8/2/2019 Christian Worldview - Notes

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1) Black Death-> Church shut people out for fear of getting infected themselves (people lost respect)/ Church

could not find remedy or cause of the plague (people lost faith in the teachings)/ Death of many older,

experienced clergy members resulted in influx of new, inexperienced ones which were corrupt (lost respect).

The Black Death also shifted man's focus from that of what happens after his death (or religious afterlife), into

one more concentrated on the present, as man now realised that he may not have much time left to live

(secularism). Furthermore, the Black Death also witnessed the change in faith of many who realised the lies

and inefficiency of the church, shifting to diverse religious cults like the Flagellants. The Black Death also

resulted in the general pessimism of art forms (e.g. Danzes Macabre)

2) Western Schism-> The split in the church along political lines not only ruined the image of the pope being

'halfway between god and man', but also showed the church as a seat of political contention and less of the

spiritual sanctity that once infected it, hence resulting in people losing faith in the church, as during the

Babylonian captivity, popes were seen to be subjected under monarchs' rule.

3) 100 years war-> the 100 years war basically resulted in the decline of the feudal system as it witnessed the

rise of the first standing army since Roman times, and not feudal lords who may or may not come to aid the

King. Also, the killing of so many people resulted in a lower population, which concentrated wealth in the

hands of the survivors (same as Black Death), making them richer and less bound to the land. Also, now

landlords have to compete for peasants to help them out, it gave birth to the roots of capitalism.......... missedanything? (This point not really related to decline of papacy-> more of the breakup of the feudal system)

4) During the scientific Revolution-> Explorations into diverse fields of knowledge, namely biology and

astronomy, proved many teachings of the church/ old Aristotelian reasoning wrong. Examples include the

discovery of the heliocentric theory, the denouncement that the body is composed of elements that must be in

balance with studies of biology and anatomy of the human body. The SR also brought forth the notion of the

diversification and proliferation of knowledge, both with the translation of the bible into vernacular languages

as well as the invention of the printing press. This led to the belief of humanism, as people now belief that they

have the inherent means to discover God by themselves and without the church/ people now have access to

knowledge/ decline of the idea of scholarism. The SR also gave birth to the Scientific method

(experimentation-> observation-> deduction), which was catalyzed by the proving of the bible wrong by

Copernicus and Galileo (dropping of balls (not in the sick way)/ observations thru telescope) which gave birth

to the Age of Exploration and passion for experimentation as people now carried out various experiments in

attempt to prove bible wrong-> resulting in the rapid increment of knowledge as well as the enhancement of

the idea of humanism. The SR, MOST IMPORTANTLY, enabled people to define the universe and the world

they live in by quantifiable terms (like notion of time becoming less abstract with invention of clock), which

hence broke through the attributing of natural phenomena to that of the divine/ supernatural, and hence the

rise in secularism

5) Last but not least, the RENAISSANCE. During the renaissance, it was the rebirth of knowledge and the

inflammation of passions amongst the general populace for classical literature, which was brought forth by

Greek scholars who fled to Italy during the Fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. (This

also contributed to age of discovery) Classical literature was revolving around the notion of the mythical, in

other words, developing secularism, as it is non-religious. This shifted the focus of the people from religion

(aka Bible) to other forms of literature, hence further separating Man and God as two separate entities. TheRenaissance also saw the rise in the values of naturalism (partly due to SR too), as people now have an

expressed interest in studying the world around them and its physical nature. This expounding of the values of

naturalism shifted focus of the people from the divine to the physical world, hence reflecting the empowerment

of Man as man is now seen to have the inherent ability to discover his world by himself (also thanks to SR).

Evidence of this include the now much more detailed paintings (with the invention on oil-on-canvas) as well as

the nude statues which depict man in his 'purest, most natural' form.