Chapter 16 Learning Guide – Religion and Science

Main Idea 1 – Christianity stayed in Europe at the beginning of the early modern era. Islam
began to make its way into Europe through the Ottoman Turks’ conquer of Vienna.

1) Describe the Protestant Revolution. (at least 4 sentences)

a) After realizing the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, such as luxurious life of
the pope and the churches selling of indulgences, Martin Luther chose to challenge the
ideals of the Roman Catholic Church with his ideals. This included the beliefs that the
bible should be up to your own interpretation and the fact that god could be your only
true authority. It also expressed the idea that everybody should be of equal merit and
gave opportunities to middle class urban dwellers. The Reformation caused a massive
schism in the catholic Christian world and caused social, political, and economic
tensions along with religious differences. The reformation spread all across Europe and
caused a massive a violent war between the Protestants and the Catholics, which ended
with the peace of Westphalia, as well as 15-30 percent of the German population
perished from famine, disease, and violence. It was the highly fragmented yet renewed
Christianity.
2) Martin Luther - Definition:
a) Martin Luther, O.S.A. was a German professor of theology, composer, priest, and
monk, and a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation. Luther came to reject several
teachings and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.
3) Significance:
a) Started the protestant reformation by challenging the ideals of the church.
4) What caused the Reformation (you might need to look this up online. Your book is not very
clear)
a) The church sold tickets of indulgences (forgiveness) from sins for money.
b) Many people did not understand the sermon, because it was in Latin.
c) The clergy would not respond to the needs of the people.
d) The pope lived a life of luxury while the people suffered.

5) Why were Luther’s thoughts important to Christianity?

a) The Catholic Church sold indulgences in the late medieval period, and their sale
motivated Martin Luther to present his "95 Theses." His writings were responsible for
fractionalizing the Catholic Church and sparking the Protestant Reformation.

6) How did the Protestant Reformation Transform Europe?

Caused political tensions and was seen as an opportunity by kings and princes to
Politically regain land and taxes that were previously held by the church.
Taught that everyone was of equal merit and that middle-class dwellers found a
European society new religious legitimacy for their growing role in society.

Religious difference led to sectarian violence, to war, and ultimately to religious

coexistence. It fostered religious individualism as people were encouraged to
Culture
read and interpret the scriptures themselves and to seek salvation without the
mediation of the Church.
1
7) Why did Luther’s ideas spread so quickly? Do you think that the Reformation would have
been as powerful as it was if it was not for this invention? Explain.
a) Luther ideas spread so quickly due to the disliking of the roman catholic church and
their lavish lifestyle and questionable policies. another reason was thanks to the
invention
8) What were French Protestants called? What did Henry IV do?
a) French Protestants were called Huguenots, relegionnaires or “members of the so-called
Reformed Religion.” Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes to foster religious tolerance.
9) In your OWN WORDS describe the 30 years’ war. (at least 4 sentences)
a) The Thirty Years' War was a war fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and
1648. It was a war that was the most destructive and longest of the history. It resulted in
many fatalities. The war was initially a war between various Protestant and Catholic
states in the fragmented Holy Roman Empire, but it gradually developed into a more
general conflict involving most of the great powers.
10) What did the Catholics do during the Catholic –Counter Reformation? Why would Catholics to
this? Do you think it was necessary for the Catholics to do this? Explain.
a) Pope Paul III (reigned 1534–49) is considered to be the first pope of the Counter-
Reformation. It was he who in 1545 convened the Council of Trent. The council, which
met intermittently until 1563, responded emphatically to the issues at hand. Its doctrinal
teaching was a reaction against the Lutheran emphasis on the role of faith and God’s
grace and against Protestant teaching on the number and nature of the sacraments.
Disciplinary reforms attacked the corruption of the clergy. There was an attempt to
regulate the training of candidates for the priesthood; measures were taken against
luxurious living on the part of the clergy, the appointment of relatives to church office,
and the absence of bishops from their dioceses. Prescriptions were given about pastoral
care and the administration of the sacraments.
11) Look at the map on page 726. What is this map showing (don’t just summarize the description
on the left…even my kids could do that!)
a) The map shows the divided Roman Catholic empire and other churches. Toward Spain
it is ruled by catholic church. In the right-hand side, it is ruled by the protestants. The
ottoman empire is ruled by the Eastern Orthodox Christian church.
12) How was European imperial expansion related to the spread of Christianity?
a) Christianity motivated European political and economic expansion & benefited.
Crusading traditions led movement overseas. Expansion = religious conversion.
Political and military success = power of Christian God.
13) What were the two critical elements for the missionaries’ success in Spanish America and in
the Philippines?
a) Their efforts were strengthened by a European presence experienced as military
conquest, colonial settlement, missionary activity, forced labor, social disruption, and
disease.
b) A second factor was the absence of a literate world religion in these two regions.
14) What did Europeans believe that allowed them to conquer the Native Americans? What did the
Natives think? What did the Natives do?

