Challenges and Controversies Part 2

Challenges and Controversies
in the course of Christian history
Part 2: Into New Worlds

Part 1 of this course of study (“Formation and
Reformation”) examined the religious controversies
and challenges leading, by the end of the Middle Ages,
to major permanent divisions in Christianity.

Part 2 examines how these divisions spread around the world and came
to be present in the United States today (below) and how a different kind
of challenge, the non-religious force of humanism, arose and gradually
weakened the hold of Christianity on hearts and minds in the West.
Religious Affiliation

Lesson 1: Your Map is Out of Date

Scripture on exploration
Moses sent them to explore Canaan: “Go up through the Negev
and on into the hill country. See what the land is like, and whether
the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many.
 What kind of land do they live in?
 Is it good or bad?
 What kind of towns do they live in?
 Are they un-walled or fortified?
 How is the soil?
 Is it fertile or poor?
 Are there trees in it or not?
Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”
So they went up and explored the land. -Num. 13:17-21
Not until the 15th century did Europeans begin exploring the world be-
yond familiar coasts. But they were not looking for a Promised Land.

Trade was the spice of life
The #1 motive for exploration was mercantile.
Islamic governments had controlled North Africa and, therefore, ship
movement on the Red Sea, since the 7th century.
After the Ottoman Empire invested Constantinople in 1453, trade on
the Black Sea, too, was denied to European “infidels.”
Europe needed a new water route to the Far East, source of spices and
silks now much in demand in
a “re-awakened” West.
Italy and Spain were in the
best position to profit from
trade with India and the
Orient, having both seafaring
and banking savvy.
But how to get to the Far East?

This had a bearing on exploration
As long as 2,000 yrs ago, sailors knew that a sliver
of lodestone (magnetite) if suspended freely by
a thread always pivoted to point to the north,
thus acting as an aid to navigation.
A magnetized iron needle mounted inside a
protective glass box replaced stones by the
mid 1200’s and in 1302 an Italian pilot, made
the first known mariner's dry compass by fit-
ting the needle to a freely-moving card circle
painted with lines indicating directions (a “wind
rose”), its protective box fixed firmly to the deck of the
ship. The head of the box then always gave the ship’s direction.
Later, such compasses were fitted into a gimbal mounting to reduce
grounding of the needle or card due to the ship pitching and rolling.
No one had a clue why the needle always pointed toward the north.

100 years of searching & discovery
 1420: Portuguese sailors, Henry the Navigator exploring the west
coast of Africa discover the Madeira, Azores and Canary Islands, and
sail farther west in the Atlantic Ocean without finding more land
 1488: Bartolomeu Dias reaches and rounds the southern tip of Africa,
(the “Cape of Good Hope”), shows there was a sea route to India
 1492: Columbus crosses the Atlantic, lands in Caribbean islands, Cuba
 1497: John Cabot, sailing for England, makes landfall in Newfoundland
 1498: Vasco de Gama sails around Africa to India
 1500: Pedro Cabral claims Brazil for Portugal
 1513: Vasco Núñez de Balboa crosses the
Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean
 1521: Ponce de Leon claims Florida
for Spain, founds the city of San Juan
on the island of Puerto Rico.

 The unification of the crowns of Aragon and Castile by the marriage
of their sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella (1469), formed the basis
of the rising power of a Spanish Empire
 They completed re-taking of the entire Iberian Peninsula in 1491
from the Muslim Moors at the
Battle of Granada
 Europe's leading power in the
16th century and most of the
17th, Spain held a position rein-
forced by trade and wealth from
colonial possessions
 The Spanish Empire reached its
peak during the reign of Charles I
(1516–1556) and of Philip II
(1556–1598) but thereafter lost
power and influence to a greater seafaring nation, England.
Spain has the power

Scripture provides guidance
The experienced Genoese mariner and trader
Cristoforo Colombo was also something of a
Bible scholar, often quoting Biblical texts in his
letters and sea logs.
Towards the end of his life, he produced a Book
of Prophecies, in which he interpreted his sea
adventures in the light of Christian eschatology
He pestered Spanish and Portuguese courts for
years to obtain funding for an expedition to sail
westward to India.
“…. You commanded that the waters be gathered in the 7 parts of
the earth; 6 parts have You dried up and kept them, intending that
of these, some being planted and tilled, might serve You.”
He based this plan on his reading of 2 Esdras 6:42 which he took to
mean that the earth comprises six parts of land to one of water.

Columbus did not think the earth was flat or small but reckons that
India must be huge and therefore within reach of a caravel sailing
west from the Canary Islands. But the Portuguese court rejects his
argument.
The Spanish monarchs delay for years while a commission investigates
his claims but finally agree to his request. They com-
mission three small ships. And so off they sail,
the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
Two ships bearing Columbus and a
few Native American captives return
to Spain in March, 1493.
Word of his finding new lands spreads
rapidly throughout Europe (recall the
importance of printing).
The rest is (American) history.
Spain provides funding

The 1st voyage of Columbus (of four)

“Diligently seek to encourage and attract the natives of the Indies to all
peace and quiet, that they may willingly serve us and be under our
dominion and government, and above all, that they may be converted
to our holy catholic faith.” – Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
to Christopher Columbus
For goods, gold, and God
Spain seeks land, power and
of the royal patrons and of
the Church. In a series of
Papal Bulls from 1493-1510
Popes Alexander VI and
Julius II give authority to
Spain and Portugal to govern
the Church in newly
discovered lands.
Spain seeks land, power and gold. Saving souls is also in the minds

