“It is certain that when the penny jingles into the money- box, gain and avarice can be increased, but the result of the intercession of the Church is in the power of God alone.” Martin Luther Ch.16 Religion and Science

Early 16 th century, Protestant Reformation shattered the unity of Roman Catholic Christianity For 1,000 yrs, the Roman Catholic Church had provided the cultural & organizational foundation of Western European civilization Reformation began in 1517 when a German priest, Martin Luther, publicly invited debate about various abuses within the Roman Catholic Church Luther posted “Ninety-five Theses” on the door of a church in Wittenberg Criticized the luxurious life of the popes, corruption/immorality of some clergy,& the selling of indulgences

Indulgences = believed to remove penalties for sin. Luther’s protest was revolutionary b/c of its theological basis. Luther had come to a new understanding of salvation, & that it came through faith alone. He did not think good works of the sinner or the sacraments of the church had anything to do with it, b/c he believed faith was a free gift of God, graciously granted to his needy and undeserving people.

His beliefs were not based off the teaching of the Church, but the Bible alone (interpreted according to the individual’s conscience) Luther challenged the authority of the Church & the special position of the clerical hierarchy & of the pope in particular Contrary to Luther’s original intentions, his ideas ultimately provoked a massive schism w/in the world of Catholic Christendom Some kings and princes found in Luther’s ideas a justification for their own independence & an opportunity to gain the lands/taxes previously held by the Church

The middle class liked the Protestant view that all jobs were equal in terms of value; it provided a new religious legitimacy for their growing role in society since the Roman Catholic Church was associated in their eyes with the rural/feudal world of aristocratic privilege. This served to help their opposition to the entire social order, particularly in a series of German peasant revolts in the 1520s.

Although large numbers of women were attracted to Protestantism, Reformation teachings & practices didn’t offer them a greater role In Protestant-dominated areas, the veneration of Mary & female saints ended, leaving the male Christ figure as the sole object of worship Protestant opposition to celibacy/monastic life closed the convents, which offered an alternative to marriage Protestants (except the Quakers) did not offer women an official role w/in their churches The importance that Protestants gave to reading the Bible for oneself stimulated education & literacy for women but with little opportunity for women to use their education

Reformation thinking spread quickly w/in & beyond Germany due to the recent invention of the printing press by Johann Gutenberg & Luther’s translation of the New Testament into German. But as the movement spread, it splintered into a variety of competing Protestant churches – Lutheran, Calvinist, Anglican, Quaker, Anabaptist – many of which subsequently subdivided.

For more than 30yrs( ), French society was torn by violence b/t Catholics & the Protestant minority known as Huguenots On August 24, 1572, Catholic mobs in Paris massacred some 3,000 Huguenots, &thousands more perished in provincial towns in the weeks that followed Finally, Henry IV issued the “Edict of Nantes” (1598) granting a measure of religious toleration to French Protestants w/ the intention they would soon return to the Catholic Church The culmination of European religious conflict took shape in the “Thirty Years War” ( ), a Catholic-Protestant struggle that began in the Holy Roman Empire but eventually engulfed Europe

Protestant breakaway & reformist tendencies w/in the Catholic Church, provoked a Catholic Counter- Reformation In the “Council of Trent” ( ), Catholics clarified & reaffirmed their unique doctrines/practices, such as: authority of the pope, priestly celibacy, the veneration of saints & relics, & the importance of church traditions/good works Catholics also set about correcting the abuses & corruption that had stimulated the Protestant movement The Inquisition or Catholic court was est. to crackdown on rebels & heretics while censoring books

New religious orders, such as the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), provided a dedicated brotherhood of priests committed to the renewal of the Catholic Church and its extension abroad.

Protestant reformers fostered religious individualism as people were now encouraged to read/interpret the Bible for themselves & to seek salvation w/out church mediation The Protestant Reformation opened some space for new directions in European intellectual life

Christianity motivated European political/economic expansion & also benefitted from it Catholic Spain & Portugal viewed their movement overseas as a continuation of a long crusading tradition, which only recently completed the liberation of their countries from Muslim control New England Puritans practiced a Protestant version of Christianity in North America, w/ an emphasis on: education, moral purity, personal conversion, civic responsibility, & little tolerance for competing expressions of the faith Puritans did not show much interest in converting natives but sought rather to push them out of their lands

Missionaries, mostly Catholic, actively spread the Christian message beyond European communities. Portuguese missionaries took the lead in Africa & Asia, while Spanish & French missionaries were most prominent in the Americas. Missionaries of the Russian Orthodox Church likewise accompanied the expansion of the Russian Empire across Siberia. But missionaries had their greatest success in Spanish America & in the Philippines.

