Sunday, October 9, 2011 Grace Life School of Theology Church History: A Tale of Two Churches Lesson 40: Science and Reason Challenge God s Truth

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1 1 Sunday, Octber 9, 2011 Grace Life Schl f Thelgy Church Histry: A Tale f Tw Churches Lessn 40: Science and Reasn Challenge Gd s Truth The Scientific Revlutin The perid between 1300 and 1600 was a time f great change in Eurpe. The Renaissance, a rebirth f learning and the arts, inspired a spirit f curisity in many fields. Schlars began t questin ideas that had been accepted fr hundreds f years. Meanwhile, the Refrmatin challenged thusands t questin the accepted ways f thinking abut Gd and salvatin. While the Refrmatin was taking place, anther revlutin in Eurpean thught had begun, ne that wuld permanently change hw peple viewed the physical wrld. (Beck, 623) Befre 1500, schlars generally decided what was true r false by referring t an ancient Greek r Rman authr r t the Bible. Few Eurpean schlars challenged the scientific ideas f the ancient thinkers r the church... During the Middle Ages, mst schlars believed that the earth was an immvable bject lcated at the center f the universe. Accrding t this belief, the mn, the sun, and the planets all mved in perfectly circular paths arund the earth. Cmmn sense seemed t supprt this view. After all, the sun appeared t be mving arund the earth as it rse in the mrning and set in the evening. (Beck, 623) This earth-centered view f the universe was called the gecentric thery. The idea came frm Aristtle in the 4 th century B.C. The Greek philspher Ptlemy expanded the thery in the 2 nd century A.D. Mrever, the Cathlic Church taught that Gd had deliberately placed the earth at the center f the universe. (Beck, 623) Beginning in the mid-1500s, a few schlars published wrks that challenged the ideas f the ancient thinkers and the church. As these schlars replaced ld assumptins with new theries, they launched a change in Eurpean thught knwn as the Scientific Revlutin. The Scientific Revlutin was a new way f thinking abut the natural wrld. (Beck, 623) A cmbinatin f discveries and circumstances led t the Scientific Revlutin and helped spread its impact: Printing Press spread ideas bth ld and new amng Eurpean thinkers. Age f Explratin fueled a great deal f scientific research, especially in astrnmy and mathematics. Navigatrs needed better instruments fr making gegraphic measurements. Cntact with Peple Outside f Eurpe during the Age f Explratin, Eurpeans encuntered new ideas frm peple in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. (Beck, 623) As scientists began t lk mre clsely at the wrld arund them, they made bservatins that did nt match the ancient beliefs. They fund they had reached the limit f the classical wrld s knwledge. (Beck, 624) Pastr Bryan Rss

2 2 Cpernicus Upsets the Applecart In the mid-1500s Niclas Cpernicus f Pland challenged the wrldview (Gecentric Thery). It is imprtant t nte that his ideas were nt new: several ancient Greeks had already suggested that the earth rtated arund the sun. Cpernicus realized that, mathematically, a sun-centered universe made mre sense. (Jnes, 124) Cpernicus s helicentric, r sun-centered thery still did nt cmpletely explain why the planets rbited the way they did. He als knew that mst schlars and clergy wuld reject his thery because it cntradicted their religius views. Fearing ridicule r persecutin, Cpernicus did nt publish his findings until 1543, the last year f his life. He received a cpy f his bk, On the Revlutins f the Heavenly Bdies, n his deathbed. (Beck, 624) After the death f Cpernicus, Jhannes Kepler cncluded that certain mathematical laws gvern planetary mtin. One f these laws shwed that the planets revlve arund the sun in elliptical rbits instead f circles. Kepler s laws shwed that Cpernicus s basic ideas were true. They demnstrated mathematically that the planets revlve arund the sun. (Beck, 624) Using a telescpe, the Italian Galile studied the heavenly bdies in 1609 and used his bservatins t publish Starry Messenger in Galile destryed Aristtle s thery that the mn and the stars were made f a pure perfect substance by asserting that the surface f the mn was rugh and uneven and that the sun had dark spts. Galile s bservatins, as well as his laws f mtin, als clearly supprted the theries f Cpernicus. (Beck, 625) In 1616, the Cathlic Church warned Galile nt t defend the ideas f Cpernicus. Althugh Galile remained publically silent, he cntinued his studies. Then, in 1632, he published Dialgue Cncerning the Tw Chief Wrld Systems. This bk presented the ideas f bth Cpernicus and Ptlemy, but it clearly shwed that Galile supprted the Cpernican thery. (Beck, 625) The ppe angrily summned Galile t stand trial befre the Inquisitin. In 1633, under the threat f trture, he knelt befre the cardinals and read alud a signed cnfessin in which he agreed that the ideas f Cpernicus were false. (Beck, 625) Galile spent the rest f this life under huse arrest in a villa near Flrence, Italy. Despite his incarceratin, the publicatin f his ideas helped t tuch ff a revlutin that n walls culd cnfine. It was nt until 1992 that the Cathlic Church finally acknwledged that Galile had been crrect. (Jnes, 125) Newtn Explains Everything All these discveries, hwever, had t be united in ne all-embracing principle that wuld explain the mtin f bdies in the heavens and the present universe as ne great machine perating accrding t unalterable laws. This was the feat f the mst illustrius scientist f the Age f Reasn, Isaac Newtn ( ). (Shelley, 313) Pastr Bryan Rss