The church cuts the pie
 1481: Pope Sixtus IV grants all land south of the Canaries to Portugal
 1493: (Spanish-born) Pope Alexander VI grants all lands west and
south of a pole-to-pole line 100 leagues west and south of any of the
islands of the Azores or Cape Verdes to Spain and then gives all lands
"at one time or even yet belonged to India" to Spain, even if east of
the line (and no one had been there yet!)
 Portuguese King John II disputes this sweeping arrangement (mainly
because it prevents him from possessing India)
 1494: John negotiates with Spain to move the line to the west and
allow him to claim newly discovered lands east of the line
 The Treaty of Tordesillas thus countered the Papal bulls but was later
sanctioned by Pope Julius II in 1506
 The resulting line is often called the Papal Line of Demarcation (and
explains why today people in Brazil speak Portuguese)

…And so the race is on
1496: King Henry VII of England grants to Venetian mariner John Cabot
“...free authority, faculty and power to sail to all parts, regions and
coasts of the eastern, western and northern sea… with five ships or
vessels of whatsoever quality they may be, and with such mariners
and men as they may wish to take with them… to find,
discover and investigate
whatsoever islands,
countries, regions or
provinces of heathens and
infidels, in whatsoever part
of the world placed, which
before this time were
unknown to all Christians.”

A newly found land
Cabot is only reported to have landed once during the expedition and
did not advance "beyond the shooting distance of a crossbow".
He made no contact was made with any native people.
The crew only appeared to have remained on land long enough to take
on fresh water and to raise the Venetian and Papal banners and claim
the land for the King of England,
while recognizing the religious
authority of the Catholic Church.
After this landing, Cabot spent
some weeks "discovering the
coast".
Note the intimate mixing of
questing for country, fame,
fortune AND faith.

“Go Into All The World…” Mk. 16:15
Only a few years later,
while Martin Luther
hides in the Wartburg
Castle (1521-22) from
the Papacy’s bounty
hunters, translating the
Bible into German, a
small band of adven-
turers accomplishes a
feat that captivates the
world and hastens the
spread of Christianity around the globe.

In September of 1522 at San Lucar, south-
ern Spain, Captain Juan Sebastian Elcano
reaches port in Victoria, the single survi-
ving ship of a fleet of five that left from
Seville, Spain three years before.
Only 17 sailors out of 265 make it back.
Ferdinand Magellan, the leader of the
expedition, was killed in the Philippines.
Primus Circumdedisti Me
Despite these losses, it is a great ac-
complishment, so great that he is
granted a coat of arms by Emperor
Charles V emblazoned with a globe
and a suitable Latin inscription
(slide title).

France joins the race
After the surviving members of
Ferdinand Magellan’s crew returned
to Spain in 1522, France, England
and Holland faced very stiff compet-
ition for trade with new-discovered
lands and peoples.
French merchants and bankers de-
mand action by King Francis I.
The following year, he asks Giovanni
da Verrazzano, a Florentine mariner
living in France at the time, to
explore lands lying to the north of
those controlled by Spain (Florida).
He wants to find the rumored “Northwest Passage”, a possible
northern sea route to the Pacific Ocean, instead he finds….

Too bad he didn’t buy it
from the Native Americans
he met. But he did get a
really cool bridge named
after him 440 years later.
… New York Bay and Manhattan Island

Ten yr. later, Jacques Cartier discovers
the entrance to the St. Lawrence River.
He was sure he had landed in Asia.
Turns out it is
not a passage to
India, but it
does open up
the greatest
waterway in
North America
for European in-
roads via the
Great Lakes.
He names the
area Canada.

He reports on the vast
mineral resources
there (exaggerated)
and led two more
expeditions (1535-36).
No passage, but Canada is a keeper
He established (more or less) friendship with the
native peoples—an indispensable preliminary to
French settlement in 1605 at Quebec.

An Englishman, Henry
Hudson exploring first south
then north of French Canada
for The Netherlands hits two
notable dead ends, one far
up a river and the other far
down an enormous bay both
now bearing his name.
Another Englishman, Walter
Raleigh, establishes (1609) a
tiny settlement named
Jamestown farther south, in
what is to be a colony named
Virginia.
England and Holland are late-comers

Scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, a 230 ft-
long embroidered banner depicting the
Norman Conquest of England of 1066.
History is an ever-
changing tapestry
In the beginning
You laid the foundations
of the earth,
And the heavens are the
work of your hands;
They will perish,
but you remain;
They will all wear out like a garment,
like clothing you will change them
and they will be discarded.
But you remain the same
and your years will never end.
- Ps. 102 25-27

The Age of Discovery beginning around 1450, driven by a happy
combination of commercial and religious interests, fostered the
growth of nationalism which then began to dominate European
history. This movement had no roots in religious theory or creed.
Do you really think that God raised up all these new nations, including
like Switzerland, the USA, the Netherlands, France, England, Germany,
Greece, Sweden, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, at this time?
Did God suddenly change His mind and begin trusting ordinary people
with politics instead of the Divinely ordained kings, queens, princes,
nobles, cardinals, and bishops that He trusted for centuries?
He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations,
and disperses them. He deprives the leaders of the earth of their
reason; He makes them wander a trackless waste – Job 12:23-24
Nationalism grows with discovery

War devastates Europe
Did God want Catholics and Protestants to fight a series of bloody
wars (principally in Central Europe) from 1618-1648 called The
Thirty Years War?
 Longest and most destructive conflict in European history, ended by
the Peace of Westphalia of 1648
 Origins of the conflict and goals of the participants were complex and
no single cause can accurately be described
 Initially, it was fought as a religious war between Protestants
(Holland, Sweden, France, some German) and Catholics (Austria,
Spain, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia) in the Holy Roman Empire
 Later-phase fighting became less specifically religious and more a
continuation of French–Habsburg rivalry for political pre-eminence
After the war, Church influence is dispersed and weakened.

First democracy?
The success of Ulrich
Zwingli's Protestant
Reformation in
Switzerland led some
Swiss cantons into
inter-canonal religious
fighting (1519-1531).
100 years after these
internal wars, under the
Peace of Westphalia
(1648), European
powers recognized the independence of Switzerland from the
Holy Roman Empire, effectively making it the first modern
democratic republic.

