The Bible and Natural Philosophy in Renaissance Italy: Jewish and Christian Physicians in Search of Truth by Andrew D. Berns

This chapter surveys prominent aspects of historical relations between theology and science in the early modern period. It argues that the medieval “handmaiden tradition,” in which natural philosophy was seen as a support to theology, continued throughout the period but with apologetic complications caused by the fragmentation of religious authority, and the proliferation of alternative new philosophies. It considers the mechanical philosophy and the concomitant concept of laws of nature, and their impact on mind-body dualism, and the development of natural theology. It also considers the role of natural philosophy in the rise of atheism, arguing that it did not create atheists, but was appropriated by them. Devout natural philosophers played into the hands of atheists by arguing among themselves as to the best way to combat atheism, and by taking a naturalistic line in their arguments, relegating God to the role of a remote primary cause and increasingly denying Providence. Finally, it considers persistent suggestions that Protestantism played a greater role in the promotion of the natural sciences than Catholicism. We consider here claims about millennialism as a stimulus to science; the effect of Protestant attitudes to the Bible and how it should be read,; and the role of Augustinian post-lapsarian anthropology.

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The “Physica Mosaica” of Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588–1638)

Teorie vědy / Theory of Science ◽

10.46938/tv.2020.472 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 117-139

Author(s):

Jan Čížek

Keyword(s):

Early Modern ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

The Bible ◽

Modern Natural ◽

Reliable Knowledge

Some early modern scholars believed that Scripture provided more certain knowledge than all secular authorities – even Aristotle – or investigating nature as such. In this paper, I analyse one such attempt to establish the most reliable knowledge of nature: the so-called Mosaic physics proposed by the Reformed encyclopaedist Johann Heinrich Alsted. Although in his early works on Physica Mosaica Alsted declares that his primary aim is proving the harmony that exists between various traditions of natural philosophy, namely between the Mosaic and the Peripatetic approaches, and despite the fact that his biblical encyclopaedia of 1625 was intended to be based on a literal reading of the Bible, he never truly abandoned the Aristotelian framework of physics. What is more, in his mature encyclopaedia of 1630, he eventually openly preferred Aristotle to other natural-philosophical traditions. I argue, therefore, that Alsted’s bold vision of Mosaic physics remained unfulfilled and should be assessed as an unsuccessful project of early modern natural philosophy.

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The Change in the Philosophical Situation Brought about by the Reformation: Paracelsus’s New Natural Philosophy and the “No” in Jakob Böhme’s God

A Short History of German Philosophy ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691167190.003.0003 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Vittorio Hösle

Keyword(s):

Seventeenth Century ◽

Natural Philosophy ◽

Direct Experience ◽

New Science ◽

The Bible ◽

Humoral Pathology ◽

The Reformation ◽

Philosophical Account ◽

German Philosopher ◽

Scientific Ideas

This chapter examines the thoughts of natural philosopher Theophrastus Bombastus of Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493–1541), and Jakob Böhme (1575–1624). Like most of the innovative ideas of the sixteenth century, Paracelsus's philosophical-scientific ideas belong to the time of fermentation between the collapse of Scholastic science and the emergence of the new science in the seventeenth century. The polemic against traditional medicine, especially the humoral pathology that derived from books rather than from direct experience, is conducted in a churlish manner reminiscent of Luther and with bombastic self-praise. Böhme is considered first epoch-making German philosopher of the modern period. He was a cobbler who had had experienced mystical visions and wanted to provide a deeper foundation for his traditional Lutheran piety (inspired by the Bible) through a philosophical account of the development of God, nature, and redemption through Christ.

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Restitution, description and knowledge in English architecture and natural philosophy, 1650–1750

Architectural Research Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s1359135510001004 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 247-254 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alexander Wragge-Morley

Keyword(s):

Natural Philosophy ◽

Robert Hooke ◽

The Bible ◽

Pliny The Elder ◽

Hagia Sophia ◽

Altered Form ◽

The Temple

Robert Hooke and Christopher Wren's interest in ancient buildings has been noted by historians of architecture and natural philosophy alike. The two men used to meet to discuss descriptions – both verbal and visual – and models of ancient buildings that had long since disappeared and were known only through ancient accounts, or that remained only in a ruined or altered form. These included the Temple of Solomon, described at different places in the Bible, Porsenna's tomb, cited as an example of extravagance by Pliny the Elder, and the Hagia Sophia. In 1675, Hooke recorded such a meeting in his diary: ‘With Sir Chr. Wren. Long Discourse with him about the module [model] of the Temple at Jerusalem’.

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Holy Writ, Mythology, and the Foundations of Francis Bacon's Principle of the Constancy of Matter

Early Science and Medicine ◽

10.1163/157338299x00256 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 114-126 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Silvia Alejandra Manzo

Keyword(s):

Natural Philosophy ◽

Francis Bacon ◽

Exact Nature ◽

Greek Mythology ◽

Scientific Program ◽

The Bible ◽

Holy Writ

AbstractThe exact nature of the relation between science and Scripture in the thought of Francis Bacon is a well-studied but controversial field. In this paper, it is shown that Bacon, though convinced that there exists no enmity between the book of God's wisdom (Holy Writ) and the book of God's power (nature), usually tries to separate knowledge acquired by reason (philosophy) from knowledge acquired by faith (divinity). In his exposition of the principle of the conservation of matter, however, Bacon seems to find himself constrained to invoke Scriptural truths in a manner that he usually disapproves of. In order to establish this principle, which is so essential to his overall scientific program, he appeals both to the Bible and Greek mythology in a way that points to certain conceptual tensions within his natural philosophy.

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