Mosaic Physics and the Search for a Pious Natural Philosophy in the Late Renaissance
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3366473 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ann Blair (0000-0002-2912-0140, Harvard University Press, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 91 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 32-58 |
| Publication date | 2000-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Isis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-1753 • E-ISSN: 1545-6994 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/384625 |
| OpenAlex | W2164550115 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 32 |
In the tense religious climate of the late Renaissance (ca. 1550-1650), traditional charges of impiety directed against Aristotle carried new weight. Many turned to alternative philosophical authorities in the search for a truly pious philosophy. Another, "most pious" solution was to ground natural philosophy on a literal reading of the Bible, especially Genesis. I examine this kind of physics, often called Mosaic, or sacred, or Christian, through the example of Johann Amos Comenius and those whom he praises as predecessors in his attempt to reform physics according to the "divine light" of Scripture. In analyzing the works of these authors, I conclude that what they shared most effectively was an agenda rather than a practice. They defended the single, universal truth of a "Christian philosophy" grounded in biblical literalism against the impious excesses of philosophical naturalism, on the one hand, and against the antiphilosophical attacks of extreme theologians, on the other hand. This peculiar strand of natural philosophy, neither traditional nor "modern," needs to be included in attempts to map the complex dynamics of contemporary debates and self-presentations
Archaeology · Art · Art history · Epistemology · Literature · Mosaic · Natural (archaeology · Natural Philosophy · Naturalism · Reading (process · The Renaissance · Classics · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy
David Gorlæus (1591-1612)
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Early modern Mosaic physics and its pre-Comenian representatives (1559–1613)
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A learned artisan debates the system of the world
The place of Edward Gresham's Astrostereon (1603) in the discussion on cosmology and the Bible in the early modern period
Francis Bacon and the "Interpretation of Nature" in the Late Renaissance
| Unique citing works | 32 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,39 |
| Citation span | 2003 - 2026 (24) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 28 |