First capitalist nation?
 War continued until 1648, when Spain under King Philip IV finally
recognized their independence
 The tiny new nation grew rapidly into an Empire, a major seafaring
and economic power that some call the world’s first capitalist state
 In this “Golden Age” they set up trading posts/established colonies
all over the world. By 1650, their merchant fleet totaled 16,000 ships.
The Dutch formally
declared independence
from Spain in 1581 but
had to fight the “Eighty
Years’ War” to make it
a reality.

One can see in these mid-17th century developments the start of the
movement in Europe designated nationalism, a development closely
related to the rise of the modern state.
The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from a century of debate, not to
mention a Civil War that overthrew the monarchy, a restoration of the
monarchy, and attempted forced union of the two churches of
Presbyterian Scotland and Anglican England. Political union of the
kingdoms came with the Acts of Union 1707.
Emergent nationalism

Many symbols of national identity became
widespread, such as the Union Flag being
adopted as a national flag, the composition
of patriotic songs such as Rule, Britannia
and the creation of John Bull as the of
personification of Great Britain.
In 1801, under a new Act of Union, this
kingdom merged with the Kingdom of
Ireland to create the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland.
Nationalism – Patriotism
John Bull was a character political satires by John
Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish scientist, doctor
and political satirist. His pamphlets, 'The History
of John Bull', introduced Bull as the typical
Englishman: "an honest plain-dealing fellow”.

With emergence of
a public sphere and integrated economy in
the 18th century, people all over Europe
identified with their country, and gave it
their allegiance, not just their Church.
The movement intensified and became
overtly political- and not at all religious- in
the American Revolution (1776-83).
Nationalism and independence
One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails. – Phillis Wheatley (1776)

Soon after the American colonies
won their independence from
Great Britain, French nationalism
resulted in the Revolution (1789)
with bloody consequences.
Peoples all over Europe pushed
for popular sovereignty there-
after, leading to ethnic and/or
Nationalism and revolution
national revolutions like the Greek War of Independence against the
Ottoman Empire (1821-32).
Nationalism has become one of the most significant political and
social forces in modern history, a major cause of WWs I and II.

The Mediterranean island of Corsica (which lies directly west of Rome and
immediately north of Sardinia) was controlled by the Italian mainland city of
Genoa for over 400 years when its people overthrew their rulers (1729),
wrote the world’s first constitution, and ruled themselves for 25 years (until
1769 when it was conquered by France, the same year that Napoleon
Bonaparte was born there). Their constitution was known to some of the
men in America who we now refer to as “Founding Fathers”.
First constitution
Today, Corsica is still a part of France.

Martin Luther’s reforming efforts against the
Catholic Church splintered the Holy Roman
Empire roughly north-south and the two parts fought the Thirty
Years‘ War that proved ruinous to the people of
both regions.
The Peace of 1648 marked the beginning of
the end of the H. R. E. but not yet the start
of a German nation-state.
Instead, Germany splintered into numerous
independent states, e.g. Prussia, Bavaria
and Saxony.
Unification occurred only much later, in 1871,
with formation of the German Empire under the
leadership of Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck.
The H.R.E. morphs into Germany

Love of the world / love of the Word
1Jn 2:14-17

End of Lesson 1

Lesson 2: Rethinking Thinking

Enlightenment
To provide more than just information, to give insight,
to free from ignorance, prejudice, and superstition
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ... may give you
the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that you may know him better.
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that
you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his
glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great
power for us who believe. - Eph. 1:17-19
From the time of the OT kings of Israel, God’s people have claimed to
possess special wisdom, to know what is true, to live in the light.

“Light”occurs 174 times...
...in the OT, first in the well-known account of Creation:
The earth was formless... darkness was over the surface of the
deep.. God said, “Let there be light” and there was light...
And connected to statements about wisdom in the Psalms:
The law of the LORD is perfect refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy making wise the simple.
The precepts of the LORD are right giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the LORD are radiant giving light to the eyes.

“Light”
The word occurs
89 times in the NT.
Christians applied
it metaphorically
to Jesus as in the
Gospel of John:
Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the
light of the world. Whoever follows me
will not walk in darkness, but will have
the light of life.” - Jn. 8:12
“I have come into the world as a light,
so that no one who believes in me
should stay in darkness.” - Jn. 12:45

 For over 1,000 years, and even after the Protestant Reformation kicked
off in 1517, Western civilization was based on a (mostly) shared core of
Christian faith, tradition and authority.
 Intellectual debates raged over confessional issues e.g. the loci of
Divine teaching authority, which branch (Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran,
Reformed, or Anglican) had the truth, what vocabulary/language best
conveyed that truth, and what practices were normative.
 What people thought about themselves and the world came by:
1. Traditions & story-telling (legends)
2. Authoritative pronouncements of the Church
3. Detailed argument from Scripture (Scholasticism)
4. Self-evident “truths” (i.e. the sun revolts about the earth)
Pre-Enlightenment
But in the 15th century, a new way of thinking “dawned on” the
minds and hearts of European thinkers, writers, and scholars.

