Birth of the Modern Era

Our modern world grew out of Protestantism. The Protestant Reformation challenged the importance of dogmas and tradition in favor of reason and the importance of the individual. The birth of the modern era was painful and bloody as the world was turned upside down.

A century of religious wars resulted in a paradigm shift in which authority no longer flowed downward from the few on top but instead flowed up from the individual. This was a global shift affecting religion, the political structure, and how we understand the world.

This emerging freedom of thought sparked the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century, which ushered in a wave of technological advancements and cultural changes which radically transformed society and individual worldviews, creating debate regarding the whole spectrum of existence including the metaphysical realm as well or our material universe. The modern Era was born.1

The medieval world viewed the Divine as being intimately intertwined with nature which consequently reflected God’s will and graceIs a term used to identify unmerited assistance by God primarily to redeem and transform human beings. In the early and medieval church it also referred to God’s influence throughout existence. Redemptive grace is important to Augustinian theology which has... more. This perspective was articulated by Thomas Aquinas(c. A.D. 1225-1274) Dominican friar, teacher at the University of Paris, central figure of medieval scholasticism, and the most authoritative theologian of the Roman Catholic tradition; known for his use of Aristotelian philosophy and his conception of supernatural grace. more as he tried to reconcile apparent contradictions between established theological traditions and the Bible as well as with Aristotle’s newly discovered attractive worldview of fulfillment being realized through living a rational, ethical life without any reference to God. AquinasThomas Aquinas (c. A.D. 1225-1274) Dominican friar, teacher at the University of Paris, central figure of medieval scholasticism, and the most authoritative theologian of the Roman Catholic tradition; known for his use of Aristotelian philosophy and his conception of supernatural... more made a distinction between God’s creative graceIs a term used to identify unmerited assistance by God primarily to redeem and transform human beings. In the early and medieval church it also referred to God’s influence throughout existence. Redemptive grace is important to Augustinian theology which has... more which infusedA term used in Catholic theology that is derived from the Latin word for “poured in” referring to the grace (love) of God that he pours into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (see Romans 5:5). This term is used... more nature, including human nature, and the supernaturalIs a theological concept developed in Roman Catholic theology primarily by Thomas Aquinas that maintains that God dispenses his grace in at various times and places in ways that not only assist the natural world including human nature, but also... more theological graceIs a term used to identify unmerited assistance by God primarily to redeem and transform human beings. In the early and medieval church it also referred to God’s influence throughout existence. Redemptive grace is important to Augustinian theology which has... more necessary for salvation. He argued that ultimate human fulfillment (our telos or end) is realized by seeking completion in God. AristotleAristotle (384–322 B.C.) was a greek philosopher, founder of the sciences of logic, physics, and biology, whose writings were a major conceptual resource for medieval scholastic theologians, especially Aquinas. He studied under Plato, and in turn educated Alexander the Great.... more taught that our completion is simply realized by living a virtuous life in accordance with the ancient Greco-Roman virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and courage. Later, we will see how NietzscheFriedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900), declared that God is dead, and the intellectuals of his day had killed him. With the death of God, nihilism was born. more claimed that with the death of God, humans have no telos, introducing nihilismThe philosophy or view that there is no ultimate meaning or purpose of life. more as a fundamental principle of postmodern thought.

The medieval worldview was based on Augustine’s sinIs violation to God’s Law, and implicitly includes disobedience to God’s the command to love God and one’s neighbor. See mortal sin, original sin. more paradigm which revolved around the creation, the fall, sinIs violation to God’s Law, and implicitly includes disobedience to God’s the command to love God and one’s neighbor. See mortal sin, original sin. more, and redemption through the incarnation of God in Jesus(c. 4 B.C.–A.D. 30-33) Also known as Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus Christ, the Messiah, and Savior of the World. He is the founding figure of Christianity and accepted by Christians as the Son of God in the flesh. He taught... more and his crucifixion and resurrectionThe doctrine that Jesus’ spiritual essence was reunited with his physical body and that other humans will likewise live again with their spirit or soul reunited with their material body. This term does not refer to the doctrine of the... more. As fallen creatures, humans were incapable of saving themselves and were dependent on God’s graceIs a term used to identify unmerited assistance by God primarily to redeem and transform human beings. In the early and medieval church it also referred to God’s influence throughout existence. Redemptive grace is important to Augustinian theology which has... more, but they were expected to cooperate with that graceIs a term used to identify unmerited assistance by God primarily to redeem and transform human beings. In the early and medieval church it also referred to God’s influence throughout existence. Redemptive grace is important to Augustinian theology which has... more in order to benefit from it.