2
 a) Conquest of American Empires and what followed - disease, population collapse, loss
of land to Europeans, forced labor, & resettlement into smaller villages - created ideal
setting for religion of victors (Christianity). Europeans saw success as power of God.
Native people generally agreed - It made sense to affiliate with Europeans' God, saints,
rites, and rituals. They embraced the new religion. Sought destruction of local Gods &
religion. - Destroyed religious images, etc. (icons and relics). Assimilated into the
culture of Native Americans.
15) Describe the Taki Onqoy.
a) The Taki Onqoy was a millenarian indigenous movement of political, religious and
cultural dimensions which arose in the Peruvian Andes during the 16th century in
opposition to the recent Spanish invasion.
16) More often than not, Christian traditions mixed with Andean traditions. Describe how the two
were intertwined together.
a) Sometimes the Natives would make sacrifices to God and weave cloth for the Virgin
Mary. They would also build churches near old sights of worship and would relate
Christian figures back to Andean figures such as they did with the Virgin of Guadalupe.
17) Cofradias – Definition:
a) A group or organization of Roman Catholic laymen in Mexico and Central America
responsible for the material care of religious images, pilgrimages, and ceremonies.
Significance:
b) People created for the purpose of promoting special works of Christian charity or piety,
and approved by the Church hierarchy.
18) Why were missionary efforts to spread Christianity so much less successful in China than in
Spanish America? (this answer can be found through the entire section of Conversion and
Adaptation in Spanish America and An Asian Comparison: China and the Jesuits)
a) The political context was very different. Spanish America had been defeated, their
societies disrupted and cultural confidence shaken. China, on the other hand,
encountered Europeans during the powerful and prosperous Ming dynasty. Europeans
needed permission to preach from Chinese and aimed to convert the Chinese elite. The
Spanish converted the masses. The Europeans blended into Chinese society claimed to
be interested in exchanging ideas but really, they wanted to convert. They tried to
accommodate Chinese culture as well. In Spanish America they forcefully abandoned
old ways and practices that were not in accordance with Christianity. Also, the Chinese
did not have a spiritual need for Christianity and started to realize it would not allow
them to keep some of their old cultural customs.
19) Why were the Jesuits successful on getting access to China while the Christians were not?
a) The Jesuits, took deliberate aim at the Chinese elite. Many Jesuits learned Chinese,
became thoroughly acquainted with classical Confucian texts, and dressed like Chinese
scholars.
b) They downplayed their mission to convert, instead emphasized their interest in
exchanging ideas and learning from China's culture.
c) In presenting Christian teachings, Jesuits were respectful of Chinese culture, pointing
out parallels between Confucianism and Christianity rather than portraying it as
something new.
d) They chose to define Chinese rituals honoring the emperor or ancestors as secular
observances rather than religious practices that had to be abandoned.
e) Shared renaissance knowledge with the Chinese scholars.

