Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Sytsma
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Negative Response ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Reformed Tradition ◽  
Mechanical Philosophy

This chapter summarizes the findings of the book and briefly discusses how Baxter’s relation to mechanical philosophy relates to later nonconformist and Puritan tradition. Although Baxter’s response to mechanical philosophy included Cartesianism, he gave greater weight to Pierre Gassendi’s Christian Epicureanism than theologians in the Netherlands, and this fact points to the importance of Gassendi’s philosophy in seventeenth-century England. Baxter’s negative response to the philosophy of Descartes and Gassendi points to an important discontinuity in early modern Puritanism and nonconformity. Later theological leaders working in this tradition such as Isaac Watts, Philip Doddridge, and Jonathan Edwards were far more favorable toward mechanical philosophy. This discontinuity highlights the variegated nature of the larger Puritan and Reformed tradition.

Divine Machines

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin E. H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Inquiry ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
Theoretical Interest ◽  
Living World ◽  
Mechanical Philosophy ◽  
Organic Life ◽  
The World ◽  
Generation Theory

Though it did not yet exist as a discrete field of scientific inquiry, biology was at the heart of many of the most important debates in seventeenth-century philosophy. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the work of G. W. Leibniz. This book offers the first in-depth examination of Leibniz's deep and complex engagement with the empirical life sciences of his day, in areas as diverse as medicine, physiology, taxonomy, generation theory, and paleontology. The book shows how these wide-ranging pursuits were not only central to Leibniz's philosophical interests, but often provided the insights that led to some of his best-known philosophical doctrines. Presenting the clearest picture yet of the scope of Leibniz's theoretical interest in the life sciences, the book takes seriously the philosopher's own repeated claims that the world must be understood in fundamentally biological terms. Here it reveals a thinker who was immersed in the sciences of life, and looked to the living world for answers to vexing metaphysical problems. The book casts Leibniz's philosophy in an entirely new light, demonstrating how it radically departed from the prevailing models of mechanical philosophy and had an enduring influence on the history and development of the life sciences. Along the way, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into early modern debates about the nature and origins of organic life, and into how philosophers such as Leibniz engaged with the scientific dilemmas of their era.

Building Bensalem at Massachusetts Bay: Francis Bacon and the Wisdom of Eden in Early Modern New England

2010 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-606
Author(s):  
Zachary Mcleod Hutchins
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Massachusetts Bay ◽  
Religious Leaders

Francis Bacon's influence on seventeenth-century New England has long passed unnoticed, but his plan for the restoration of prelapsarian intellectual perfections guided John Winthrop's initial colonization efforts, shaped New England's educational policies, and had an impact on civic and religious leaders from John Cotton to Jonathan Edwards.

Jonathan Edwards and Scripture

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New England ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Jonathan Edwards ◽  
Biblical Exegesis ◽  
Western History ◽  
The Bible ◽  
New Research

Jonathan Edwards and Scripture provides a fresh look at the important, burgeoning field of Edwards and the Bible. For too long, Edwards scholars have published new research on Edwards without paying due attention to the work he took most seriously: biblical exegesis. Edwards is recognized as an innovative theologian who wielded tremendous influence on revivalism, evangelicalism, and New England theology, but what is often missed is how much time he devoted to studying and understanding the Bible. He kept voluminous notebooks on Christian Scripture and had plans for major treatises on the Bible before he died. Edwards scholars need to take stock of the place of the Bible in his thought to do justice to his theology and legacy. In fact, more and more experts are recognizing how important this aspect of his life is, and this book brings together the insights of leading Edwards scholars on this topic. This volume seeks to increase our understanding of Edwards’ engagement with Scripture by setting it in the context of seventeenth-century Protestant exegesis and eighteenth-century colonial interpretation. It provides case studies of Edwards’ exegesis in varying genres of the Bible and probes his use of Scripture to develop theology. It also sets his biblical interpretation in perspective by comparing it with that of other exegetes. This book advances our understanding of the nature and significance of Edwards’ work with Scripture and opens new lines of inquiry for students of early modern Western history.

Titia Brongersma’s polymathic career and spheres of early modern creative friendship

2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 310-335
Author(s):  
Nicole Elizabeth Cook
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Mutual Support ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Generative Process ◽  
Creative Practice

While Frisian polymath Titia Brongersma (ca. 1650-ca. 1700) has recently been rediscovered by literary scholars, she has never been considered from an art historical perspective. This essay repositions Brongersma in the context of her rich creative practice through the lens of her intersecting circles of friends and colleagues in poetry, art, and antiquarianism. Brongersma has long been known as a pioneering figure within the archeological field because of her unearthing of a prehistoric tomb in 1685, one of the earliest excavations of native ruins in the Netherlands. She also painted, drew, sculpted, wrote poetry, and collected art, all of which she recorded in her only known publication De bron-swaan (The Swan at the Wellspring, 1686). Throughout her endeavors, Brongersma relied on her male and female friends to position herself as an artist and intellectual and this article provides a view into the generative process of mutual support and validation in late seventeenth-century friendships.

