The answers to these questions can only be derived from one interest: religion. Religion, for the most part, has held an integral part of human life. It is a practice that allows people to explain the unexplainable, to connect with a deeper, higher power, and to learn about the world’s existence. Many people resorted to their religious beliefs to search for answers and explanations about their ways of life. In early modern Europe, religion carried a prominent role in political institutions, and many social beliefs were framed on the basis of God. Moreover, the Church and the Bible were significant expressions of religion. The Church was a major institution that served as a symbol of people’s integrity and firm beliefs of religion. However, …show more content…
this continual religious reliance had triggered social disputes and impeded the emergence of new and different beliefs. From the 16th through 18th centuries, there was a constant negotiation and compromise of political and social factors in order to sustain the core religious values. Several social functions had been compromised and were actively involved in mediating religious order.
In the early sixteenth century, witchcraft was a social occurrence that involved the powerful impact of the Church, based on the writings from a witch hunting book called Malleus Maleficarum. The authors, Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, aimed to eliminate witchcraft by illustrating the witches’ disgraceful behaviors against religion. According to this book, witchcraft was committed whereby “a man uses dreams for knowing the future”, and it was considered as an act that was “to the greater offence of the Creator”. Witchcraft was associated with performing magic and worshipping evil forces, so it was seen as a disgraceful act. There was a push to eliminate this social function because it conflicted and disrespected the religious beliefs of the Church. Furthermore, expression of religion intervened when the Church attempted to rectify this act because when “the more care is taken in [by the Church], the more witches become known”. This suggests that when power lied in the hands of the Church, more witches could be captured. The Church had served as an important expression of religion that pushed for the eradication of witchcraft. Thus, this occurrence of the Confessional Division highlighted the need to uphold the power of religion through altering social …show more content…
views. In terms of political order, one compromise took place in the seventeenth century during the decline in absolutism rule. There was a consistent push for religion to be embedded in political power, since it had been an integral part of the structure of society. Jean Domat, a French political intellectual, justified the divine law and the intrinsic authority of God in an excerpt from On Social Order and Absolutist Monarchy. Domat explains that the public people must be obedient to the government because if they weren’t, “they would resist God Himself… which should be the bond of peace and unity that brings about the public good”. Resistance to government authority was considered a dishonor to God. Because Domat addressed this, it reveals how a negotiation among people was required to preserve the religious influence. He also assured citizens that “God has assigned each person in the body of society, that [He] prescribes all his functions and duties”. This remark intentionally reminded citizens of God’s role in upholding societal function. Citizens were swayed to keep God in their minds so that there would be no chaos in society. Domat further explained that “God has made each person depend on the help of others for various needs”, which shows how religion had to be incorporated to stabilize the power dynamic. Domat pushed for the balance of religion in political power, which signals the negotiation that had taken place to maintain the divine law. This type of societal negotiation for the preservation of religious values was especially apparent during the Scientific Revolution.
Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei were two rising scientists in the 1600s who pushed for the reasoning of science. Both acknowledged the existing role of religion and understood that their ideas could not advance until they were somehow compromised. For Copernicus, his discovery of heliocentrism made significant impacts to the realm of science and ideas as he states in his work, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. However, he initially “hesitated for a long time and even resisted” from publishing his theories. Because of the major religious status quo during the 1500s, Copernicus felt uncertain and ambivalent about progressing his scientific ideas forward. He also felt “fear on account of the novelty and unconventionality of [his] opinion” which almost led him to “abandon completely the work which [he] had undertaken”. New scientific beliefs emerged, but as Copernicus mentions, these ideas seemed too different and unorthodox. This illustrates the great extent Copernicus took to settle his ideas while tolerating religious values. The strong religious ties had impeded society’s acceptance of new scientific theories; therefore, a compromise in the advancement of these scientific beliefs had to be made to sustain the prominent religious
