that believed in magic, searched for practical applications of knowledge for universal rules. Other groups only wanted to learn about the universe and not apply their knowledge to change it. Astrologers used math to determine the location of heavenly bodies and thought that these bodies controlled events on Earth. Another group like the Alchemists, used a mix of chemicals and elements to find a mythological “philosophers stone”. This stone would turn a worthless substance, like lead, into gold. Their findings laid the base of modern chemistry. The Greek philosopher Plato, also disagreed with Aristotle and Ptolemy, as well as the Church’s worldview. Plato did not accept the idea that Aristotle had about using the five senses to discover the …show more content…

During this time period, men like Newton, used rational thought to prove the false doctrine of the Church and exposed the truth of the universe. It was by a direct result of the increase of rational thinking during the Renaissance that allowed for,the laws of the universe that we still use today to be discovered and the false ideas of a geocentric universe to remain in the history books, instead of the science

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