The fourteenth-century ch\u00e2teau in which Michel de Montaigne \u2014 who is widely considered the inventor of the personal essay \u2014 was born and died burned down in 1885. Soon afterward, though, it was rebuilt in a similar style by the Montaigne family. \u00a0(Wikimedia CC public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled in the medieval West by the cold, dead, theocratic hand of the Roman Catholic Church \u2014 which, they imply, merely offers one particularly clear illustration of the general and inevitable warfare between science and religion.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
James Hannam\u2019s\u00a0The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution<\/em>\u00a0(Washington DC: Henry Regnery, 2011) is simply one readable example of a number of relatively recent books that have exposed that claim as, on the whole, a distortion of historical reality. \u00a0Dr.\u00a0Hannam earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in physics at Oxford University and a Ph.D. in the history of science from the University of Cambridge.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
On page 210, Hannam introduces the French historian Jules Michelet (1798-1874), who coined the term Renaissance<\/em> in the 1850s, and the much more famous Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897), who made the designation standard usage with his important 1860 book The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy<\/em>. \u00a0Both Michelet and Burckhardt contrasted the rebirth of culture in the fifteenth century \u2014 the Renaissance is typically understood as having begun in the late fourteenth century and continued into the early sixteenth \u2014 with what they saw as medieval stagnation.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their view doesn\u2019t hold up well under scrutiny. \u00a0Here are a few snippets from Hannam, who has been laying out the scientific thought of the European Middle Ages for the previous two hundred pages of his book:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Renaissance was as much an age of faith as the Middle Ages and, if anything, even more superstitious and violent.<\/span><\/p>\nThe desire to look back to Greece and Rome was the true mark of the Renaissance, which in many ways was a conservative movement attempting to recapture an imaginary past rather than march forward. \u00a0It was a time when, in order to be up to date in writing or architecture, artists had to model their work on a prototype that was over 1,000 years old.<\/span><\/p>\nIn literature, humanism typified this trend. . . . \u00a0[The humanists] felt that medieval Latin was an ugly and barbaric tongue best replaced by the pure Latin of the ancients. \u00a0Their paragon was the Roman orator Cicero (106-43 BC), whose language they believed to be the most cultured and stylish. \u00a0In fact, by insisting on maintaining Latin in its fossilized classical form, the humanists went a long way toward killing it as a living language. \u00a0Medieval Latin was untidy precisely because it was a spoken language that could be adapted to new situations as they arose. \u00a0No one had ever spoken formal Latin as Cicero wrote it. \u00a0In seeking to turn back the clock, humanists thought they were at the cutting edge of innovation, but they were really incorrigible reactionaries. \u00a0(210-211)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The French essayist, Michael de Montaigne (1533-1592), reported meeting a humanist of Pisa who assured him that \u201cthe touchstone and measuring-scale of all sound ideas and each and every truth, lie in their conformity with Aristotle, outside of which all is inane and chimerical: \u00a0Aristotle has seen everything, done everything.\u201d \u00a0(214)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Victoria, British Columbia<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled in the medieval West by the cold, dead, theocratic hand of the Roman Catholic Church \u2014 which, they imply, merely offers one particularly clear illustration of the general and inevitable warfare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-24T18:52:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-05T15:52:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html\",\"name\":\"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-24T18:52:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-05T15:52:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)","description":" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)","og_description":" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2018-07-24T18:52:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-05T15:52:58+00:00","author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html","name":"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-24T18:52:33+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-05T15:52:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":" A staple criticism deployed against religious faith in general by some skeptics is the assertion that science and human thought were stifled","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/07\/the-reactionary-renaissance-part-a.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Reactionary Renaissance (Part A)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Where](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2017\/03\/Ch%C3%A2teau_de_Montaigne.jpg\")
<\/a>