3
 20) Read the quote on page 732. What does the quote mean? What is the tone of the quote? What
is the POV? (POV is WHY is the author feeling the way he does? Is he biased? WHY?)
a) The tone of the quote is angriness. The author of the quote very passionate about what
he is saying.
Main Idea 2 – Christianity also spread to Africa where it was intertwined with local cultural
customs.
1) Africanized versions of Christianity emerged, such as Santeria and Vodou, in the New World.
From what were these syncretic religions derived and how did the Europeans perceive these
practices?
a) They derived from West African traditions and featured drumming, ritual dancing,
animal sacrifice, and spirit possession. Europeans perceived these practices as evidence
of sorcery or witchcraft and attempted to suppress
2) What accounts for the continued spread of Islam in the early modern era?
a) Islam continued to spread because conversion to Islam generally did not mean a sudden
abandonment of old religious practices, but rather more often the assimilation of
"Islamic rituals, cosmologies, and literatures into . . . local religious systems."
3) What accounts for the emergence of reform or renewal movements within the Islamic world,
especially in the mid-eighteenth century in Arabia?
a) This religious syncretism became offensive to the more orthodox, or traditional,
Muslims. A young Muslim theologian, Abd al-Wahab, argued that the declining
fortunes of the Islamic world were the result of a gradual process of decay that had crept
in over the centuries, as Muslims allowed themselves to be drawn away from the
essentials of the faith.
4) Some Chinese Buddhists sought to make their religion more accessible to ordinary people,
which bore some similarity to the thinking of whom?
a) It was Martin Luther, who argued that individuals could seek salvation by "faith alone,"
without the assistance of a priestly hierarchy.
5) Describe the popular culture that emerged in the cities among the less well educated.
a) Plays, paintings, short stories, and novels provided diversion and entertainment that
were a step up from what could be found in teahouses and wine shops.
6) Describe the popular culture that emerged in the cities among the less well educated.
a) The popular culture that emerged in the cities among the less well educated were plays,
paintings, short stories, and novels provided diversion and entertainment.
7) A new cultural change was especially appealing to women. What did the bhakti movement and
its practices provide for them? (at least 5 sentences)
a) It provided an avenue for social criticism. This devotional form of Hinduism sought to
achieve union with one or another of India's many deities through songs, prayers,
dances, poetry and rituals. Its practitioners often set aside caste distinctions and
disregarded rituals of Brahmin priests in favor of direct contact with the divine. This
emphasis had much in common with the mystical Sufi form of Islam and helped to blur
the distinction between these two traditions in India.
8) From what did Sikhism evolve?
a) It evolved from a peaceful religious movement, blending Hindu and Muslim elements,
into a militant community.
Main Idea 3 – While some Europeans were spread religion. Others remained at home to discover
new things. This was the start of the Scientific Revolution
1) Who were the men that created the Scientific Revolution? What did they do (why were they
important?)

4
 a) Copernicus from Poland Galileo from Italy Descartes from France Newton from
England
2) What was the long-term significance of the Scientific Revolution and its applications to the
affairs of human society?
a) It altered ideas about the place of humankind within the cosmos and sharply challenged
both the teachings and the authority of the Church.
b) When applied to human society, scientific ways of thinking challenged ancient social
hierarchies and political systems and played a role in the revolutionary upheavals of the
modern era.
3) Why did the Scientific Revolution occur in Europe rather than in China or the Islamic world?
(fill in the chart below to answer the question)
Europe China The Islamic World
Europe’s historical development China’s historical Development In the Islamic World
reinvigorated and fragmented didn't permit independent Development science was
civilization gave rise to institutions where scholars patronized.
conditions favorable to could study in freedom.
scientific enterprise.

