First off I would like to start off saying, it does not really matter to me your opinion of how the world was created, everybody has their own, and honestly it does not matter just as long as you believe that God was behind it. For example if God wanted the big bang to happen and create the world then fine, if he created it a billion years ago or 3 thousand it does not matter, its the main basis that the one true God created it that ultimately matters.
Now in the book, they state that the early church banned the teachings of Galileo, that the earth revolved around the sun. Now I do not really see this as a big deal, they just got that detail wrong, they never said that God was not involved in it. They also taught that the world was flat, so what? they just got some fact wrong, it doesnt change the basis that God created it.This however does not change the fact that they hindered the learning process of the people. This is one of the main reasons why the Middle Ages is seen as a "intellectual slump" so to say. People were not being taught the correct things. Now don't get me wrong, there are positive things that came out of the Middle Ages, I will cover that later.
The book says "There were many in the ancient world who believed that man's fate was simply written in the stars"(p. 59). This is talking about astrology. Now I not a person that believes one can find out anything about the future of your life through the study of nature. I don't let that dictate whether or not I got out or not. Astrology is nonsense. There is nothing you can predict about your life or who you are by the stars and space.It also mentions cyclical time. This is the belief that history and the world are on a cycle. The world will come to an end and nature will be rearranged and it will start all over again. Christians rejected this belief on the notion that Jesus would not come back and just keep dying and rising again for the same fallen society. Also in the Bible it says that Jesus has died and conquered death forever, so if Jesus has defeated death forever he won't die again.
There were also some people who thought that God was in nature. That he was in the trees and plants and everything. What differs from Christianity is yes they see God in nature because he created this great world, but they don't see Him IN nature. The people saw a plant and they wouldn't want to cut it down because they see God actually in it and that the plant is holy, a Christian wouldn't see it as holy but rather created by a holy God.
Now for the positive effects the church had on the Middle Ages. One of the most important inventions in the world came from the Middle Ages, the clock. The clock was the first complex device made of metal. The clock had "...effects on human psychology and habits"(p. 66). It organized everything in the world and as Lewis Mumford said they "dissociated time from human events"(p. 66). The clocks were for the Monks to know the exact time for them to pray because they have 6 prayers a day and need to know when. Another great of the Middle ages is the university. They came from the cathedral school and most were schools of theology.
Waylon, your first paragraph is a very wise point of view. Christian Evangelicals should have this view...and not be so afraid of looking into genuine scientific inquiry.
ReplyDeleteSecond paragraph: the point is that sure, the Church in the past had gotten some scientific things wrong, and had sometime wrongly attacked men like Galileo. But over time we have corrected those views. For instance, no Christian today thinks the earth is the center of the universe...and this fact does not threaten the Christian faith.
Third Paragraph: Yes, astrology is nonsense. The early Christian teaching clearly showed this pagan view was nonsense. The ancients viewed time as cyclical, running along the lines of the seasons. It was Judaism and Christianity that ushered in the very concept of "history"--the very thing we in the modern world take for granted! The very foundation for historical inquiry was given to us from Judaism and Christianity. That's pretty amazing.
Fourth Paragraph: Again, you've stated the very point of the early chapters in Genesis. Again, it's something we take for granted today--but it's something that the Bible introduced.
Fifth Paragraph: The amazing thing about the Middle Ages was just how enlightened those times were. It completely flies in the face of the caricature put forth in our modern age that the Middle Ages were "the dark ages." Nothing could be further from the truth.
Dr. Anderson