How Did Science And Religion Influence The Development Of The Middle Ages

During the time period between 1550 and 1650, Europe had diverse changes. An important issue of this time was the change in the way people thought. Churches had high level of power due to people believing in the same religion. France. Italy, Germany & Scandinavia, and Spain were countries facing hard times as their ruling were changing.

Ptolemy, a Roman astronomer came up with the theory that the universe revolved around Earth and all the creatures inhabiting it (Doc. C). This theory, The Geocentric Universe of Ptolemy, was adjusted by most of the people during The Middle Ages. However, much later on, Nicolaus Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, disagreed with Ptolemy’s theory. With his use of math and reason, he came up with a new theory called The Heliocentric Universe of Copernicus (Doc. C). He said that the universe & Earth itself revolves around the sun. The Church denied this theory because they did not want to be proven wrong. If the Church was wrong about this part of the universe, this would then cause man to wonder what else they could be wrong about, or even lied to them about. This new theory taught men to think for themselves and not to rely on the Church for

During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, it was not easy for scientists to make new discoveries and present them to the world. The Catholic Church, a dominating force during that period, persecuted anyone who would spread ideas and opinions that contradicted what the Bible stated. Both Copernicus and Galileo believed in the heliocentric theory, also called Copernicus theory, which stated that the sun was at the centre of the universe and the earth revolves around it. However, the Catholic Church did not agree with this idea because the Bible stated that the earth was at the centre of the universe and the sun revolved around it, which is the complete opposite. Due to this disagreement, Copernicus and Galileo were threaded by the Catholic Church and

His more relaxed viewpoint on the interpretations of the Bible and scripture allowed him to accept the Copernican theory. He even justified his stance through principals. The first principle was called biblical limitation. “I should judge that the authority of the Bible was designed to persuade men of these articles and propositions which, by science, or by any other means than through the very mouth of the Holy Spirit.” This principle overall explained that the bible could only be understood and interpreted correctly by the Holy Mother Mary. This gave a justification against claims from previous scholars such as St. Aquinas and St. Augustine. These two scholars took ideas for the overall argument from interpretations of the Bible made from either themselves or those before them. Therefore, Galileo believed that the interpretations were false. This allowed for science to not come in conflict with Catholicism as no one truly understood it. Another principle was the priority of physical demonstration. This principle stressed more on the empirical evidence before scriptural evidence. For this principle, Galileo focused primarily on nature and this allowed him to protect the concept of the Copernican theory from the bible. Since he used empirical evidence on nature, it allowed him to determine that the sun was at the center of the universe. Thus, observation, a major part of scientific

The Scientific Revolution was a time of scientific questioning in which tremendous discoveries were made about the Earth. It has been referred to as “the real origin both of the modern world and the modern mentality” (Mckay, 596) and caused the foremost change in the world-view. This revolution occurred for many reasons. Universities were established in Western Europe in order to train lawyer’s doctors and church leaders and philosophy became a major study alongside medicine, law, and theology. The Renaissance stimulated scientific progress because mathematics was improved, texts were

Before The Renaissance, there was a time period known as the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages was a time of darkness and illiteracy. Around eighty percent of the European population was illiterate and or uneducated relying completely on the Roman Catholic Church for education. The uneducated were mostly peasants. The few people that were educated were priests, and other religious figures in the church. Although as time progressed peasants, began to become more independent. With the invention of the printing press education began to become more widespread. Many people began to become specialized in other subjects besides farming and questioned the ideas of the church. As the Middle Ages came to an end so did the strength and overall power of the Roman Catholic Church.

A Polish scientist brought a new idea that would make many people think. “Nicolaus Copernicus believed that the center of the Universe was the sun or the Heliocentric View” (Document D). This illustrates that many people discovered new aspects of science. As a result, more ideas will spark from others, coming off of Nicolaus’s new speculation. Next, the famous “Renaissance Man” studies this sophisticated topic.

Copernicus published "On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres" in 1543 , sparking off the scientific revolution and a new era of astronomical thought. This theory explains that the sun, not the Earth, is the center of the solar system and planets move in a circular motion around it. This had many social, intellectual and religious made of huis idea. For instance, this theory brought into question the strict reading of the Bible and philosophies of the Catholic Church.

If the plague were to happen today in the United states, it would impact us like how it impacted the middle ages, by religion. First our religion would survive, and like medieval time we would believe we were punished by god. We would all stay in our own religions and trust that our god would keep us safe. This is what many believed in the middle ages. We would haft to get back to work and maybe even work harder to keep everything in progress. We would continue to build lives and make new families. We would use a lot of ideas the europeans used during their plague.

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

Religion was extremely important in regard to the shaping and history of the Middle Ages in Europe. The Catholic Church, which began during the glory days of the Roman Empire, became the driving force through the Middle Ages in Europe, managing to formulate a unified religious ruling body, a deep spirituality, and oversaw cultural preservation that helped shape the history of Europe during this period. The Church managed to integrate herself into medieval society, where she could become part of the everyday life of the people. She did this through a structured hierarchy, with the Pope, or the Bishop of Rome, as her head, and other bishops were given dioceses around the world, and under each bishop were priests who would minister to the people. This structured hierarchy came about with the collapse of the Roman Empire.

In the 17th Century, there was much controversy between religion and science. The church supported a single worldview that God’s creation was the center of the universe. The kings and rulers were set in their ways to set the people’s minds to believe this and to never question it. From these ideas, the Enlightenment was bred from the Scientific Revolution.

     The influence of universities and merchants, as seen, changed the kingdom. Medieval universities were first formed in the 12th century AD after a need for educated public officials became evident. Schools like the Law School at Bologna as well as medical schools gave towns lawyers, judges and capable local officials. Other schools like the University of Paris taught scholars literature and theology. The breed of Renaissance thinking was most likely developed in such places. Scholars like Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas led an interest in the study of classical Greek and Roman philosophy. This interest, along with challenged perspectives of the time eventually led to modern science. Guilds, as afore-mentioned, were monopolistic practices over certain trades set by merchants. They virtually eliminated competition and ensured quality. Compared to Renaissance art, and Shakespearean and Elizabethan literature the precursor saw little. However, works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales were popular, and the Gothic architectural style laid a foundation for many cathedrals and buildings. It is still a dominant facade in today’s world and was relished in modern Western Europe. A powerful education system and study of art are necessary for society’s to flourish and carry it’s roots into the next era;

There is irrefutable evidence that over the period of the Middle Ages, both Christianity and Islam have been anchors in both shaping and influencing governance of kingdoms and empires comprising Western Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and territories ruled by Islam. Religion during this period was widely used to set laws, influence culture, justify armed conflicts, and pronounce punishment on citizens domiciled within the geographies depicted within this essay. I will attempt to illuminate the geopolitical climate, territorial demarcation, and religious influences that depicted life circa 500 – 1517 CE. From the background material submitted, I will directly answer the following questions:

Separated into several parts, history has various important and influential moments that occurred. So to speak, the middle ages were one of the most critical points in history, including the early, middle, and late stages of it; in which all refer to the same time period but broken down into smaller segments due to many occurrences during each time. Although there were several events that influenced the middle ages, the High Middle Ages was a time in which best represents the entire time period due to its high concentration of noteworthy, and significant events. For example, during this time is where we began to see change amongst land and population, trade and cities, and the development of Kingdoms and cultures.