Chapter 16: Religion & Science

If the Nobel Peace Prize existed at this time Nicolas Copernicus and the many other discoverers/scientists would have probably been the firsts awardees.

Nicolas Copernicus was one of the very first to contribute to the Revolution of Science. The medieval idea of astronomy was that the Earth was at the center of the universe, while the sun and other planets revolved around us. Copernicus argued against this and proposed instead that the sun was at the center of the universe, while Earth and other planets revolved around it. This act of straying away from the old belief was seen as going against the church, and god. Therefore, religious authorities were not in favor of Copernicus’s ideas. Little did they know that he was absolutely right.

It’s kind of funny how medievalists came up with the theory that the Earth was in the middle of the universe. Apparently, it was a spiritual influence and was parallel to the purpose of the Catholic church in that the Earth was the center of attention.

Medieval everything revolved around theology and spirituality. Everything was explained in the light of God. If asked, “why does the sun rise and set?” A typical medieval answer would be because God likes to nurture the crops and bring his peoples warmth. As opposed to medieval answers, modern answers would look at science to identify the reasoning. A modern answer would include the Earth’s rotations around the sun.

Because many people contributed to the Science of Revolution, the Church felt under attack. They were the ones that people sought to when they wanted answers and now that new knowledge was surfacing, people also began to question the church’s authority. It’s like having a lifelong friend who turned out to be some liar. You thought you knew them, until someone comes along and tells you the truth, leading you to question your “friend”. (Not to call any church and their officials liars, just an example.)

In a way, this new knowledge of science became globally traded commodities: “…the achievements of the Scientific Revolution spread globally, becoming the most widely sought-after product of European culture and far more desired than Christianity, democracy, socialism, or even Western literature (485).” No trading was probably involved, but knowledge that was discovered in Europe was soon spread to other parts of the world like Japan and China.