values. Similar to Copernicus, Galileo Galilei also pushed for seemingly radical scientific ideas, but he had only done so by accepting the predominant role of religion during the Scientific Revolution. In Galileo’s letter to the Grand Duchess of Italy, who held religious power and relations with the Church, he discussed his scientific findings while expressing a desire to unite religion with science. Galileo states that society felt “disturbed by the known truth” of his findings, and in response, they have “resolved to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion”. He clearly describes the opposition that he sensed from members of society and stresses how his ideas were delayed to hold religion in higher regard. In addition, Galileo justifies Copernicus’ work, stating that he “did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved… it could not contradict the Scriptures”. This reveals how religion consistently interfered with the advancement of new ideas, so his scientific theories were negotiated so that religion would remain prevalent. He also proclaims how unrealistic and wasteful it would be to “abandon reason… in favor of some biblical passage”. Therefore, in order for society to accept new and different scientific ideas, they had to negotiate their expressions of knowledge to ensure that they did not devalue religion. The Scientific Revolution was proven to be a time of negotiation in favor of the religious values that people held very highly in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Scientists were compelled to compromise their ideas to uphold the religious values of their time. Another example of maintaining religious order at the expense of societal functions can also be seen during the expansion of the western world in the seventeenth century. During this time of western development, the slave trade was an essential economic system for constant production and labor. However, it more so represented a major societal custom and perception. These notions are apparent in The Code Noir, which outlines a set of laws established by King Louis XIV to control the slaves’ lives in French colonies. One of their restrictions states that “We enjoin all our subjects… to observe the Lord’s-day [Sunday], and the holidays that are kept by our subjects of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion. We forbid them to labour”. In order to preserve religious values, some of the slaves’ restrictions were altered and mitigated. This reveals the high extent to which political leaders held religion above societal practices. In addition, the political council declared “to banish all Jews” since they were perceived as “avowed enemies to the name of Christ”. The push for this constraint on the cultural makeup of society was implemented so that the existing religious beliefs would dominate. The trend in sustaining religious order in exchange for the negotiation of social and political customs was consistent during the growing change in the modern western world. From the early 1500s to the Scientific Revolution and expansion of the West, religion and expressions of religion remained prominent. However, this preservation of core religious customs and values was only possible because of the compromise, changes, and negotiation dictated upon many of society’s ideas and progress. This highlighted the strong ties that people had held with religion, the Church, and the Bible. Even though people began to rely less on religion over time, it still served significant roles and could not be compromised.
Witchcraft was relentlessly thought as the work of the devil with only sinful and immoral intentions. Julio Caro Baroja explains in his book on Basque witchcraft that women who were out casted from society and unable to fulfill their womanly duties became witches as a way to compensate for her failed life. They were thought to be a threat to society as they dwindled in evil magic. This misunderstanding may have originated from the literary works of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in their published book, “Malleus Maleficarum”. Accusations of being adulterous, liars and dealing with the devil materialized because of the...
The Scientific Revolution, during the 16th and 18th centuries, was a time of conflict. It was not a hand-to-hand martial conflict. It was a conflict of advancement, similar to the Cold War between the United States and the former Soviet Union. However, it was between the thinkers of the Scientific Revolution, such as Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei, and the Roman Catholic Church. At the time, the Catholic Church was the most powerful religious body in Europe. It controlled everything from education to faith to finances. Thinkers like Galileo took the risk and went against the church. This is shown through the documents below. Those documents tell the story of Galileo and how he was forced to revoke his support of heliocentrism by the church. The documents below also show the struggle between faith and reason that existed during this era of advancement by hindering the flourishment of the sciences by stating that it did not agree with the Bible and naming these early scientists as heretics.
Between the years 600 CE and 1450 CE in Europe, there was only one thing that stayed constant, and it was the Roman Catholic Church. The church remained a major influence on the people of Europe and the majority of the region continued to believe every single thing that the church preached. The only thing that did not stay constant was who had the power over the church and how the church made sure that everyone was following their rules that they had created. The church had varying teaching over the course of many years. It was also used as a tool for the rulers of that time.
In his Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo challenged the widely accepted religious beliefs of the time, claiming that the conflict lies in their interpretation, not the context. In Galileo’s eyes science was an extremely useful tool that could and should have been used in interpreting the Scriptures. He argued that “the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven not how heaven goes” (Grand Duchess). The purpose of science was not to counter what the bible teaches; rather its purpose was to help explain the teachings of the scriptures. Furthermore, it was “prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood” (Grand Duchess). However, because of the terminology in which the bible was presented the perception of what the Scripture defined as truth was skewed. The Bible was written so that the common man could understand it and follow its commandments. The people also showed a greater inte...
