Biography

1. 1483-1546, born in Germany

2. was an Augustinian monk who grew dissatisfied with his own existential misery and the moral and theological laxity of the Medieval Church

3. in 1517 nailed the 95 Theses on the cathedral door of Wittenberg, which didn’t demand a new church but a reformation of the present one

4. he debated his views; was excommunicated and sentenced to death for them; was hidden by his German prince, Frederick of Saxony; eventually married (Katy)

5. he was suspicious of more radical groups than he like the Peasants Revolt of 1524-25

6. bibliography--Address to the German Nobility, The Liberty of the Christian Man, and the Babylonian Captivity of the Church

7. Luther in theology and general view of humanity, the world, and God is still a medieval thinker as a whole

Main Ideas

1. instead of placing the authority of belief and personal convictions in the ecclesiastical authorities, he promoted the conscience of the individual; he had been influenced by nominalism

2. his emphases on "justification by faith" and sola scriptura moved the authority away from the church as an institution towards the individual’s reading of scripture; the individual becomes more important than the institution

3. Luther was not a systematic thinker, so often he would promote the opposite of 1 and 2, but it was always in terms of reforming, not dismantling, the church.

Biography

1. 1560-1626; studied Law at Trinity College, Cambridge, England; he had numerous government jobs, serving in Parliament and even being arrested for taking bribes

2. became interested in experimental science; died as a result of bronchitis, contracted while performing an experiment involving stuffing snow into a chicken

3. bibliography--Novum Organum and The Great Instauration

Main Ideas

1. science should not be based on theology or logic; only sensuous perception; this should be the method of science

2. there are four classes of errors (which we’ve idolized) in typical human thinking:

a. Idols of the Tribe--to make "human understanding the measure of all things"

b. Idols of the Cave--these are personal prejudices

c. Idols of the Marketplace--social prejudices

d. Idols of the Theater--dogmatic philosophies uncritically held