 This new way of thinking developed over some 250 years (about
1500 to 1750) to became a pervasive, coherent world view later
given the label “The Enlightenment.”
 It grew along with but separate from the Protestant Reformation
 Intellectual life in Europe and then America took on a very
different character:
1. Religious traditions, pious legends and even Holy Scripture
were subjected to critical analysis.
2. As religious wars failed to resolve which faith is God’s true
authority on earth, Church influence, piety, and theology
were marginalized
3. The freedom, welfare, rights and place in the universe of
ordinary human beings were elevated in importance
4. Observation, measuring, testing (experimentation), dispassion-
ate analysis and reasoning were credited as ways to truth.
The Enlightenment

Humanism
Human excellence could come about through the application of
human reason alone independently from traditional religious
institutions (an idea violently attacked by influential religious and
political conservatives as a deification or idolatry of man)
 Such thinking earned the label "humanism" and was attacked putting
faith in “mere humanity” instead of Divinity
 The term gradually came to mean something broader: love of the best
efforts of all people in the civilizing arts, not just scholarship
 Beginning in the latter part of the 18th century, it included the creation
of benevolent societies dedicated to betterment of the poor and the
spread of knowledge to the illiterate
 Today the word is often coupled with the word “secular” as in “secular
humanist” and often used in a pejorative sense.
The following brief biographies present 12 of the greatest
of the “change agents” of the Enlightenment

Even as Martin Luther ushered in sweeping
changes in theology and church practice in
Germany, in Switzerland this Dutch priest,
social critic, teacher, theologian, and classical
scholar prepared/published the 1st printed
Greek New Testament (1522), so widely
accepted as authoritative it was named the
“Textus Receptus” (the received text).
Erasmus in 1523, by Hans
Holbein the Younger
A new New Testament brings
a different kind of light to the world
Desiderius Erasmus (1466 – 1536)
Luther was then able to use this Greek NT
for his own German translation written
during his year hidden in the Wartburg.

Erasmus in 1523, by Hans
Holbein the Younger
 Proponent of religious toleration, he was
later called "Prince of the Humanists“
 Wrote The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a
Christian Knight, On Civility in Children,
and many other works.
 Remained a Catholic but was critical of the
abuses within the Church and called for its
reform while also criticizing Martin Luther
 Emphasized a middle way, with a deep
respect for traditional faith, piety and
grace, and rejected Luther's emphasis on
faith alone
 His middle-of-the-road approach disap-
pointed and angered scholars on both
religious sides.
The prince (the humanist)

The Prince (the book)
Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
 Florentine historian, official of the
Florentine Republic, diplomat, writer,
political philosopher
 His masterpiece of political science
(1513) was ”The Prince”,
 It gave advice to a new leader on how
to maintain and build power and is still
a good read today
 It taught how social benefits could be
achieved in a State, but taught (with
stunning candor) that public and private
morality were two different things.
"Of mankind we may say in general they are fickle, hypocritical, and
greedy.“ and "It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both."

Revolting?
 The ruler must be concerned with his reputation, certainly, but
must be positively willing to act immorally at the right times
 “He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner
effects his ruin than his preservation.”
 Maintaining power required the occasional judicious exercise of
brutal force and outright deceit
 Machiavelli described Moses as a conquering prince, who devised
new modes and orders by force of arms, which he used willingly to
gain power and sometimes kill many of his own people.
 Such advice won him widespread (righteous) condemnation – the
Church banned his book – and the sobriquet “Old Nick”, which
became another name for the Devil
 Just 30 years later, another “Nick” and another book shook the
religious establishment for a very different reason.

Revolving?
The LORD… has established the world; it shall never be moved - Ps. 93 [NRSV]

Revolution (of the earth)
A Polish Catholic canon (un-ordained churchman), administrator,
and currency expert, Copernicus occupied precious spare time for
over 30 years making astronomical observations to support a
heliocentric model of the universe.
Holy Scripture places Earth at the center so
the theory contradicted Church teaching.
With the Reformation well underway, this
idea, though not entirely new, was a danger
to anyone promoting it.
Copernicus put his data, calculations, and
arguments in a definitive work, “On the
Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres”, but
delayed trying to ready it for publication.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 – 1543)

Revolution (of the earth)
Copernicus was not a professor so he had no pupils. But, improbably,
with no invitation or introduction, a German astronomer and
mathematician, showed up at his home begging to study under him.
For 2 yrs Georg Joachim Rheticus, a Lutheran who studied at Zürich
and the Univ. of Wittenberg (where he received a MA, 1536) did so.
He encouraged Copernicus to publish his book, carried the manuscript
back to Nuremberg, Germany and oversaw its preparation for
publication. The revolutionary (!) book saw the (sun)light of day two
months before Copernicus died, at age 70.
Every religious voice condemned it.
Luther: “This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy!
But sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to
stand still not the earth
Calvin: “Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above
that of the Holy Spirit?”

Method, not madness
Sir Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626)
 English statesman, jurist, orator, author
 MP, Attorney General and Lord Chancellor
 Influential as advocate and practitioner of
what is now called the scientific method
 A founder of the “scientific revolution”.
 Held to philosophy of empiricism (Greek
for “observation”)
 “Essays, Religious Meditations, and Places of Persuassion and Discussion”
(1597) popularized the inductive method for scientific inquiry (gather data,
then generalize), now called the Baconian Method
 Demanded a planned procedure of investigating all things….
 Ushering in a new rhetorical and theoretical framework for developing
knowledge, replacing a Scriptural and theological mindset.

The first modern scientist
 Italian physicist, mathematician, astro-
nomer, "Father of Modern Science“
 Used an improved telescope to perform
paradigm-breaking observations suppor-
ting a Copernican view of the solar system
 Reported seeing mountains on the moon,
phases of Venus, satellites orbiting Jupiter,
and black spots on the sun
 Worked in applied science and technology,
inventing an improved military compass
and other instruments
 Was first investigated by the Roman
Inquisition in 1615; they admonished him
that his results could be published only as
“theory” not an established fact.
Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642)

“And yet, it still moves”
 Galileo defended his views in Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems (1632), which appeared to attack Pope Urban VIII
 Infamously, the Inquisition found him "vehemently suspect of heresy“
 His punishment- recant, the “Dialogue” banned, publication of his
works forbidden, including any he might write in the future, and house
arrest for the rest of his life under.
The four largest moons of
Jupiter that he discovered are
still called the Galilean Moons
He used this time well, receiving visi-
tors and completing one of his finest
works, Two New Sciences. He contin-
ued to be active even after going blind
in 1638, until his death at age 77.