Throughout the late 17th century and into the early 18th century witchcraft prosecutions had been declining. This trend was the result of a multitude of social developments which altered the mentality of society. One of the predominant factors in this decline was the Scientific Revolution, the most important effect of these advances was making society question concepts of witchcraft. Along with this new mental outlook, we see that the Reformation had a similar effect on social opinion concerning witchcraft and magic. These two developments changed societies view on the occult and this led to a wider scepticism concerning witchcraft, this favoured those who had been accused and therefore caused a decline in prosecutions. Beyond the two trends mentioned however, it is important to consider judicial reforms and an improved socio-economic situation which reduced tensions within society. These two changes were certainly not as influential as the Scientific Revolution and the Reformation but heavily altered the circumstances in which accusations were normally made. With the altered social attitudes and mental outlook these changes in living situations all contributed to bring about the decline in witchcraft prosecutions.
In papal Rome in the early 16th century the “Good Book” was the reference book for all scientists. If a theory was supported in its holy pages, or at the very least not contradicted, then the idea had a chance of find acceptance outside the laboratory. Likewise, no theory no matter how well documented could be viewed with anything but disdain if it contradicted with the written word of, or the Church’s official interpretation of scripture. For these reasons the Church suppressed helio-centric thinking to the point of making it a hiss and a byword. However, this did not keep brave men from exploring scientific reason outside the canonical doctrine of the papal throne, sometimes at the risk of losing their own lives. While the Vatican was able to control the universities and even most of the professors, it could not control the mind of one man known to the modern world as Galileo Galilei. Despite a wide array of enemies, Galileo embarked on a quest, it seems almost from the beginning of his academic career, to defend the Copernican idea of a helio-centric universe by challenging the authority of the church in matters of science. Galileo‘s willingness to stand up for what he held to be right in the face of opposition from Bible-driven science advocates set him apart as one of the key players in the movement to separate Church authority from scientific discovery, and consequently paved the way for future scientific achievement.
The term witchcraft is defines as the practice of magic intended to influence nature. It is believed that only people associated with the devil can perform such acts. The Salem Witch Trials was much more than just America’s history, it’s also part of the history of women. The story of witchcraft is first and foremost the story of women. Especially in its western life, Karlsen (1989) noted that “witchcraft challenges us with ideas about women, with fears about women, with the place of women in society and with women themselves”. Witchcraft also confronts us too with violence against women. Even through some men were executed as witches during the witch hunts, the numbers were far less then women. Witches were generally thought to be women and most of those who were accused and executed for being witches were women. Why were women there so many women accused of witchcraft compared to men? Were woman accused of witchcraft because men thought it was a way to control these women? It all happened in 1692, in an era where women were expected to behave a certain way, and women were punished if they threatened what was considered the right way of life. The emphasis of this paper is the explanation of Salem proceedings in view of the role and the position of women in Colonial America.
Galileo Galilei was an Italian scientist, often referred to as “the father of modern physics”. He was one of the inventors of the telescope and a strong proponent of Copernicanism. Galileo used his invention to make astronomical observations which supported Copernicus’ heliocentric model of the universe. These discoveries led to a fierce dispute, because they contradicted the theory which was prevalent at the time – that the universe followed a geocentric model, a theory, which had been accepted by the Catholic Church. To address this dispute, Galileo wrote a letter to Tuscany’s Grand Duchess Christina, in which he presented his position on the relation between science and religion, stating that the Bible does not contradict science.
The witch hunts in early modern Europe were extensive and far reaching. Christina Larner, a sociology professor at the University of Glasgow and an influential witchcraft historian provides valuable insight into the witch trials in early modern Europe in her article 'Was Witch-Hunting Woman-Hunting?'. Larner writes that witchcraft was not sex-specific, although it was sex-related (Larner, 2002). It cannot be denied that gender plays a tremendous role in the witch hunts in early modern Europe, with females accounting for an estimated 80 percent of those accused (Larner, 2002). However, it would be negligent to pay no heed to the remaining 20 percent, representing alleged male witches (Larner, 2002). The legal definition of a witch in this time, encompassed both females and males (Levack, 1987). This essay will explore the various fundamental reasons for this gender discrepancy and highlight particular cases of witchcraft allegations against both women and men. These reasons arise from several fundamental pieces of literature that depict the stereotypical witch as female. These works are misogynistic and display women as morally inferior to men and highly vulnerable to temptations from demons (Levack, 1987). This idea is blatantly outlined in the text of the 'Malleus Maleficarum' written by James Sprenger and Henry Kramer in the late fifteenth century. This book is used as the basis for many of the witch trials in early modern Europe (Levack, 1987). The text describes women as sexually submissive creatures and while remarking that all witchcraft is derived from intense sexual lust, a women is thus a prime candidate for witchcraft (Sprenger & Kramer, 1487). In this time period, men are seen as powerful and in control and thus rarely...
