Blair / von Greyerz Physico-theology

Religion and Science in Europe, 1650–1750
Erscheinungsjahr 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4214-3847-4
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 0 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm

Reihe: Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context

This first book-length study of physico-theology questions the widespread notion of a steadily advancing early modern separation of religion and science.

Beginning around 1650, the emergence of a number of new scientific concepts, methods, and instruments challenged existing syntheses of science and religion. Physico-theology, which embraced the values of personal, empirical observation, was an international movement of the early Enlightenment that focused on the new science to make arguments about divine creation and providence. By reconciling the new science with Christianity across many denominations, physico-theology played a crucial role in diffusing new scientific ideas, assumptions, and interest in the study of nature to a broad public. In this book, sixteen leading scholars contribute a rich array of essays on the terms and scope of the movement, its scientific and religious arguments, and its aesthetic sensibilities.

Contributors: Ann Blair, Simona Boscani Leoni, John Hedley Brooke, Nicolas Brucker, Katherine Calloway, Kathleen Crowther, Brendan Dooley, Peter Harrison, Barbara Hunfeld, Eric Jorink, Scott Mandelbrote, Brian W. Ogilvie, Martine Pécharman, Jonathan Sheehan, Anne-Charlott Trepp, Rienk Vermij, Kaspar von Greyerz

Autoren/Hrsg.

Blair, Ann

von Greyerz, Kaspar

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Religion & Wissenschaft
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie Geschichte der Theologie, Einzelne Theologen
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Religionswissenschaft Allgemein Religion & Wissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contributors
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Ann Blair and Kaspar von Greyerz

Part I. Terms and Purview of Physico-theology
Chapter 1. Was Physico-theology Bad Theology and Bad Science?
John Hedley Brooke
Chapter 2. What's in a Name? "Physico-theology" in Seventeenth-Century England
Peter Harrison
Chapter 3. The Form of a Flower
Jonathan Sheehan

Part II. National Traditions
Chapter 4. What Was Physico-theology For?
Scott Mandelbrote
Chapter 5. Physico-theology in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic: The Case of Willem Goeree (1635–1711)
Eric Jorink
Chapter 6. Back to the Roots? J. A. Fabricius's "Register of Ancient and Modern Writers" of 1728
Kaspar von Greyerz

Part III. Styles of Religiosity
Chapter 7. Miracles, Secrets, and Wonders: Jakob Horst and Christian Natural Philosophy in German Protestantism before 1650
Kathleen Crowther
Chapter 8. "Rather Theological than Philosophical": John Ray's Seminal Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation
Katherine Calloway
Chapter 9. Matters of Belief and Belief That Matters: German Physico-theology, Protestantism, and the Materialized Word of God in Nature
Anne-Charlott Trepp
Chapter 10. Pascal's Rejection of Natural Theology: The Case of the Port-Royal Edition of the Pensées
Martine Pécharman

Part IV. Engagement with the New Science 
Chapter 11. Physico-theology or Biblical Physics? The Biblical Focus of the Early Physico-theologians
Rienk Vermij
Chapter 12. Maxima in minimis animalibus: Insects in Natural Theology and Physico-theology
Brian W. Ogilvie
Chapter 13. What Abbé Pluche Owed to Early Modern Physico-theologians
Nicolas Brucker
Chapter 14. Antonio Vallisneri between Faith and Flood
Brendan Dooley

Part V. Aesthetic Sensibilities 
Chapter 15. A Language for the Eye: Evidence within the Text and Evidence as Text in German Physico-theological Literature
Barbara Hunfeld
Chapter 16. A Hybrid Physico-theology: The Case of the Swiss Confederation
Simona Boscani Leoni

Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Blair, Ann
Ann Blair is the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor in the Department of History at Harvard University. She is the author of Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age.

von Greyerz, Kaspar
Kaspar von Greyerz is professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Basel. He is the author of Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1800.

Ann Blair is the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. She is the author of Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age. Kaspar von Greyerz is professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of Basel. He is the author of Religion and Culture in Early Modern Europe, 1500–1800.