The discoveries of outstanding scientists in the seventeenth century had impact on various dimensions of life of the society and changed the alignment of forces in the Western community. Questioning the supremacy of church as the most powerful institution in the Western society, the scientific advances revolutionized the existing system of knowledge and became an important player in exploring the phenomena of the surrounding world.
In the Middle Ages, the church was the only and the most powerful institution in the West world which could influence any sphere of life. Questioning the authority of the church always resulted in serious conflicts but did not raise the doubts as to the central role of the religious bodies in the community.
The Protestant Reformation and the Scientific Revolution have changed the situation in the sixteenth century. Enhancing people’s understanding of the processes in the surrounding world, scientists questioned the established religious patterns along with the authority of the church.
The discoveries of Copernicus and Galileo were so significant that revolutionized the generally accepted notions of the order of the universe and the central place of the humanity in it (Weaver and Brakke 106). Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton with their outstanding discoveries contributed to the scientific progress and preconditioned the changes in the alignment of forces in the society.
Assuming that the universe might be not as mysterious as it was believed previously, the scientists transformed the existing system of beliefs and questioned the supremacy of the church as the most important political strength. Changing the existing system of beliefs, the scientists who contributed to the scientific revolution, revolutionized the Western world, giving rise to doubts concerning the credibility of the Christian doctrines and the supremacy of the church as the most powerful institution.
Questioning the credibility of the Christian doctrines as to the origin of humanity, its place in the universe and the organization of the universe itself, scientists made the church which previously was recognized as the most powerful institution take into account the scientific community as an important society player. The scientific revolution cannot be defined as a rapid or unexpected event, and it was preceded with a sequence of scientific discoveries and research works.
It would be wrong to associate these immense changes in the society with a single name or a single work though Copernicus, Galileo, Bacon and Newton are recognized as the main contributors to the scientific progress in the seventeenth century. “With the publication of Newton’s Principia – its reconciliation with Christianity came more and more to mean the adjustment of Christian beliefs to conform to a position of intellectual dominance over Christianity” (Osler 249).
On the other hand, a number of researchers criticize the attempts of separating and opposing science and religion, emphasizing the interaction between the domains. “The proponents of a mechanical philosophy were driven by religious concerns” (Lindberg and Numbers 61). The scientific advances could not undermine the role of the church as a powerful institution in general and became only one of significant segments of the system of beliefs, influencing but no substituting the religious studies.
The sequence of scientific discoveries in the seventeenth century changed the existing alignment of forces in the Western world and undermined the supremacy of church as the most powerful institution, questioning the credibility of Christian doctrines and providing information which contradicted them.
Works Cited
Weaver, Mary and David Brakke. Introduction to Christianity. Belmont: Cengage Learning. 2009. Print.
Lindberg, David and Ronald Numbers. When Science and Christianity Meet. The University of Chicago Press. 2003. Print.
Osler, Margaret. Rethinking the Scientific Revolution. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2000. Print.