Mind is matter
Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679)
 English political philosopher- “Leviathan” (1651), established the
foundation for Western political thought on social contract theory.
 Developed such political fundamentals as indiv-
iduals have rights, the equality of all citizens,
the artificial character of the political order, and
all legitimate political power is "representative“
based on the consent of the people
 In an age in which religion was still a dominant
influence in civil society and fighting between
religious factions was violent…
 ...Hobbes came out boldly and openly with an
atheistic philosophy of absolute materialism
 “Every part of the universe is {matter} and that
which is not {matter} is no part of the universe.”

Rene Decartes (1596 – 1650)
 French mathematician, writer, and
rationalist philosopher
 Works are studied closely to this day, esp.
“Meditations on First Philosophy”
 He was a devout Catholic but was sus-
pected of impiously “probing God”
 He devised the coordinate system bear-
ing his name for analysis of equations
 “Father of Analytical Geometry”, work
crucial to the development of calculus
 His search for a firm basis on which to
build a system of thought led him to state
“cogito ergo sum” – thought, not
revelation, was solid ground.
“Common sense is the best-distributed
commodity in the world: everyone is
convinced he is well-supplied with it.”
Doubting is his faith

Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662)
 French mathematician, writer, inventor, theo-
logian and physicist (the SI unit of pressure is
named in his honor)
 Made important contributions in areas as di-
verse as fluid dynamics, calculating machines,
geometry, and, especially, probability theory
 A devout Catholic, his most influential relig-
ious work, Pensées, ("Thoughts") was to be a
sustained examination and defense of the
Christian faith
Pascal
Portrait
by Darren
McAndrew
(2018)
The gambler
 Although he died before completing it, it was published “as
is” (1669) and thereafter became a classic still read today
 His famously said one should “bet” on God because the re-
ward was great if He was as good as Christians said He was.

Challenging orthodoxy
human behavior is determined. Freedom is only our capacity to
know that we are determined.
 In his Ethics, he opposed mind–body dualism, physical and mental
realms are the same thing, a theory called monism.
 His writings were condemned/banned by the Dutch Reformed Church
Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677)
 Dutch philosopher who laid the groundwork for
the Enlightenment, modern biblical criticism and
modern conceptions of the self
 Came (after his death) to be considered one of
the great rationalist thinkers of the 17th century
 Contended that God exists but is the same as all
Nature. Thus God is all (pantheism), impersonal.
 He held that everything that happens occurs
through the operation of necessity – even

John Locke (1632-1704)
There is no knowledge except that derived from
experience, be it of the mind or of nature.
Locke, writing in the aftermath of the European
wars of religion, formulated a classic reasoning
for religious tolerance:
(1) Secular judges, especially those of the State,
cannot dependably evaluate the truth-claims of
competing religious standpoints;
(2) Even if they could, enforcing a single "true
religion" would not have the desired effect, because
belief cannot be compelled by violence;
(3) Coercing religious uniformity would lead to more social
disorder than allowing diversity.
Questioning religious truth

Serving orthodoxy
 Anglo-Irish clergyman, philosopher, physicist,
mystic, and mathematician
 Educated at Trinity College (Dublin) where he
later lectured in Divinity and Hebrew;
 Took Holy Orders in the Church of Ireland and
served as Dean of Dromore and of Derry.
 Began (1725) a project of founding a college
in Bermuda for training ministers and mission-
aries (he never secured funding for it)
 Lived in Rhode Island from 1728-1732, then returned to England to
work in London, helping start a hospital for abandoned children
 Appointed as Bishop of Cloyne, Ireland (1734 until his death).
 Memorably held that all material substances are only ideas in the mind
of a perceiver and therefore cannot exist without being perceived.
Bishop George Berkeley (1685 - 1753)

Are not two sparrows sold for a
penny? Yet not one of them falls
to the ground outside of your Father’s care. Even the hairs of your
head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than
many sparrows. - Mt. 10:29-31
"But, you say, surely there is nothing easier than for me to imagine
trees, for instance, in a park... and nobody by to perceive them...
The objects of sense exist only when they are perceived; the trees
therefore are in the garden...no
longer than while there is some-
body there to perceive them.“
- Concerning the Principles
of Human Knowledge (1710)
If a tree falls in the forest... (or a sparrow)?
Materialists reject this out-of-hand,
but is it so different from what Jesus
told us about the Father?

Reason opposing all religion
 Probably an atheist, but at the time,
few people were so bold as to aver
in public that the God of the
Christian majority did not exist.
 Famously denied that we could have
direct knowledge of observed enti-
ties and rejecting the reality of the
things we call “cause” and “effect”
 Posed the “problem of induction”– rules of logic did not permit our
common expectations of one event following another, e.g. “the sun will
rise today because it always has before” and “all swans are white”
 In other words, “common sense” may indeed be something we all have,
but it is not (strictly) rational.
 Therefore, even empiricism is limited; doubt and skepticism is an
unavoidable fact of human existence. We cannot know everything.
David Hume (1711 - 1776)

Religion strikes back
 Bothers John (1703 -1791) and
Charles (1708-1788) Wesley began
a crusade of popular preaching,
discarding traditional formalism
and stilted sermons in favor of a
glowing religious fervor. It grew to
become Methodism
 Rationalism/empiricsm provoked a strong religious reaction
 English theologians Joseph Butler (1692-1752) and William Paley
(1743-1805) defended Christianity and challenged humanism
 More significant was a widespread emotional revival, stressing
religion of the heart rather than the mind, called Pietism
 In Germany, Lutheran Pietism, led by Philipp Spener (1635-1705),
stressed Bible study, hymn singing and powerful preaching
 The Moravian movement sprang from his background under the
sponsorship of Count Nicholaus von Zinzendorf (1700-1760)

