Typically identified as a movement among eighteenth century philosophers in France, Britain and Germany, The Enlightenment Project, also known as ‘The Age of Enlightenment,' or simply ‘The Enlightenment,' bridged the seventeenth century's ‘Age of Reason' with the nineteenth century's ‘Age of Ideology.' The Enlightenment consisted of eighteenth century philosophers attempting to extrapolate from ideas put forth in The Age of Reason a means by which Reason's purely logical and scientific approach could be integrated into philosophical terms. Generally attributed to have begun with Sir Isaac Newton in the early eighteenth century, great thinkers across Europe began to attribute serious importance to the work of men such as Descartes, Spinoza, Copernicus and Galileo. If a common thread can be found throughout these works, it is the idea that through logic, research and reason, it is possible for man to investigate and fully understand the world around him.
[...] All three aspects of the Christian God appearing as make, despite the earliest Greek and Hebrew texts which used pronouns not affiliated with gender. The male domination of society promoted belief in a bible which marginalized women for centuries. Christians have historically cited verses such as Rom. 1Cor. 7:39, 1Tim. 2:11, and 1Cor. 14:34 as justification for recognizing a woman's Every one of these verses emphasizes that women must submit to their husbands, only work in the home, only learn at home from their husbands, and not participate in ministries where they are in positions of authority over men. [...]
[...] 120) Modern Christian apologetics cater to the modernist world though, by providing rationale and evidence meant to lure sceptics into becoming believers. Modernism and theology are locked in a dynamic, indescribably complicated relationship and probably always will be. The legacy of The Enlightenment is a world based more on human powers of reason than on what have been labelled beliefs grown out of superstition and fear. Despite the “liberation” which has come with modernity, perhaps the world has become too narrowly focused on the concept of “scientific proof,” to realize that disallowing acceptance of the possibility that true ineffability exists cuts humanity off from maturing, much as Edmund Burke thought the French Revolution was short-sightedly focused on the concept of “liberty.” No matter how much we strive for scientific proof, sometimes it simply is not there. [...]
[...] It is interesting to note the sea change in how belief systems have been presented over the past three hundred years. Throughout The Enlightenment, thinkers like Sir Isaac Newton, Voltaire and John Locke were regarded as thinkers making new inroads in contemporary thought with their pleas for making logical reason of the tangible rather than conforming to the standard belief system of unquestioning faith in the ineffable. (Aiken 1956, Preface) Today, while the modern church still promotes faith in the ineffable, it appeals to the public by encouraging use of logical reasoning to prove that faith in the ineffable is a worthwhile pursuit. [...]
[...] Since the church is no longer the institution from which all blessings flow, it has become necessary for the church to promote itself to people in a modern, humanist way, by emphasizing what participation in the church will do for the individual. Consumerism has, in essence, forced the church to sell itself to the masses, since it is no longer the dominant controlling force of the masses. Christianity and Science In perhaps no other arenas are the battle lines more clearly drawn than the area of theologians versus scientists. [...]
[...] General regard toward Descartes' work at first characterized it as “new-fangled and dangerous.”(Cottingham 1988, p115) The relationship which currently exists between modern culture and theology is most appropriately analogous to a parent/child relationship. The church fostered and nurtured the education of The Enlightenment's most influential thinkers. As these thinkers matured into philosophers capable of forming opinions and theories outside of those accepted and put forth by the church, the establishment saw them as rebellious and heretical. Within about a generation, the “rebellious and heretical” ideas of humanism and rationalism overtook traditional church doctrine as the mainstream belief systems of the intellectual elite in the world's most advanced countries at the time. [...]
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