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Post by James Hannam on Jul 1, 2008 11:42:20 GMT
Is there any chance you could please post them here?
Best wishes
James
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Post by bjorn on Jul 2, 2008 11:15:03 GMT
Naturally, James!
As I mentioned to you when I did this a few years ago, there are of course many more, e.g. in White and even worse in McCabe's "The Social Records of Christianity" (from Amazon: "Throughout history, the Christian Church has put up a bitter and persistent opposition to astronomy, geology, biology, paleontology and evolution and has banned or prevented the investigation or practice of medicine, life insurance, agriculture, the census, printing, and the use of steam and electricity. This social history of repression is explored in McCabe's well-documented book".)
Here are the myths/allegations I discuss. Again, hastily translated and the expression "The Church" is taken in a popular sense, meaning any church involved in the issue at the time ;-)
1: The destruction of the Library at Alexandria (both as the myth of "The Destruction of Ancient Learning", and as "typical Christian behaviour") - and initiating the dark Ages.
2: St. Augustine fought science, as the Bible was all that was needed. He did not believe the earth was a globe and insisted that anything not witnessed by the Bible was harmfull.
3: The Murder of Hypatia (as "typical Christian behaviour" as they feared knowledge and women) - and initiating the dark Ages.
4: Proclus doing the last astronomical observation in the West for more than a thousand years, in 475 - then followed the dark Ages.
5: Justinian closed down the Academy in Athens in 529 due to his and the Church's antiscientific leanings (both as "The Destruction of Ancient Learning", and as "typical Christian behaviour") - and initiating the dark Ages.
(Hitchens has BTW a peculiar angle on this in God is not Great, insisting that due to this closing down of the schools in 529, many Aristotelean works were destroyed).
6: The Middle Ages was in general a dark and dismal period where no scientific studies was encouraged at all.
7: The Rich Learning of Antiquity was kept as a secret for a small elite in the Church. How effective this was, even within the Church, is shown by the fact that at the Council of Chalcedon, none of the 40 bishops could read.
8: The Church banned the use of Zero.
9: The Church banned dissections. Anyone still doing it received the death penalty. This hindered the development of modern medicine for a thousand years.
10: It was typical of the silly medieval rationality to discuss how many angels could dance on the head of a pin (alligned to this are also the stories about court cases for animals).
11: Pope Alexander III made in illegal in 1163 for all clergy to study Physics, which led to none at all being able to do it that as the clergy was the only ones with time on their hands for this.
12: The French Parliament disallowed the study of Chemistry, in 1380 (here even the year is wrong).
13: Everyone believed the earth was flat in the Middle Ages.
14: A professor of Astronomi, Cecco d’Ascoli, was burnt in 1327 for alleging that someone could live on the other side of the earth.
15: The O-T-maps of the Middle Ages proves that they knew nothing about True Geography and that they really believed the earth to be flat.
16: The foremost scientist in the Middle Ages, Roger Bacon, was imprisoned for a long time for his research. This hindered modern science for another 300 years.
17: The Pope banned Halley's Comet in 1456.
18: Vesalius dared to do dissections and became a martyr of science.
19: Copernicus (1473-1543) did not dare to publish his book on heliocentrism until he was dying. That he was right to fear the Church is shown by the book being forbidden and not allowed again until 1835.
20: It was a great shock for the Church and most people to learn that the earth was not in the centre of the universe.
21: A well known woodcut from the 1500's proves that they earlier had belived the earth was flat, though as it shows some now dared to look outside their small and closed medieval universe.
22: Luther hated reason and condemned Copernicus vehemently - this hindered Copernicanism for generations.
23: Also Calvin discarded Copernicus angrily, as the latter dared to put his authority above that of the Holy Spirit.
24: Bruno was a martyr for modern science.
25: Galileo was persecuted and imprisoned by the Inquisition for believing in heliocentrism.
26: The Church did not admit that Galileo was right until 1992.
27: The Church banned the use of lightning rods, thus responsible for the death of tens of thousands.
28: James Young Simpson was strongly attacked by the clergy for wanting to use anesthetics (chloroform) on his patients - they should suffer in pain instead, as told in Genesis 3.
29: The Church opposed Darwin strongly and insistently.
30: The Wilberforce-Huxley debate.
31: The bishop's wife (“Oh my dear, let us hope that what Mr. Darwin says is not true. But if it is true, let us hope that it will not become generally known”).
32: The Scopes trial vs. the Inherit the Wind distortion.
33: The discovery of life on other planets will disprove Christianity.
OK, hopefully this will provide some clues to some of the Icons of Modernity which so often are used to stereotype Christians and the past.
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Post by James Hannam on Jul 2, 2008 12:35:56 GMT
Thanks Bjorn-Are.
Of these, numbers 11, 12 and 17 may be missing from my book but within its scope. I'll try and add them.
The ban on alchemy at Paris that I recall was intended to quieten down the dispute between Paracelsians and Galenists in the late 16th century. Is this the event you think is referred to here?
Also, on the 1163 ban on Physics. Does this refer to the prohibition of clerics acting as physicians? I certainly have no other idea where that myth could have come from.
Best wishes
James
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Post by bjorn on Jul 2, 2008 15:10:05 GMT
Thanks Bjorn-Are. Of these, numbers 11, 12 and 17 may be missing from my book but within its scope. I'll try and add them. Great, I think they very much fall within your scope (I'll return privately with more on that in a few days). The ban on alchemy at Paris that I recall was intended to quieten down the dispute between Paracelsians and Galenists in the late 16th century. Is this the event you think is referred to here? Precisely, it was all about alchemy. Also, on the 1163 ban on Physics. Does this refer to the prohibition of clerics acting as physicians? I certainly have no other idea where that myth could have come from. You're again on the right track, it is simply based on a mistranslation. It took me a while to discover, as I looked for Physicist  Regards Bjorn-Are |
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