WW Chapter 15: Cultural Transformations

Father Matteo Ricci and Hsu (Paul) Kuang-Ch'i, From Euclidian Elements
(Source:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Rites_controversy)




Chapter 15: Cultural Transformations
Religion and Science
1450-1750
Again today, I've tried to drink out of Strayer's veritable fire hose of information, a positively mind numbing assault on my beautiful Sunday.  Anyhow, it works best for me at these times to extract nuggets of information that seem to connect to the greater context of what we are trying to learn, rather than pay close attention to the detail.  Sometimes it feels good to whine a little bit.  Just a little.

While studying some of the monumental cultural changes durring the period I can see that along with the economic expansion came cultural and religious exchange - to the point of eliminating eons of existing religion and culture.  Most of the succesful expansion of the Christian religion happened in civilizations that had religions which could be slowly twisted to morph insidiously into Christianity.  Civilizations could see the power and might of the invaders must come from a great force, greater than theirs - so the bandwagon was pretty full.

Interesting enough, it didn't happen as easily in China mostly due to the secular nature of the state.  China was strong, independent and thought of itself as superior, believing that anything they needed would be brought to them in tribute.  This led the educated Jesuits that came there to focus on the elite ruling class - and discuss science and math with them.  Outside of that, they offered little of what the Chinese needed.  Eventually the Chinese booted them out.

Meanwhile, a new religion with a distinct influence on European culture was blossoming - science.  It flew in the face of religious dogma, since rather than relying on the bible to explain the natural world, science relied on rational inquiry based on evidence - herretical!  The period came to represent "the days that must lay out a new foundation of a more magnificient phillosophy" (665).  Free from the control of the church doctrine, the newly formed European educational system was largely responsible for this.  The scientific revolution fundamentally challenged our previous understanding of the way the universe worked.  New philosophies and dicoveries ushered in a new era of enlightenment and progress.  We were no longer divinely ordained to follow a fixed path of progress, but one that could - should - change as we discovered new ways of understanding the world.

Many great theories, inventions and philosophies were born durring this time period, but I also noted that many great cultures were destined to melt away into the pages of history, deemed as unimprotant and backwards.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Preserving and understanding these cultures are just as important as understanding the physical rules of the natural world.  Ignoring them dishonors their contributions to science and philosophy.  We are only now finding out that ancient holistic views on medicine and herbal treatments have merrit.  What else did these cultures know that we were in such a hurry to replace with our own ideas?

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