ProtestantContrary to popular belief, the term does not refer to protest against the Roman Catholic Church. The term original refers to a formal protest lodged by Lutheran princes against an unfavorable decision made by the imperial Diet of Speyer in... more theology emphasized the sovereignty of God and the total depravityIs a Calvinist term for a doctrine they share with Lutherans that every aspect of human existence is corrupted by sin including free will. This does not mean that humans are pure evil but that the effect of original sin... more of man, placing salvation entirely in God’s hands. Interestingly, by emphasizing the sovereignty of God and his right to arbitrarily save and condemn, God began to be extracted from nature and the natural order of the cosmosthe idea that the universe is one harmonious and orderly system. more. God could change anything at his whim, so his will was above nature, or “supernaturalIs a theological concept developed in Roman Catholic theology primarily by Thomas Aquinas that maintains that God dispenses his grace in at various times and places in ways that not only assist the natural world including human nature, but also... more.” This form of ultimate sovereignty was first expressed by Duns ScotusJohn Duns Scotus (c. A.D. 1266–1308) was a Scottish theologian and scholastic who is considered one of the most important theologians of the Middle Ages. He developed elaborate arguments for the existence of God and the Immaculate Conception. more in the thirteenth century. Around the same time, Occam’s Razor cut off Plato’s world of forms, severing God from that natural world and introducing a radical concept called nominalismIs the philosophical view that universals, such as beauty, are simply names or words that our minds attributes to these abstractions, in contrast to realism which holds these universals to be real. Nominalism is credited with being one of the... more. ProtestantContrary to popular belief, the term does not refer to protest against the Roman Catholic Church. The term original refers to a formal protest lodged by Lutheran princes against an unfavorable decision made by the imperial Diet of Speyer in... more theology naturally flowed out of Scotus’s and Occam’s spring to become a raging river flooding Europe with a new way of thinking. Beyond religion, this questioning of traditionThis word comes from a Latin term meaning “to hand down,” that originally referred to the teaching of the apostles as handed down in the churches they founded, which led to these churches gaining authority of other locations due to... more and authority found fertile ground with scholars of the natural world, philosophers and political theorists.2

The scholars of the medieval world who studied nature were called natural philosophers. Today, we would refer to these individuals as scientists. Natural philosophers tried to discover the underlying truths of the material world and the hidden relationships among these truths. According to Aristotle’s philosophy, everything has a telos or purpose to which it is attracted based on its innate essencethe English word generally used for the Greek term ousia, that is also translated as “being” or “substance” and refers to that which makes something what it is such as human nature is the essence of a human being. This... more. Catholic theologians loved this concept. Augustine(A.D. 354-430) Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, the most influential theologian of the West, known especially for his doctrine of grace, including related doctrines of original sin and predestination. more equated the human attraction to virtue and beauty as an inborn human desire for God. AquinasThomas Aquinas (c. A.D. 1225-1274) Dominican friar, teacher at the University of Paris, central figure of medieval scholasticism, and the most authoritative theologian of the Roman Catholic tradition; known for his use of Aristotelian philosophy and his conception of supernatural... more referred to this attraction as God’s creative grace. The underlying motive of the natural philosopher was to deepen understanding of these natural principles and attractions in an effort to glorify God.

Natural philosophy was based on Aristotle’s harmonious geocentric system of nature. This encompassed division into categories, his vast analysis of the natural world, and an integrated explanation of how the universe worked. According to AristotleAristotle (384–322 B.C.) was a greek philosopher, founder of the sciences of logic, physics, and biology, whose writings were a major conceptual resource for medieval scholastic theologians, especially Aquinas. He studied under Plato, and in turn educated Alexander the Great.... more, the earth was the center of the universe because it was its heaviest object. The universe consisted of a hierarchyComes from a Greek word that literally means “rule by priests,” and is used to identify churches with strong top down organization or episcopal polity such as the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches whereas as opposed to Baptist and... more based on the weight of four sublunar elements—earth, water, fire and air—and one very light, unknown heavenly element called quintessence of which the sun, planets and stars were made.