3 3 In 1687 Newtn published his mmentus wrk, Mathematical Principles f Natural Philsphy, in which all the laws f mtin, in the heaven and n the earth, were harmnized in a master principle fr the universe, the law f gravitatin. (Shelley, 314) The reading public f Eurpe was captivated by the wnder f Newtn s wrldmachine. The medieval wrld f unseen spirits angels and demns culd nw be dismissed as superstitin. In its place mved a universe subject t physical laws expressed in mathematical symbls. Alexander Ppe wrte: Nature and Nature s laws lay hid in night; Gd said, Let Newtn be! and all was light. (Shelley, 314) This sudden access t the mysteries f the universe seemed t magnify the rle f human reasn. If the universe is a smth-running machine with all its parts crdinated by ne grand design, then man nly has t think clearly t find life s meaning and true happiness. This fundamental idea that man has the ability t find the truth by the use f his senses and reasn gave rise t the label, Age f Reasn. (Shelley, 314) Christianity culd scarcely escape the fallut frm this intellectual revlutin. Fr 1,200 years Augustine s ideas had ruled Christendm... But nw intellectuals were arguing smething else: Man is n sinner. He is a reasnable creature. He needs the grace f Gd less than cmmn sense. (Shelley, 314) Fr many during the Age f Reasn, traditinal authrities such as the Bible r the Church gave way t the Scientific Methd as a means f determining truth. The scientific methd is a lgical prcedure fr gathering and testing ideas. Prblem r questin arising frm an bservatin Hypthesis Experimentatin t test hypthesis Data is cllected Analyze and interpret the data New cnclusin is reached. (Beck, 625) This new apprach was used t make grundbreaking discveries in anatmy, medicine, and chemistry. Christians fund themselves in tw cntrasting climates. At first, during the clsing years f the seventeen century, sme believers, especially in England, tried t harmnize reasn and faith. They argued that Christianity is ttally reasnable but sme truths cme by reasn and sme by revelatin... In time, hwever, after the beginning f the eighteenth century, the climate changed. In France, cnfidence in reasn sared and Christians fund that many intellectually dismissed all appeals t revealed Scripture as superstitius nnsense. (Shelley, 315) The Enlightenment The English term Enlightenment passed int general circulatin nly in the clsing decades f the nineteenth century... Enlightenment is a lse term, defying precise definitin, embracing a cluster f ideas and attitudes characteristic f the perid , Pastr Bryan Rss

