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Summary
Summary
A rich and multi-faceted history of heroes and villains interwoven with the profound changes in human knowledge that took place between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.
Spanning some of the most vibrant and fascinating eras in European history, Cambridge historian Derek Wilson reveals a society filled with an ardent desire for knowledge and astounding discoveries--and the fantastic discoveries that flowered from it. There was the discovery of the movement of blood around the body; the movement of the earth around the sun; the velocity of falling objects (and why those objects fell).
But these these thinkers were steeped in--and drew from--intellectual traditions that might surprise us. There was folk religion, which in its turn had deep roots in a pagan past. Others referred to spirits or tapped into stores of ancient wisdom and herbal remedies. This was the world of wise women, witches, necromancers, potions and incantations.
Even the mighty Catholic Church, which permeated all elements of life, had its own "magical" traditions. Devote believers and accomplished scientists alike both pursued alchemy. Astrology, also a rapidly developing field, was based on the belief that human affairs were controlled by the movement of heavenly bodies. Casting horoscopes was a near-universal practice, from the papacy to the peasantry. Yet from this heady cultural mix, the scientific method would spring.
But it was not just Europe where this tidal wave of intellectual innovation was colliding with folk wisdom to create something new. The twelfth-century Islamic polymath, Averroes, has been called 'the father of secular thought' because of his landmark treatises on astronomy, physics and medicine. Jewish scholars melded mysticism to create the esoteric disciplines of the Kabbalah.
By the mid-seventeenth century, "science mania" was in full flower. In 1663, The Royal Society in London received its charter. Just three years later, the French Academy of Sciences was founded, and other European capitals rapidly followed suit. In 1725, the word "science" was at last defined as "a branch of study concerned either with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classified." Yet just nine years before, the last witch had been executed in Britain. Fascinating and thought-provoking, A Magical World is a reminder of humanity's paradoxical nature--our passionate pursuit of knowledge alongside deep-rooted fears, superstitions, and traditions.
Author Notes
Derek K. Wilson is one of Britain's leading popular historians and is a highly regarded expert on the Tudor period. His previous history books include Charlemagne (Doubleday), The Uncrowned Kings of England (Basic Books), and Peter the Great (St. Martin's). He lives in England.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
With breakneck speed and a very broad brush, British historian Wilson (Mrs. Luther and Her Sisters) runs through many of the intellectual changes that occurred in Europe between 1450 and 1750. Throughout, Wilson attends to the contemporary epistemologies associated with both religion and science while exploring knowledge acquired via observation and faith. He also presents abbreviated summaries of the ideas of most of the leading intellectual figures of the time. The Catholic Church, Wilson notes, was worried about "the uncontrolled quest for knowledge (and, therefore, power)" and even argued that some scientific knowledge "was generated by the devil and his cohorts." Knowledge, Wilson asserts, is indeed a powerful force and it was the availability of vernacular Bibles during this time that led to "the re-evaluation of every aspect of life." This reconceptualization, in turn, "resulted in dislocation and warfare throughout Europe that lasted into the eighteenth century." The shifting balance between religion and science is perhaps best exemplified by Wilson's discussion of prosecutions for witchcraft, as the public "began to question" the theology of witches largely due to "the activities of the witchfinders." This is a good overview and there is much of interest here, but Wilson prioritizes breadth rather than depth. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* When the seventeenth-century microscopist Athanasius Kircher employed the cutting-edge technology of a catatrophic lamp to project images on a screen, he assured frightened viewers that he had invoked no magic. But in this astonishing survey of shifting cultural boundaries from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Wilson repeatedly identifies scientists who actually did double as magicians, lacing their empirical inquiries with what looks to modern thinkers like superstition. Readers will marvel at how Johannes Kepler famous for advancing astronomy by tracing the orbits of the planets profits through the making of astrological horoscopes, at how Robert Boyle acclaimed for discovering fundamental gas laws fears satanic powers, and at how even Isaac Newton revered for laying the foundations of mathematical physics seeks power through alchemy to convert lead to gold. But beyond what it tells readers about how the fusion of science and magic shaped individuals, Wilson's narrative illuminates the impact of that fusion on an entire continent in foment, compelling clerics such as John Calvin and Pope Paul V to wrestle with a new metaphysics as they combat heresy and witchcraft, plunging political philosophers such as Hobbes and Locke into turbulent new seas of social confusion. A dazzling chronicle, a bracing challenge to modernity's smug assumptions.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The tremendous intellectual and cultural changes that occurred during the Renaissance and Enlightenment have been credited to a societal shift from a religious worldview to one ruled by strictly scientific principles. In this highly accessible book, Wilson (Mrs. Luther and Her Sisters) contradicts this view, arguing instead for a hybrid quest for truth that encompassed both observation and divine revelation. Providing brief biographies of the lives and work of the leading thinkers of these eras, Wilson demonstrates how "scientia" included not only scientific experimentation but theology, metaphysics, alchemy, and medicine, and explores the continuing interest of preeminent scientific pioneers such as Isaac Newton and Johannes Kepler in theological issues. Even the persecution of Galileo by the Vatican did not signal a final break between science and religion, argues Wilson, but was merely one battle in the larger Reformation struggle against the Catholic Church's unwillingness to sanction alternative interpretations of the Bible. Wilson ably posits that most intellectuals sought a middle way between extreme rationalism and radical religious thought, and in their embrace of both religion and science contributed invaluably to a search for understanding that continues to this day. VERDICT Highly recommended for readers interested in scientific or European history.-Sara Shreve, Newton, KS © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
Introduction: '42' | p. vii |
Chapter 1 New wine and old wineskins | p. 1 |
Chapter 2 A magical world | p. 23 |
Chapter 3 Re-evaluation | p. 43 |
Chapter 4 Heavens above? | p. 71 |
Chapter 5 Medicine men | p. 91 |
Chapter 6 Seeing may be believing | p. 113 |
Chapter 7 Confusion | p. 147 |
Chapter 8 I think - so what? | p. 173 |
Chapter 9 The religion of doctors | p. 199 |
Chapter 10 Spreading the word | p. 217 |
Chapter 11 Day star of the Enlightenment | p. 243 |
Chapter 12 Avant le deluge | p. 257 |
Bibliography | p. 291 |
Index | p. 299 |