 Some intellectuals schooled in Enlightenment thinking, though raised as
Christians, developed a variety of religious positions outside those of
Protestant and Catholic orthodoxy
 They shared the belief that reason and observation of the natural world
are sufficient to determine:
 that God (Deity) exists but is impersonal
 that God endowed man with reason
 that reason enables humankind to determine how to live rightly
 Therefore God need not, does not direct human affairs
 Deists rejected revelation, tradition, Divinely-directed
historical events and Church authority as sources
of religious truth
 Also rejected were supernatural events, prophesy
of future events, illogical doctrines (e.g. the Trinity),
sacraments as “magical” and the inerrancy of holy texts.
From a distance (and no magic)

Deism and the US founding fathers
Founding Fathers who probably were deists: James
Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Ethan Allen
Thomas Paine (right) published The Age of Reason,
a treatise that helped popularize Deism through-
out the USA and Europe
A major contributor was Elihu Palmer (1764–1806)
who wrote Principles of Nature, the book on
American Deism, and attempted to organize Deists
by forming the "Deistical Society of New York."
Enlightenment philosophy and Deist ideals influenced the people who
played major roles in the creation of the government of the newly-formed
nation of the United States of America
The “Founding Fathers” known for being influenced by Deism included
Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Gouverneur Morris

Historians debate whether a given Founding Father
was a Christian, a Deist, or something in between...
Thomas Jefferson (right) was most definitely a Deist
George Washington was formally an Anglican but
spoke in decidedly Enlightenment terms of God,
attended church services of various denominations
and promoted religious tolerance
John Adams was a devout Congregationalist but one
holding to a blend of orthodoxy and humanism
Benjamin Franklin had good things to say about rel-
Who me a Deist?
James Monroe was raised in the Church of England and, as an adult, atten-
ded Episcopal churches. But he left no personal letters in which he discus-
sed his mature religious beliefs; his few references to an impersonal God
suggest he had Deistic leanings.
igious beliefs but subscribed to none himself; best to call him an atheist.

Religion in a time of testing
 Church authority never again reach its pre-1600 level of power
 Church organizations became subject to civil authorities, subject to
civil laws and codes. Church officials could be arrested and tried by
governmental bodies
 Scripture was increasingly subjected to scrutiny as were other
ancient documents by secular rules of history, grammar, syntax, etc.
 Churches as centers of town life gradually lost importance as like-
minded enthusiasts created new, secular, institutions and societies
 Wars, though still all-too-frequent and lethal, were no longer seen
as sacred calls by God to destroy “heretics”; religious war was
condemned as inconsistent with the brotherhood of humankind.
 Wars were now dueto political strife between nations, though bel-
ligerents were not beyond invoking God’s blessing on their cause.
Welcome to the modern world

 By the 1780s, religious rationalism and pietism stood in opposition to
each other. Proponents of each disagreed passionately on religious
principles though they agreed on the issue of religious freedom
 In Sweden, Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), followed a pattern
similar to Methodism, initially in an effort to reconcile science and
revelation, but becoming increasingly emotional and mystical
 When the "Great Awakening" swept the American colonial frontier,
women played prominent roles,
organizing meetings, founding
charities, and instructing converts.
 Quaker women were often minis-
ters and itinerant preachers – one,
Ann Lee (1736-1784), founded the
Shaker colonies of New York and
New England (meeting, right).
Diversity leads to more splintering

Religion
Church
Religion
Scripture
Faith
Supernatural
Next Life
Certainty
Humanism
Nation
Humanity
Observation
Reason
Nature
This Life
Doubt
Where are you?

An aside on a Christian’s view of humanity
 Some Churches taught (and some still emphasize) the “depravity”
of humankind, or “original sin”, referring to the impossibility of any
one to be righteous on their own
 This theological doctrine about the spiritual status of people in
their relationship with God the Father was taken by some as also
a statement about ethical behavior or intellectual ability.
 Christ did not teach that people cannot be intelligent, moral,
artistic, loving, technically adept, inventive, peaceful or law-abiding
 Faith is a whole-hearted acceptance- even celebration- by each of
us of our spiritual status as created beings in a servant relationship
to God as Creator, Jesus as Savior, and Spirit as Enabler
 We are all made in His image, an “original blessing”, meaning we,
too, are called to be creative, saving, and enabling, as we are able.

 Enlightenment ideas completed the
change in the way people thought…
 …sparked by the Reformation, fueled
by the rise of nationalism, the age of
exploration, fanned by humanism…
 …and led to political, social, and
scientific revolutions that, in turn...
 …were great forces of change, dissipating the influence of
Enlightenment thought by the early 20th century.
 We are its children; yet we are “growing out of it”, like teenagers
out of childhood into a time we call “post-modern” which really
means “post-Enlightenment”
 …as new ways of thinking emerged and developed in the 20th
century and strongly influence those born in the 21st century.
We are its children

End of Lesson 2

Lesson 3: Recreating Creation

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
- Ps. 19:1-2

For thousands of years, aside from the
complications that followed the Fall of
Adam and Eve, this is how people
understood the universe.

Before the world changed
 All living things are special, very different from inanimate things
like earth, air, and water
 But human beings are unique among living things, the crown of
God’s creation
 Whereas animals possess a body (physicality) and
limited minds (instinct), human beings possess,
in addition, a rational mind (awareness)
and a soul (spirituality)
 All the great lights of the heavens,
the sun, moon, and the stars re-
volved around the earth
 God intended people to live in a
nurturing, beautiful Garden at the
center of the earth, itself at the
center of the universe.

In 1687 how people understood the
heavens changed almost overnight.
This Christian
man changed it

 English polymath (genius), probably the
most influential “natural philosopher”
(scientist) of all time
 The key figure in the revolution of thought
we now call “science”.
 A devout but unorthodox Christian (he
rejected the doctrine of the Trinity)...
 He wrote as much on Biblical chronology
and theology as he did on physics and math
 As a member of the Cambridge U. faculty,
he was required to be a Church of England
clergyman but he avoided ordination with
the help of an influential patron.
Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) changed it
Eccentric, reclusive, sensitive to criticism, Newton matured to become
President of the Royal Society, serve ably as Master of the Royal Mint.