4 4 such as the free and cnstructive use f reasn in an attempt t demlish ld myths which were seen t have bund individuals and scieties t the ppressin f the past. (McGrath, 87) The term Age f Reasn, ften used as a synnym fr the Enlightenment, is misleading. It implies that reasn had been hithert ignred r marginalized. (McGrath, 87) The Enlightenment ushered in a perid f cnsiderable uncertainty fr Christianity in western Eurpe and Nrth America. The trauma f the Refrmatin and the resulting Wars f Religin had barely subsided n the cntinent f Eurpe befre a new and mre radical challenge t Christianity arse... the Enlightenment saw the intellectual credentials f Christianity itself (rather than any ne f its specific frms) facing a majr threat n a number f frnts. The rigins f this challenge may be traced back t the seventeenth century, with the rise f Cartesianism n the cntinent f Eurpe, and the increasing influence f Deism in England. (McGrath, 88) Many intellectuals claimed that the parts f the Bible that agree with reasn are clearly unnecessary. The parts that cntradict reasn the myths, miracles, and priestly mumb jumb are simply untrue. The mst militant attitude tward the faith was especially evident in France. In the eighteenth century Paris arse as the capital f a new csmplitan culture. Ideas circulated freely thrughut Eurpe and the American clnies... In Paris a grup f thinkers and writers knwn as the philsphes brught the Age f Reasn t its climax. The philsphes were nt philsphers devted t an academic discipline. They were men f letters, students f sciety wh analyzed its evils and advcated refrms. They aimed t spread knwledge and emancipate the human spirit. (Shelley, 316) Unlike mst previus critics f the church, the philsphes were nt heretics r dissenters wh attacked the church in the name f Christ. These men launched their attack frm utside f the church. And they aimed their missiles nt at a single pint f dgma but at the fundatin f all Christian truth. Their well published purpse was t demlish the citadel. (Shelley, 317) The philsphes believed that peple culd apply reasn t all aspects f life, just as Isaac Newtn had applied reasn t science. Five cncepts frmed the cre f their beliefs: Reasn Enlightenment thinkers believed truth culd be discvered thrugh reasn and lgical thinking. Nature the philsphes believed that what was natural was als gd and reasnable. Happiness the philsphes rejected the medieval ntin that peple shuld find jy in the hereafter and urged peple t seek well-being n earth. Prgress the philsphes stressed that sciety and humankind culd imprve. Pastr Bryan Rss

5 5 Liberty the philsphes called fr the liberties that the English peple had wn in their Glrius Revlutin and Bill f Rights. (Beck, 630) Using these main pints, the philsphes depicted Christianity as a pernicius plt, designed t turn the earth ver t the ppressive pwers f a priestly caste. Revealed religin was nthing less than a scheme t explit the ignrant. Vltaire liked t refer t Christianity as the infamus thing. His mst ruthless charge against the faith pictured the thusands upn thusands f victims f Christianity s intlerance. These intellectuals judged Christianity by the simple human standards f gd and evil. If the church in the name f purity f dctrine sanctined the bldy carnage f fellw Christians as it had in the wars f religin then Christianity, far frm being sacred and hly, was a wicked institutin. It had prevented peace, harmny, and prgress amng the peples f the earth. The primary weapn aimed at the church was truth. We think that the greatest service t be dne t men, said Didert, is t teach them t use their reasn, nly t hld fr truth what they have verified and prved. But the standards f truth ruled ut Christian dctrine frm the start. When the rthdx tried t reasn frm their basic premises, the philsphes nly scffed because they refused t allw arguments drawn frm authrity r traditin embdied in the Bible r the church. (Shelley, 317) The ratinal religin f the Enlightenment fund itself in cnflict with six majr areas f traditinal Christian thelgy: The Pssibility f Miracles much f traditinal aplgetics cncerning the identity and significance f Jesus Christ was based upn the miraculus evidence f the New Testament, culminating in the resurrectin. The new emphasis upn the mechanical regularity and rderliness f the universe, perhaps the mst significant intellectual legacy f Newtnianism, raised dubts abut the New Testament accunts f miraculus happenings. In his Essay n Miracles, David Hume argued that since there were n cntemprary examples f New Testament miracles, Christians were frced t rely exclusively n human testimny t retain their belief in miracles. The Ntin f Revelatin the Enlightenment witnessed the develpment f an increasingly critical attitude t the very idea f supernatural revelatin. In part, this new critical attitude was als due t the Enlightenment depreciatin f histry... Revelatin tk place in histry but f what value were the cntingent truths f histry in cmparisn with the necessary truths f reasn? The philsphes in particular asserted that histry culd at best cnfirm the truths f reasn, but was incapable f establishing thse truths in the first place. The Dctrine f Original Sin Vltaire and Jean-Jacques Russeau criticized the dctrine as encuraging pessimism with regard t human abilities, thus impeding human scial and plitical develpment and encuraging laissez-faire attitudes... The rejectin f riginal sin was f cnsiderable imprtance, as the Christian dctrine f redemptin rested upn the assumptin that humanity required liberatin frm bndage t riginal sin. Fr the Enlightenment, it was the idea f riginal sin itself which was ppressive, and frm which humanity required liberatin. This intellectual liberatin was prvided by the Enlightenment critique f the dctrine. Pastr Bryan Rss