A key parallel between the scientific revolution and the enlightenment was the decreasing belief in authority. The scientific revolution lead to great advances in astronomy, mathematics, geography, botany and medicine (7). A key discovery was that of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory (2). The heliocentric theory proposed that the sun was at the centre of the universe as opposed to the earth which was the common belief held strongly at the time. Copernicus discovered that the sun was at the centre of the universe, and that the moon orbited the earth while the earth orbited the sun. This theory raised profound qu...
A Sociologist’s Perspective,” share various opinions while developing their own theories. The comparison of these observations will focus upon why the witch trials occurred when they did, why did they stop when they did, why did the witch trials occur when they did, and who was persecuted and who was responsible for the identification and punishment of witches. Concerning why the witch hunts occurred when they did the agreed upon opinion by all three author’s is the social unrest and uncertainty felt due to the Protestant Reformation and the schism it created amongst the populace, the effects of recovering from plague and war, and the enforced patriarchal structure of a society that was changing. It was during the Reformation that Christians,’ Protestant and Catholic alike, endeavored to convict all individuals guilty of heresy, with witches acting as the scapegoat.... ...
Throughout the time of the Middle Ages the Roman Catholic Church served as one of the most influential institutions in all of Medieval Europe, the Church served as a significant force in the arts, crafts and culture of Europe. The Church had a ranking structure (hierarchy) that was in many ways almost identical to the Feudal System, this showed that the Church had much power in those times then they do today and showed the influence that the Church had in those times. The power and the influence of the Church in those times were mainly roo...
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.
The modern science view as well as the Scientific Revolution can be argued that it began with Copernicus’ heliocentric theory; his staunch questioning of the prior geocentric worldview led to the proposal of a new idea that the Earth is not in fact the center of the solar system, but simply revolving around the Sun. Although this is accepted as common sense today, the period in which Copernicus proposed this idea was ground-breaking, controversial, and frankly, world-changing. The Church had an immense amount of power, and was a force to be reckoned with; in the beginning of the Scientific Revolution, new scientific proposals and ideas were discouraged in many cases by the Church. A quote from Galileo’s Children does an excellent job summing up the conflict: “The struggle of Galileo against Church dogma concerning the nature of the cosmos epitomized the great, inevitable and continuing clash between religion and reason.” If evidence goes against scripture, the scientist is considered a heretic and is, like in Galileo’s case, forbidden to discuss the ideas any further. Galileo Galilei, who proposed solid evidence and theory supporting the heliocentric model, was forced to go back on his beliefs in front of several high officials, and distance himself from the Copernican model. This, luckily, allowed him to not be killed as a heretic, which was the next level of punishment for the crimes he was charged with, had he not went back on his beliefs. Incredible support was given through the young developing academies with a sense of community for scientists and academics; “Renaissance science academies represent a late manifestation of the humanist academy movement.” Since the Church was grounded traditionally evidence that went agains...
Over the course of the years, society has been reformed by new ideas of science. We learn more and more about global warming, outer space, and technology. However, this pattern of gaining knowledge did not pick up significantly until the Scientific Revolution. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century, the Scientific Revolution started, which concerned the fields of astronomy, mechanics, and medicine. These new scientists used math and observations strongly contradicting religious thought at the time, which was dependent on the Aristotelian-Ptolemy theory. However, astronomers like Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton accepted the heliocentric theory. Astronomical findings of the Scientific Revolution disproved the fact that humans were the center of everything, ultimately causing people to question theology’s role in science and sparking the idea that people were capable of reasoning for themselves.