Not moved by angels
His most important work, “Principia Mathematica” (1687) was published
with encouragement and funding by Edmond Halley (of comet fame). In
this work Newton showed with mathematical
rigor how a natural force he named “gravity”
ruled the motion of the “stuff”
(mass) in planets, oceans, and
people. That all things obeyed
natural “laws” overthrew the
accepted wisdom of Divine or-
dering of the Cosmos, and so
rejected supernatural causes,
e.g. that angels moved the
planets, moons, and stars.
Newton’s “laws” of motion
are still the basis of much of
modern science.
F = Gm1m2/r2

Honor Given
Newton was the 2nd scientist to be
knighted (after Sir Francis Bacon).
His remains lie in honor before the
choir screen in Westminster
Abbey. The inscription beneath his
marble monument reads, in part:
“Here is buried Isaac Newton
who by a strength of mind al-
most divine, and mathematical
principles peculiarly his own,
explored the course and figures
of the planets, the paths of
comets, the tides of the sea, the
dissimilarities in rays of light...”

Special place?
Okay, so everything obeys certain natural laws.
And we all live on the surface of a sphere of (mostly) molten rock with
a swirling molten metal core (hence its magnetic field) covered by a
thin “coating” of water and “crust”.
The whole circling ( because of gravity) a huge sphere of gas slowly
being consumed by
nuclear fusion (which
supplies us with rad-
iant energy we call
sunlight).
Aren’t we still God’s
special creation,
holding a central place
in the Cosmos?

Not at the center anymore
Today we know our home planet is not even the center of the Solar
System. Our Sun is nothing special either, just one quite ordinary star
in an ordinary region of an immense group of stars called a “galaxy”.

A teeny tiny bit of a very large universe
 Our location in the galaxy is nothing special – in a middle arm;
 Our galaxy is nothing special either – one among billions of others.
 As to time, we are in the middle of a enormous span of time, not
especially close to the beginning or the end of the universe.
And so the impression
people took from
reading the Bible, that
human beings have a
special place in the
universe prepared for
them by God has
been scrapped.

Then, in 1785, how we
understood the Earth changed

 James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of
all Ireland, publishes a chronology of the history
of the world based on literal reading of the Bible
 The time of Creation was the night preceding
October 23, 4004 BC (by the Julian calendar)
 His determination may have been influenced by
the belief that the Earth's age was 6,000 years:
4,000 before the birth of Christ and 2,000 after
 This corresponded to the 6 days of Creation ac-
cording to 2Pe. 3:8 which noted that "one day is with the Lord as
a thousand years and a thousand years as one day"
 Ussher's chronology was a considerable feat of scholarship. It required
expertise in Bible scholarship, ancient history, biblical languages,
astronomy, and ancient calendars.
In 1650, the Bible rules

Puzzles there were
Why are intact seashell fossils found on
the tops of mountains?
Leonardo da Vinci (ca. AD 1500) noticed
discrepancies with the Biblical flood narra-
tive as an explanation for fossil origins:
"If the Deluge had carried shells for distances…
it would have carried them mixed with various
other natural objects all heaped up together.
But even at distances from the sea we find oysters all together and also
the shellfish and the cuttlefish and all the other shells which congregate
together, found all together dead; and the solitary shells are found
apart from one another as we see them every day on the seashores.
And we find oysters together... among which some... with their shells
still joined together, indicating that they were left there by the sea.”

Down to Earth
 James Hutton (1726 – 1797), Scottish
geologist, physician, chemical manu-
facturer, naturalist, and experimental
agriculturalist, changed everything
 Called “The Father of Modern Geology“
 Employed observation and careful
reasoning to the study of the land
 He wrote that he was “very fond of
studying the surface of the earth and
was looking with anxious curiosity into
every pit or ditch or bed of a river that
fell in his way”
Hutton was the first to proposed that earth’s formations and features
were the result of the operation of natural, not divine, processes.

Uniformitarianism
 Axiomatic that laws of nature operate “uniformly”, i.e. all apply in
the same way to all things (no exception) everywhere, at all times.
 In 1785, after 25 years of study, he gave a seminal paper to the
Royal Society of Edinburgh, “Theory of the Earth; or an
Investigation of the Laws Observable in the Composition,
Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe”
 Geological structures we see today are best
explained by invoking processes familiar
to us, that operate...
“…without inventing
extra, fancy, or un-
known causes, however
plausible in logic...”
“The present is the key to the past“ – Scottish geologist Charles Lyell

 Rather than accept an Ussher
chronology (world only 6,000
years old), he maintained the
Earth must be much older
 Displacement/change in land
forms can happen in a short
period of time as in a cat-
astrophe quake or flood
 But observed geology is
consistent with formation by
very slow processes and
meant that the Earth had to
be ancient, its history ex-
tending almost indefinitely
into the past.
Go slow

Not by a flood
Hutton’s theory was de-
nounced as atheistic and
placed him in opposition
with the popular belief
that all rocks were de-
posited by one enormous,
Biblical Flood.
Restatements and clarif-
ications of his ideas by
John Playfair (1802) and
Charles Lyell (1830’s)
popularized the concepts
of repeating cycles of
uplift and erosion.

How old are you, Mother Earth?
4.5 billion years based on radiometric age
dating of meteorite material, consistent with
the age of the oldest-known terrestrial min-
erals (zircon from Western Australia).

Before: the order of creation is orderly
 God created day and night
 Then the sky, dry land,
and the oceans
 Then plants and trees
 Then sea creatures and air
creatures (birds)
 Then, on the final creative
day, land animals and...
 ...lastly, humankind
This seems quite a sensible sequence [physics.. geology.. botany..
zoology] of “upward” progression from the inanimate to the animate
and from the “lower” forms of animal to the “higher” forms.
The last of God’s handiwork was the best, the most special of all.

