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Cover image of Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550
Cover image of Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550
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Science and Religion, 400 B.C. to A.D. 1550

From Aristotle to Copernicus

Edward Grant

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Historian Edward Grant illuminates how today's scientific culture originated with the religious thinkers of the Middle Ages. In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians studied science and natural philosophy only to the extent that these subjects proved useful for a better understanding of the Christian faith, not to acquire knowledge for its own sake. However, with the influx of Greco-Arabic science and natural philosophy into Western Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian attitude toward science changed dramatically. Despite some tensions in the thirteenth...

Historian Edward Grant illuminates how today's scientific culture originated with the religious thinkers of the Middle Ages. In the early centuries of Christianity, Christians studied science and natural philosophy only to the extent that these subjects proved useful for a better understanding of the Christian faith, not to acquire knowledge for its own sake. However, with the influx of Greco-Arabic science and natural philosophy into Western Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Christian attitude toward science changed dramatically. Despite some tensions in the thirteenth century, the Church and its theologians became favorably disposed toward science and natural philosophy and used them extensively in their theological deliberations.

Reviews

Reviews

Science and Religion should be required reading for all those teaching and researching in this area.

Fascinating book.

Grant gives his reader a good sense of the main trends and the rich tapestry of medieval thought.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9.25
Pages
328
ISBN
9780801884016
Illustration Description
22 halftones, 5 line drawings
Table of Contents

Illustrations
Chronology of Events
1. Introduction
The Middle Ages: A Time ofo Ignorance and Barbarism? Or a Period of Striking Innovation?
Religion and Science among the Greeks prior to the Emergence of

Illustrations
Chronology of Events
1. Introduction
The Middle Ages: A Time ofo Ignorance and Barbarism? Or a Period of Striking Innovation?
Religion and Science among the Greeks prior to the Emergence of Christianity
The Propagation of Science
Brief Descriptions of Chapters 2–8
2. Aristotle and the Beginnings of Two Thousand Years of Natural Philosophy
Life
Works
Achievements
Aristotle's Cosmos and Natural Philosophy
The Scope of Natural Philosophy
3. Science and Natural Philosophy in the Roman Empire
The Pre-Socratic Natural Philosophers
The Emergence and Development of the Sciences in the Greek World
The Life Sciences
The Exact Sciences
Greek Science in the Roman Empire to the Sixth Century a.d.
4. The First Six Centuries of Christianity: Christian Attitudes toward Greek Philosophy and Science
The Mystery Religions and Astrology
The Triumph of Christianity in the Roman World
Christianity and the Pagan Intellectual World
Commentaries on Genesis (Hexameral Treatises): The Christian Understanding of the Creation of the World
5. The Emergence of a New Europe after the Barbarian Invasions
The Latin Encyclopedists
Western Europe at Its Nadir
The New Europe in the Twelfth Century
The Beginnings of the New Natural Philosophy
6. The Medieval Universities and the Impact of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
The Translations of Aristotle's Books on Natural Philosophy
Universities in the Middle Ages
Types of Literature in Natural Philosophy
The Relations between Natural Philosophy and Theology in the Thirteenth Century
Is Theology a Science?
7. The Interrelations between Natural Philosophy and Theology in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries
The Influence of the Condemnation of 1277 on Natural Philosophy
The Impact of Religion on Natural Philosophy in the Middle Ages
The Role of Natural Philosophy in Theology
The Significance and Meaning of the Interaction between Natural Philosophy and Theology
Relations between Science and Religion in the Byzantine Empire, the World of Islam, and the Latin West
The Byzantine Empire
Islam
The Latin West
Primary Sources
1. Roger Bacon, The "Opus Majus" of Roger Bacon
2. Giles of Rome, Errores Philosophorum
3. Saint Bonaventure, On the Eternity of the World (De Aeternitate Mundi)
4. Saint Thomas Aquinas, On the Eternity of the World (De Aeternitate Mundi)
5. Albert of Saxony, Questions on [Aristotle's] On the Heavens
6. Nicole Oresme, Le Livre du ciel et du monde
Annotated Bibliography
Index

Author Bio
Featured Contributor

Edward Grant

Edward Grant is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy of Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author or editor of eleven books, including The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 1996) and God and Reason in the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 2001).