part 1. can christians accept the enlightenment, steeped as it was in deism and denial of christian...

CHRISTIAN VIEWS ON THE ENLIGHTENMENT (1650-1800)

Part 1

ENLIGHTENMENT

Can Christians accept the Enlightenment, steeped as it was in Deism and denial of Christian tenants?

Should we use our minds at all if we are fallen creatures incapable of achieving salvation at all?

RATIONALISM?

Man, therefore, has a basic rationality, though it has suffered since the Fall

It is God who wishes us to use our minds to the fullest extent while Satan wishes to simply overthrow our minds

the basic sense of inquiry at the outset of the Enlightenment was indeed God-given

ENLIGHTENMENT ROOTS

Many Roots are in the Reformation Others in the Renaissance (which

also influenced the Reformation)• Liberty• Natural Law

NATURAL LAW

Greek Roots (Aristotle)

Legal tradition installed by the Romans

impartial judgments

Pax Romana

NATURAL LAW (CONT.)

God became the source of Natural Law

To understand God, one could understand nature

“Natural Philosophy”

NATURAL PHILOSOPHY

Natural world was open to study Truth could be confirmed in nature “Science” i.e. the pursuit of

knowledge The most dominant science during

the Enlightenment was: History

THE BIBLE

“The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof“ (Exodus 9:29, Psalm 24:1, I Corinthians 10:26)

Reformers & Reformation

RENES DESCARTES

"Father of modern Philosophy“

Rationalism Man was capable

by reason to understand nature, and nature's God

TOLERANCE OF RELIGION

Thirty Years War (1618-1648)• 12 million Dead• Political

manipulation of religion

• Destruction of Germany and Lutheranism

English Civil War (1642-1651) Catholic Monarchs Laudianism and

Anglicans Debates over

predestination was the leading cause of this war

TIMELINE OF EVENTS 1618-1648 Thirty Years War 1642-1651 English Civil War 1652-1659 English Protectorate

Oliver Cromwell (1652-1658) Richard “Tumbledown Dick” Cromwell (1658-59)

1660-1688 Restored Monarchy Charles II (1660-1685) James II (1685-1688)

1688-1689 Glorious Revolution Bill of Rights William III & Mary II

JOHN LOCKE “that others, under

pretence of religion, may not seek impunity for their libertinism and licentiousness”

“The commonwealth seems to me to be a society of men constituted only for the procuring, preserving, and advancing their own civil interests.”

Life, Liberty & Property

BIBLICAL REFERENCES USED BY LOCKE AND OTHERS

Exod. 22: 21 Deut. 2: 9 Matt. 18: 15-20 Luke 20:19-26 Luke 22: 31-32 Rom. 1:1-5 I Cor. 5: 12,13 Colossians 3:2 II Tim. 2:19