In His image
“Then God said, “Let us make mankind
in our image, in our likeness, so that
they may rule over the fish in the sea
and the birds in the sky, over the live-
stock and all the wild animals, and
over all the creatures that move along
the ground.” Gen. 1:27

Mankind is master (even after the Fall)
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he
created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed [the man and the woman] and said to them, “Be fruitful
and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish in the sea and
the birds in the sky and
over every living
creature that moves
on the ground.”
- Gen. 1:27-28
Everything was made
for human beings, to
feed them and serve
them, the masters.

When I consider your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars which You set in place, what is mankind that
You are mindful of us, human beings that You care for us?
You made us a little lower than angels and crowned us with glory
and honor. You made
mankind rulers over the
works of Your hands;
You put everything
under our feet:
Flocks and herds,
animals of the wild,
birds in the sky, and
fish in the sea….
- Ps. 8: 3-8
God says humans rule

After 1859, how we under-
stood living things changed

baptized as an infant
in St. Chad’s Anglican
Church, and raised a
practicing Unitarian
The one who changed it
was born in 1809 in
Shrewsbury, England,

He studied for the clergy, but then…
 One of his grandfathers was the
Wedgewood, who made a fortune
in the ceramics industry
 His other grandfather, Eramus, was
an Enlightenment philosopher and
famous physician
 Charles Darwin grew up dutifully
learning medical practice at the side
of his physician father but showed
an absorbing interest in “natural
philosophy” instead, so Dad..
 ..sent him to Cambridge to earn a
BA degree as the first step towards
becoming an Anglican minister. Although a good student, he
excelled in collecting beetles
Charles Darwin

…went on a voyage around the world…
His botany professor volunteered him to be a suitable (though novice)
“gentleman naturalist” (self-funded ) onboard the HMS Beagle, serving as
a companion for the Captain more so than a botanical collector.
The voyage took 5 years (1831-1836) and circled the world. They charted the
coastline of South America, explored Chile and stopped at the Galapagos
Islands, Pacific
atolls, and then
crossed the ocean
to Australia.
All of the reports,
meticulous notes,
specimens and
travel accounts he
regularly sent back
to England made
Darwin....

…. a scientific celebrity
In these years, while intensively
speculating on botany and zoo-logy,
he also agonized over the religious
implications of his conclusions with
his devout Unitarian wife, Emma.
Finally, Darwin and Alfred Russel
Wallace jointly announced the new
theory, evolution by natural
selection, in two papers given to
the Linnean Society of London on
July 1, 1858.
After returning, he never left England again but spent 20 years analyzing
his specimens and formulating and recording support for a new theory
regarding the distribution and transmutation of living species
It was the publication of his two books on the
theory that caused an uproar still heard today.

“Origin” and “Descent”
 On the Origin of Species (1859) proved unexpectedly popular -all
1,250 copies were sold- and only moderately controversial
 In it he proposed that different kinds of plants, insects, fish, and
mammals were not designed and created individually by God to
play an appointed role in Nature…
 …but instead all living things competed for resources and either
survived to reproduce successfully or died to the extent that they
were “fit” for their environment
 The Descent of Man (1871) further argued that humans are no
exception; we are animals, too, with ancestors shared at some
point in the past with all other living entities, all together on….
 From about 1849 (at age 40) he stopped attending church services.
On Sundays while his family did so, he would go for a walk.
 Darwin remained close friends with his local vicar, John Innes, and
continued to play a leading part in the work of the church.

The bush of life
...but are like
a tiny twig at
the end of...
Today we understand that human
beings are not the glorious climax
of a long linear chain of beings...
...a very
large
Bush of
all Life.
... one
tiny
branch
of...

At rest with honor
Charles Darwin died in 1882 and was
laid to rest in Westminster Abbey…
…next to the place of his scientist-
friend, the astronomer John Herschel…
…and only a few steps away from the
tomb of Sir Isaac Newton.
He and the rest of the scientific world
was unaware that an Augustinian
monk working in a monastery in Brno,
in what is now the Czech Republic, had
already found the key to unlock the
secrets of evolution.

The patient work of Father Gregor Mendel (1822–1884) demonstrated
that the inheritance of certain traits in pea plants followed particular
patterns, now referred to as the “Laws of Mendelian Inheritance.”
Unfortunately, his results were published (1866) in an obscure journal
unavailable to scientists who could recognize their importance. Only after
his death did he receive credit as the founder of the science of genetics.
Without a suitable mechanism, favorable traits of any living thing would
not be passed to a new generation; natural selection (and evolution)
would not be possible.

People of science - - - - - - People of God
 Restricted to the natural
 Periodic, replicable
 Careful observation = data
 Reasoning = induction
 Theories must predict,
 Must be falsifiable
 Leads to new technology
 Can cause moral issues but
cannot address them
 Invoke the supernatural
 Recall key historical events
 Thought is like that of
philosophy, wisdom, awe
 Celebrate faith, salvation
 Address spiritual matters,
and right living
 Offer meaning to life and
hope for an afterlife

Methodist on science
“We recognize science as a legitimate interpretation of God’s natural
world. We affirm the validity of the claims of science in describing the
natural world, though we preclude science from making authoritative
claims about theological issues…
Science and theology are complementary rather than mutually
incompatible. We therefore encourage dialogue between the
scientific and theological communities…”
- The Book of Discipline of the UMC (2004)

End of Lesson 3
This ends our “Lessons-To-Go” course on critical events in
the history of Christianity. Many more studies on books
of the Bible and topics of interest to Christians in this same
ready-for-use format for Sunday School classes
and small groups are available on SlideShare.com

Challenges and Controversies Part 2

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