Europeans had evolved
including a legal system that
guaranteed a measure of
independence from the Church,
Science was patronized by a
variety of local authorities, but
it occurred outside the formal
system of higher education.
What position was western
Europe in?
Europe was in a position to
draw extensively upon the
knowledge of other cultures,
especially that of the Islamic
world.
In the 16th – 18th centuries
Europeans had engaged in the
Columbian Exchange and found
themselves at the center of a
massive new exchange of
information of lands, peoples,
animals, societies, and religions
from around the world.
The Chinese had evolved by
that education focused on
preparing for a rigidly defined
set of civil service examinations
and emphasized the humanistic
and moral texts of classical
Confucianism.
What position was China in?
Found on Civil Service Exam. -
Confucian.
In the 16th – 18th centuries were
not at the center of the new
exchange of land, peoples,
animals, societies, and religions
from around the world.
The Islamic world had evolved
Quran studies and religious law
was central - not philosophy or
natural science. - disdain - led
to uncertainty and confusion.
What position was the Islamic
World in?
Draw extensively upon the
knowledge of other cultures,
especially that of the Islamic
world.
In the 16th – 18th centuries were
not at the center of the new
exchange of land, peoples,
animals, societies, and religions
from around the world.

4) What was revolutionary about the Scientific Revolution?

5
 a) To medieval thinkers—the earth was stationary and at the center of the universe and
around it revolved the sun, moon, and stars embedded in ten spheres of transparent
crystal. This coincided with the religious purpose of the Catholic Church because the
entire attention of the universe was centered on the earth.
b) Nicholas Copernicus' argument—was that "at the middle of all things lies the sun" and
the earth, and other planets, revolved around it. The earth was no longer the center of
God's attention.
c) Johannes Kepler's theory—showed that planets followed elliptical orbits, undermining
the ancient belief that they moved in perfect circles.
d) Galileo Galilei developed--an improved telescope, with which he observed sunspots, or
blemishes, moving across the face of the sun. This called into question the traditional
notion that no change or imperfections marred the heavenly bodies.
e) Sir Isaac Newton formulated—the modern laws of motion and mechanics. Central to
Newton's thinking was the concept of universal gravitation. No longer were the heavens
and the earth regarded as separate and distinct spheres, for the motion of a cannonball
on earth or the falling of an apple from a tree obeyed the same natural laws that
governed orbiting planets.
5) What did Enlightenment thinkers share?
a) The Enlightenment thinkers shared a belief in the power of knowledge to transform
human society. They also shared a satirical, critical style, a commitment to open-
mindedness and inquiry, and in various degrees a hostility to established political and
religious authority.
6) How did 19th century developments in the sciences challenge the faith of the Enlightenment?
a) Darwin and Marx believed—strongly in progress, but in their thinking, conflict and
struggle rather than reason and education were the motors of progress, the image of the
tranquil, rational, and autonomous individual created by the Enlightenment was fading.
Individuals of all species were now viewed as caught in vast systems of biological,
economic, and social conflict.
b) Sigmund Freud—applied scientific techniques to the operation of the human mind and
emotions and in doing so cast further doubt on Enlightenment conceptions of human
rationality. At the core of each person, Freud argued, lay primal impulses toward
sexuality and aggression, which were only barely held in check by the thin veneer of
social conscience derived from civilization. These developments were a far cry from the
Enlightenment conception of the human condition.
7) In what ways was European science received in
a) The Chinese were interested in European astronomy and mathematics because those
disciplines proved useful in predicting eclipses reforming the calendar, and making
accurate maps of the empire. European medicine held little interest to Chinese
physicians before the 19th century.
b) Japan- After 1720, Japan lifted the ban on importing Western books. Japanese read texts
in medicine, astronomy, geography, and mathematics, but since it had a policy of
isolation from Western influence, European science would not assume a prominent
place in Japanese culture until the mid-nineteenth century.
c) The Ottoman Empire- The Ottoman Empire's intellectual elites saw no need for a
wholesale embrace of things European. There was already a rich tradition of Muslim
astronomy.