The natural state of each element was to remain in its prescribed position. Physical objects fall to the earth because union with the earth is their natural telos. So, when a substance is separated from its natural position, natural motion will move it back to its rightful place in a straight line from the center of the earth, which was also the center of the universe. This natural motion could be temporarily interrupted by violent motion when it was connected to another object acting upon it, such as throwing a rock. But once the contact was broken, the object would automatically move in a straight line toward the center of the earth back to its natural location. The reason things that were thrown didn’t fall straight down was that the motion of throwing the object created ripples in Aristotle’s air element which continued to push the object. In the heavens, the natural motion was different. It was circular. The universe consisted of fifty-five concentric crystalline spheres that circled the earth, each sustaining different heavenly bodies. Each of these spheres rotated around the earth in perfect circles at a consistent set speed.

Aristotle’s cosmosthe idea that the universe is one harmonious and orderly system. more was a harmonious, interlocking system involving the universe, physics, biology and the purpose of life. It was a beautiful orderly paradigm and circumscribed everything into one rational system. However, because it was a unified system, if one part did not work, the whole system would fall apart. The Catholic Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more adopted Aristotle’s science and built centuries of fundamental doctrines base on this pagan Greek philosopher’s teachings, such as the transfiguration of the Eucharist more. So anything that threatened the Aristotelian system threatened the authority of the Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more, the supreme power of Europe.

Aristotle’s system was entrenched, and it would require a lot of groundwork to overturn it. From Ptolemy in the second century to NewtonJohn Newton (A.D. 1725–1807) was an Anglican clergyman, author of the hymn Amazing Grace, and prominent supporter of abolition. He started his career as a sailor in the Royal Navy, and later worked in the slave trade. A process of religious... more in the seventeenth century, astronomers observed problems with Aristotle’s concept of the universe, but because there was no other cohesive system to replace it, Ptolemy and others either questioned their observations or fabricated explanations for the discrepancies. Various items needed to fall into place to create enough doubt in Aristotle’s worldview to be able to overthrow it.

Around the time Martin LutherMartin Luther (A.D. 1483–1546) German theologian, pastor, professor at the University of Wittenberg, ex-monk, and founding figure of Protestantism. He was known for his doctrine of justification by faith alone and his insistence on distinguishing between Law and Gospel. more was dealing with Rome, the astronomer Nicholas CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus (A.D. 1473–1543) was a Polish Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who made an early contribution to the Scientific Revolution by formulating a model of the universe with the Sun at the center with planets revolving around it, rather than... more (1473–1543) took the first major step to dethrone Aristotle’s science when he published his findings that the earth circled the sun. He realized the potential repercussion, so when he published his discoveries and mathematical calculations, he called his findings a simple hypothesis for other astronomers to investigate and he dedicated his work to the popeThe Roman Catholic bishop of Rome who is regarded as the successor of the chief apostle, Peter, and as the Vicar of Christ is the holder of the Apostolic See and head of Christ’s church on earth. more, who was an avid stargazer. This limited graceful approach kept his work under the radar for sixty years until the brash outspoken genius GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more Galilei (1554–1642) looked into his new and improved telescope and openly proclaimed to the world that the earth orbited the sun. Copernicus’s book was banned, and GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more was forced to recant. However, that did not silence him. In 1632, he published his book Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World, which vindicated CopernicusNicolaus Copernicus (A.D. 1473–1543) was a Polish Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer who made an early contribution to the Scientific Revolution by formulating a model of the universe with the Sun at the center with planets revolving around it, rather than... more with great precision and lambasted the archaic medieval views. He posited that truth established by math and pure logic provided a more solid foundation on which to build one’s understanding of the universe than Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more dogma. GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life, but the genie was out of the bottle and could never be put back.

In the meantime, the English statesman and philosopher Sir Francis BaconFrancis Bacon (A.D. 1561–1626) was an English philosopher and prominent statesman. He was later considered to have been the father of the scientific method. Francis Bacon also outlined a series of legal reforms which eventually became the foundation of the... more (1561–1626), argued for replacing the deductive approach to study scientific truth with an inductive approach involving careful observation of experiments based on a skeptical methodology and reason. The prior deductive method emphasized theory over observations and kept Aristotle’s system viable, BaconFrancis Bacon (A.D. 1561–1626) was an English philosopher and prominent statesman. He was later considered to have been the father of the scientific method. Francis Bacon also outlined a series of legal reforms which eventually became the foundation of the... more is credited with being one of the fathers of the scientific method—along with his namesake Roger BaconFrancis Bacon (A.D. 1561–1626) was an English philosopher and prominent statesman. He was later considered to have been the father of the scientific method. Francis Bacon also outlined a series of legal reforms which eventually became the foundation of the... more and others—and the father of empiricismrefers to the theory that true knowledge is based on experience. more, which is the theory that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience.

