Chapter 16

(pg. 461-477)
Religion and Science

*Christianity:
-At first it was understandable to read that many people questioned Christianity and its global presence in their lives because of how the way the church was abusing their powers. Well that's how i saw it anyways.
The cultural transformation seemed to bring together many distant people, while making people consider that science may becoming a new "religion" as well. Only for the fact that people were seeing it become apart of the global modernity.
-The globalization of Christianity mostly started in Europe. Starting in small countries like Egypt, southern India, ect. Around 1517, the protestant reformation occur ed, shattering the unity of the churches. A main critic of the Roman church was Martin Luther, who stated his 95 Theses. This debated the views and ethics of what the church brought to its people of Europe. It argued a new understanding of salvation through faith alone rather than good works. His beliefs preached that it was more about the preachings of the Bible, not the church having its ultimate authority.
-Martin Luther caused many problems with his Protestant reformation. Although it questioned the roles of the hierarchy (like the pope), I agree in a way with how Luther felt back then. His issues where right when it came to stating that the church was abusing their position. Many were attracted to the new religious ideas as a tool for protest against the whole social order while they also realized the unfairness that was occurring between the commoners and the church.
-While women had NO rights, they seemed to be attracted to the Protestantism even though the reformation didn't give the a greater role as well. The protestants ended the variations of saints (female) but left the sole Christ figure as the object of worship.
-The Bible also was seen to be interpreted differently between the Catholic and the Protestants:
Catholic: *Priests could only interpret. People couldn't even understand the other languages. (So you knows what was being preached was right or wrong...?)
Protestant: *When they preached or when the individual read the bible, they believed that anyone could interpret what was being preached and read.
*Christianity Outward Bound
-As Christianity motivated and benefited during the European expansion, many countries took part in what they saw as a continuation of a crusading tradition. Thanks to the growth of imperialism, globalization of Christianity was made possible.
-Mainly in Spanish America and the Philippines, missionaries were most successful. But as they tried to expand to other countries across Europe, many denied and resisted Christianity. (Confucians, Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims)
-Due to the conquest, population collapse and resettlement, Native Americans as well as some Asian countries seemed to really want to grasp the concept of religion and understand it. Conversions between certain traditions and rituals started to combine with Christianity influence.

page (477-488)
-The scientific revolution was a huge transformation that happened between the 16th century and 18th century. This revolution was based on what science is always known for; observations, experiments, and general formulations to explain the wonders of the world. During this time, human existence was questioned within the cosmos, the teachings and authority of the church and the political system were severely challenged and questioned.
-Science had definitely become the main symbol of modernity.
-As Europe expanded favorably in the field of science, but so did other countries: the Islamic world was the most scientifically advanced, China was technologically accomplished. The growth of a legal system for independence occur ed (12-13th century) and the idea of the "corporation" was being declared.
     *Corporation: collective group treated as a legal unit with certain rights
-Universities started to emerge during this time as well. This institute of intelligence gave people a place to study and question the natural order like the separation between philosophy and theology.
-As science grew so did the cultural aspect combined with it. The ideas of early philosophers (ex. Aristotle) were grasped by educated Europeans and expanded.
* Ex: Nicolaus Copernicus huge break through of our central universe was that he promoted the view that the earth and the planets revolved around the sun. Some also argued that their might also be alternate universes out there, not just ours.
*Ex: Another scientist that it well known today, was Sir Issac Newton and his revelation on the laws of motion and gravity. While views between science and religion differed constantly, many early scientists still had strong religious beliefs.

The Enlightenment & Handout:
-the scientific revolution gradually reached a wider European audience while developing Smith's laws of economics. People believed that scientific development would bring "enlightenment" to humankind.
-Immanuel Kant defined Enlightenment as a “daring to know”. These enlightenment thinkers believed that knowledge could transform human societies.
   *Enlightenment: a man's release from his self-incurred tutelage. Meaning that it's a man's inability to make use of the understandings without direction from another to find man's own reasoning for whats being discovered. (handout).
-John Locke had ideas of constitutional government while many writers started to advocate education for women.
-Unfortunately, much elightenment thoughts started to attack established religions. Some even started to even question if what was being preached in the bible was real.
-In the 19th century, science was applied to many new inquiries, where in some ways it started to undermined enlightenment assumptions. Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Sigmund Freud came to surface over time with many ideas shattering the traditional views of religion and what people use to truly believe.
-Many cultures were borrowing ideas and mixing them together with beliefs of their own to start. Sometimes turning out to be good, but other times causing serious conflicts.  Cultures saw this to be a supression of the original culture. Why change or fix something if it was never really broken?