6 6 The Prblem f Evil the Enlightenment witnessed a fundamental change in attitude tward the existence f evil in the wrld... The Enlightenment saw this situatin change radically: The existence f evil metamrphsed int a challenge t the credibility and cherence f Christian faith itself. The Status and Interpretatin f Scripture within rthdx Christianity, whether Prtestant r Rman Cathlic, the Bible was still widely regarded as a divinely inspired surce f dctrine and mrals, t be differentiated frm ther types f literature. The Enlightenment saw this assumptin called int questin, with the rise f the critical apprach t Scripture. Develping ideas already within Deism, the thelgians f the German Enlightenment develped the thesis that the Bible was the wrk f many hands, at times demnstrating internal cntradictin, and that it was pen t precisely the same methd f textual analysis and interpretatin as any ther piece f literature... The effect f these develpments was t weaken still further the cncept f supernatural revelatin, and call int questin the permanent significance f these fundatinal dcuments f the Christian faith. The Identity and Significance f Jesus Christ a final area in which the Enlightenment made a significant challenge t rthdx Christian beliefs cncerns the persn f Jesus Christ. Tw particularly imprtant develpments may be nted: the rigins f the histricity f Jesus, and the rise f the mral thery f the atnement. The first challenge called int questin the real Jesus f histry and the New Testament s supernatural depictin. While a supernatural redeemer was unacceptable t Enlightenment ratinalism, the idea f an enlightened mral teacher was nt. Mrever, Jesus death n the crss was reinterpreted in terms f a supreme mral example f self-giving and dedicatin, intended t inspire similar dedicatin and self-giving n the part f his fllwers. Where rthdx Christianity tended t treat Jesus death (and resurrectin) as pssessing greater inherent imprtance than his religius teaching, the Enlightenment marginalized his death and denied his resurrectin, in rder t emphasize the quality f his mral teaching. (McGrath, 91-95) Legacy f the Enlightenment Over a span f a few decades, Enlightenment writers challenged lng-held ideas abut sciety. They examined such principles as the divine right f mnarchs, the unin f church and state, and the existence f unequal classes. They held these beliefs up t the light f reasn and fund them in need f refrm... They frmed and ppularized new theries. Althugh they encuraged refrm, they were nt active revlutinaries. Hwever, their theries eventually inspired the American and French revlutins... Enlightenment thinkers prduced three ther lng-term effects that helped shape Western civilizatin: Belief in Prgress the successes f the Scientific Revlutin gave peple the cnfidence that human reasn culd slve scial prblems. Philsphers and refrmers urged an end t the practice f slavery and argued fr greater scial equality, as well as a mre demcratic style f gvernment. There seemed t be n end t new discveries being made in the fields f chemistry, physics, bilgy, and mechanics. Pastr Bryan Rss

7 7 A Mre Secular Outlk during the Enlightenment peple began t questin penly their religius beliefs and the teachings f the church. Befre the Scientific Revlutin, peple accepted the mysteries f the universe as the wrkings f Gd... Newtn himself was a deeply religius man, and he sught t reveal Gd s majesty thrugh his wrk. Hwever, his findings ften caused peple t change the way they thught abut Gd. Meanwhile, Vltaire and ther critics attacked sme f the beliefs and practices f rganized Christianity. They wanted t rid religius faith f superstitin and fear and prmte tlerance f all religins. Imprtance f the Individual faith in science and in prgress prduced a third utcme, the rise f individualism. As peple began t turn away frm the church and ryalty fr guidance, they lked t themselves instead. The philsphes encuraged peple t use their wn ability t reasn in rder t judge what was right and wrng. They als emphasized the imprtance f the individual in sciety. Gvernment, they argued, was frmed by individuals t prmte their welfare... During the Enlightenment, reasn tk center stage. (Beck, ) Wrks Cited Beck, Rdger B. and thers. Wrld Histry: Patterns f Interactin. Evanstn, IL: McDugal Littell, Jnes, Timthy Paul. Christian Histry Made Easy. Trrance, CA: Rse Publishing, McGrath, Alister. Christian Thelgy: An Intrductin. Oxfrd, UK: Blackwell Publishers, Shelley, Bruce L. Church Histry In Plain Language. Dallas TX: Wrd Publishing, 1995 Pastr Bryan Rss