How the Scientific Revolution Affected Christianity

The Scientific Revolution began when a small group of scholars started to question the Geocentric theory. This was an ancient notion which the church followed strictly. It stated that the moon, sun and planets revolved around the earth. But with careful observations from a series of scientists over time, they realized that the geocentric theory did not accurately explain the movements of the sun, moon and planets. Another theory came into questioning, the Heliocentric theory, this was an old Greek idea in which all of the planets revolved around the sun. As scientists became more and more certain about this new theory, backed by mathematical and scientific data, the heliocentric theory was accepted and the church’s Geocentric theory was destroyed. (Patterns of Interaction, 166) ---- Scientists became very interested in astronomy after this discovery, one person in particular was Galileo Galilei, an Italian student. The artifact on the left is a photograph of two of Galileo’s telescopes that he invented himself in 1609. He used these telescopes to study the heavens. With the help of his new inventions, he observed the moon to find that it’s surface was rough, this description destroyed Aristotle’s theory that the moon and stars were made of a pure and perfect substance. In 1610 he published a series of newsletters called Starry Messenger which described his observations. (Patterns of Interaction, 167)

Description: Galilean Telescopes Circa, Early 1600’s Current Location: Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Italy

Galileo’s findings frightened the church as people were beginning to think that the church was wrong, so they summoned him to court in 1633 to be put on trial. He was never a free man again, but people were beginning to question some teachings of the church. (Patterns of Interaction, 167)

Toward the beginning of the Scientific Revolution, people were uncomfortable with scientists and scholars undermining the traditional and biblical accounts of man. People of the general public were uneasy about the fact that the bible was not all true and they were reluctant to accept the facts that the new thinkers were providing them. Those who were seeking the truth during the beginning of the Scientific Revolution were treated with hostility by the citizens who had more orthodox views. (European History, 20) ---- Charles Darwin was one of these new thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and his key research was on how the human being evolved from being an ape. This contradicted the church, as in the bible, it is stated that human beings were created by God in the form of Adam and Eve. The public ridiculed Darwin’s ideas that seemed unrealistic and impossible as everyone was so faithfully attached the church and it’s teachings. (European History of the 16th Hundred, 20)

Description: Front Cover of the London Sketch Book Circa, Late 1500’s Current Location: Wellcome Library, London

Here in this drawing, Charles Darwin has been depicted as an ape and holding up a mirror so that a fellow ape can catch a glimpse of himself (2000 years, par. 5). Charles Darwin was put under the “wrath of society” and no-body took him seriously apart from fellow scientists of his time. But, over time, people started to realize and accept the truth and Darwin’s ideas were finally taken seriously. This affected Christianity immensely as one of the key idea’s of the bible (of Adam and Eve) was being freely contradicted, previously, such an act would have been punished. (European History, 20)

Toward the end of the Scientific Revolution, people were starting accept the fact that the church’s teachings and the bible were not always correct when it came to science and the natural world. Even the church itself was becoming more lenient on what people were able to question and experiment. ---- Isaac Newton, the great English scientist, worked in this time, toward the end of the Scientific Revolution, and he found many key discoveries. A major one was the law of gravity. He helped to bring together many breakthroughs from previous scientists and created a single theory of motion. His great discovery was that the same force ruled the motions of planets, the pendulum, and all matter on earth and in space. This force was the law of universal gravitation, that every object in the universe attracts every other object. Although Newton was going against the idea’s of Aristotle, he still wasn’t going against the ways of god as he said that God was the creator of this orderly universe (Patterns of Interaction, 169). Seeing as he wasn’t completely against the teachings of the church, his idea’s were soon accepted by the church and the general public.

Description: Isaac Newton as a “Divine Geometer" Circa, year 1790 Location: London Artist: William Blake

In this artifact on the left, Newton has been painted as a “Divine Geometer” showing how people in general approved of him and his revolutionary discoveries. With the help of people like Newton, having a “Natural Religion” became possible, where god was completely removed from the world’s affairs. (Isaac Newton, Wikipedia)