Early Modern Anabaptist Theologies

2015 ◽  
pp. 372-386
Author(s):  
Jeff Bach
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Northern Germany ◽  
Multiple Leaders

The Anabaptist movement emerged in multiple locations in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands beginning in 1525, with multiple leaders. Adult baptism was one characteristic originally common to all Anabaptist groups. Most Anabaptists emphasized the importance of the gathered, visible church with congregational discipline, while a few prioritized inward individual spiritual experience. Most Anabaptists were pacifists, with only a few exceptions. Three groups survived into the seventeenth century: the Swiss Brethren, the Mennonites in the Netherlands and northern Germany, and the communal Hutterites in Moravia. They were pacifists and were Christocentric and Biblicist in grounding their faith and following Christ’s teachings.

scholarly journals Richard Baxter and the Mechanical Philosophers

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Sytsma
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Devotional Literature ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
Mechanical Philosophy ◽  
The People ◽  
Early English ◽  
Henry More

Richard Baxter, one of the most famous Puritans of the seventeenth century, is generally known as a writer of practical and devotional literature. But he also excelled in knowledge of medieval and early modern scholastic theology, and was conversant with a wide variety of seventeenth-century philosophies. Baxter was among the early English polemicists to write against the mechanical philosophy of René Descartes and Pierre Gassendi in the years immediately following the establishment of the Royal Society. At the same time, he was friends with Robert Boyle and Matthew Hale, corresponded with Joseph Glanvill, and engaged in philosophical controversy with Henry More. This book is a chronological and thematic account of Baxter’s relation to the people and concepts involved in the rise of mechanical philosophy in late seventeenth-century England. Drawing on largely unexamined works, including Baxter’s Methodus theologiae christianae (1681) and manuscript treatises and correspondence, this book discusses Baxter’s response to mechanical philosophers on the nature of substance, laws of motion, the soul, and ethics. Analysis of these topics is framed by a consideration of the growth of Christian Epicureanism in England, Baxter’s overall approach to reason and philosophy, and his attempt to understand creation as an analogical reflection of God’s power, wisdom, and goodness, understood as vestigia Trinitatis. Baxter’s views on reason, analogical knowledge of God, and vestigia Trinitatis draw on medieval precedents and directly inform a largely hostile, though partially accommodating, response to mechanical philosophy.

scholarly journals Lodewijk de Bils’ and Tobias Andreae’s Cartesian Bodies: Embalmment Experiments, Medical Controversies and Mechanical Philosophy

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Daniel Omodeo
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Assistant Professor ◽  
Medical Practices ◽  
Mechanical Philosophy ◽  
Medical Experimentation

This essay concerns the penetration of Cartesian ideas into medical practices and theories related to new anatomical techniques in the mid seventeenth century, and with their transfer from the Netherlands to Flanders and Germany. It begins with an overview of debates on embalmment and dissection, which were provoked by the work of the Flemish anatomical practitioner Lodewijk de Bils (1624-1671). The presence of Cartesian themes in these debates is here considered, followed by an examination of the reception and implementation of De Bils’ techniques by medical Cartesians in Germany, with a focus on the embalmment experiments conducted in Frankfurt (Oder) by De Bils’ former assistant, professor Tobias Andreae (1633-1685), and finally, an assessment of the Cartesian framework underlying these medical experimentation and debates.


Language Matters: ‘Counsel’ in Early Modern and Modern Medicine

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Sabroe ◽  
Phil Withington
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
Scientific Revolution ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Human Understanding ◽  
Successful Scientist

Francis Bacon is famous today as one of the founding fathers of the so-called ‘scientific revolution’ of the seventeenth century. Although not an especially successful scientist himself, he was nevertheless the most eloquent and influential spokesperson for an approach to knowledge that promised to transform human understanding of both humanity and its relationship with the natural and social worlds. The central features of this approach, as they emerged in Bacon’s own writings and the work of his protégés and associates after 1605, are equally well known. They include the importance of experiment, observation, and a sceptical attitude towards inherited wisdom (from the ‘ancients’ in general and Aristotle in particular).

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