Mathematician and Philosopher René DescartesRene Descartes (1596–1650) introduced the scientific method based on the premise that all learning is derived from inductive reasoning based on observations. more (1596–1650) stressed the need for each step of a scientific experiment to produce a measurable result which could be expressed in mathematical terms. In his 1632 book, GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more combined Descartes’s recommendation with Bacon’s inductive approach to articulate his five-step scientific method consisting of 1) careful observation of natural phenomena and experiments, 2) formation of a general theory induced from the data, 3) testing the theory with verified results, 4) applying mathematical measurements to test the results, and 5) proposition of a final hypothesis. Modern science was born spawning a plethora of inventions and the discovery of one natural lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more after another.

New scientific instruments were invented providing ways to make and record detailed observations. Around 1590, Hans and Zacharias Janssen invented the microscope. In 1608, GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more invented the telescope, and three years later he invented the thermometer. In 1650, Christian Huygens invented the pendulum clock, making precise measurements of short time intervals possible. The same year, Otto von Guericke invented an air pump allowing humans to create a vacuum, (which AristotleAristotle (384–322 B.C.) was a greek philosopher, founder of the sciences of logic, physics, and biology, whose writings were a major conceptual resource for medieval scholastic theologians, especially Aquinas. He studied under Plato, and in turn educated Alexander the Great.... more had said would be impossible), and in 1643, Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer enabling scientists to measure air pressure during experiments.3

New mathematical discoveries also enabled scientists to perform the complex calculations necessary to make sophisticated continuous measurements. In 1603, Francois Viéte simplified the algebraic system of symbols. In 1614, JohnJohn (c. A.D. 6–100) was a Jewish fisherman, chosen by Jesus to be one of his 12 Apostles, and appears to have developed an especially close bond with Jesus. John outlived the other Apostles and heavily influenced early Christian thinkers... more Napier invented logarithms. In 1637, René DescartesRene Descartes (1596–1650) introduced the scientific method based on the premise that all learning is derived from inductive reasoning based on observations. more developed analytical geometry, and in the mid-1660s Sir Isaac NewtonSir Isaac Newton (1643–1727) revolutionized society's understanding of how the physical world functioned with his scientific discoveries and by claiming that god created the universe with immutable physical laws and then stepped back to let it run itself. more and Gottfried Leibniz independently discovered calculus.

With these tools, scientists began to substantiate their observations which contradicted Aristotle’s harmonious system in various ways. Johannes Keplar (1571–1630) showed that the planets’ orbits were elliptical, not circular. GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more proposed his game-changing idea of inertia to replace Aristotle’s concept of natural motion. GalileoGalileo Galilei (A.D. 1564–1642) was an Italian Renaissance-era scientist who strongly advocated for the Copernican heliocentric model of the universe. This led to his being tried by the Inquisition for heresy and he was forced to recant. He is most... more argued that the velocity of movement remains constant until some outside force slowed it, so an object’s state of movement was just as natural as being stationary.

In 1687, Isaac NewtonJohn Newton (A.D. 1725–1807) was an Anglican clergyman, author of the hymn Amazing Grace, and prominent supporter of abolition. He started his career as a sailor in the Royal Navy, and later worked in the slave trade. A process of religious... more published his three laws of motion: 1) the lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more of inertia stating that every object remains in its state of motion or rest until an external force alters this static condition, 2) the lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more of acceleration asserting that the change in motion of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it, and 3) the lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more of action and reaction maintaining that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. He also proposed his lawIs a fundamental concept of Luthernism and is contrasted by Luther with the Gospel. For Luther, the law consists of God’s commands regarding how one should live which no one can fully obey. Consequently, the law functions to condemn and... more of universal gravitation, which solved the problems involving the movement of celestial bodies.

What was so outrageous about Galileo’s and Newton’s ideas was the concept that nature operated according to its own laws without God’s miraculous sustaining power, and that humans could discover and understand these natural laws independent of any Churcha term translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia” which means an assembly called together and is sometime translated as a congregation. A church is an organized group of believers who adhere to a set of core beliefs. The Church in... more authority or philosophical traditionThis word comes from a Latin term meaning “to hand down,” that originally referred to the teaching of the apostles as handed down in the churches they founded, which led to these churches gaining authority of other locations due to... more. Doubt, instead of the certainty of dogma, became the impetus for discovery.  The Modern Age, with a worldview based on reason as the arbiter of truth, finally replaced Aristotle’s system.4

Most of these early modern scientists remained deeply religious and believed God had created these natural laws, and their work was helping people to discover God’s role in the world.

 

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