Spanish America & the Philippines shared an overwhelming European presence, colonial settlement, missionary activity, forced labor, social disruption, & disease Seemed as if the old gods had been beaten & that any possible future lay w/ the powerful religion of the European invaders A second common factor was the absence of a literate world religion in these two regions People solidly rooted in Confucian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Islamic traditions proved more resistant to the Christian message

European missionaries claimed an exclusive religious truth and sought the utter destruction of local gods & everything associated with them. Sometimes there were violent campaigns to uproot old religions. The religious revivalist movement developed in central Peru in the 1560s, known as “Taki Onqoy” (dancing sickness). Traveling dancers called on native peoples to cut off all contact w/the Europeans & their cultures in the belief that an alliance of Andean deities would overcome the Christian God & punish the Europeans.

More common were efforts at blending two religious traditions, reinterpreting Christian practices w/in an indigenous framework, & incorporating local elements into Christianity Did not eliminate the influence of local huacas or Andean gods Central to an emerging Mexican Christianity were the saints who closely paralleled the functions of precolonial gods But the Chinese encounter with Christianity was very different from that of Native Americans in Spain’s New World empire

China had encountered European Christianity between the 16 th & 18 th centuries during the powerful Ming ( ) & Qing (( ) dynasties. Although the transition b/t these dynasties occasioned several decades of internal conflict, at no point was China’s political or cultural integrity threatened.

Jesuits, took deliberate aim at attempting to convert the official Chinese elite Following the lead of their most famous missionary, Matteo Rici, many Jesuits learned Chinese, examined Confucian texts, & dressed like Chinese scholars Small number of Chinese converted to Christianity; missionaries offered little that the Chinese really needed Confucianism for the elites & Buddhism, Daoism, & Chinese gods at the local level addressed the spiritual needs of most Chinese

Missionaries’ reputation as miracle workers further damaged their standing as men of science & rationality Some Chinese viewed the Christian ritual of Holy Communion as a kind of cannibalism And it did not escape Chinese notice that European Christians had taken over the Philippines & that their warships were active in the Indian Ocean

African religious ideas & practices accompanied slaves to the Americas. Syncretic (blended) religions such as Vodou in Haiti, Santeria in Cuba, & Candomble/Macumba in Brazil persisted. They derived from various West African traditions & featured drumming, ritual dancing, animal sacrifice, & spirit possession. Over time, they incorporated Christian beliefs & often identified their various spirits/deities w/Catholic saints.

Continuation of the expansion of Islam across the Afro-Asian world Cont. Islamization often depended on wandering Muslim holy men, Islamic scholars, & traders, none of whom posed a threat to local rulers Such people were often useful to rulers for they offered literacy in Arabic & offered connection to the wider, prestigious, prosperous world of Islam But new converts did not generally give up their older practices & to more orthodox Muslims, this religious syncretism was heretical

These sentiments played an important role in movements of religious renewal/reform that emerged throughout the vast Islamic world of the 18 th century. Scholars & religious leaders frequently called attention to the ways in which the practice of Islam had come to deviate from the original teachings of Muhammad and the Quran.

In Arabia, Abd al- Wahhab ( ), 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 Abd al-Wahhab called for a return to a rigid Islam, living in accordance w/ the sharia (Islamic law)

Confucianism, enriched by the insights of Buddhism, & Daoism, generated Neo-Confucianism Kaozheng or “research based on evidence” took shape in China Kaozheng was critical of the unfounded speculation of conventional Confucian philosophy & instead emphasized the importance of verification, precision, accuracy, & rigorous analysis in all fields of inquiry It was a genuinely scientific approach to knowledge but it was applied more to the study of the past than to natural world and the sciences

Devotional form of Hinduism known as bhakti arose. Through songs, prayers, dances, poetry, & rituals, devotees sought to achieve union w/ one or another of India’s many deities. Set aside caste distinctions & disregarded the detailed rituals of the Brahmin priests in favor of direct contact w/ the divine. This emphasis had much in common with the mystical Sufi form of Islam & helped blur the distinction between these two traditions in India.

Among the most beloved of bhakti poets was Mirabai ( ), a high-caste woman from northern India who abandoned her upper-class family & conventional Hindu upbringing Upon her husband’s death, she declined to burn herself on his funeral pyre She furthered offended caste restrictions by taking as her guru (religious teacher) an old untouchable shoemaker Much of her poetry deals with her yearning for union with Krishna, a Hindu deity she regarded as her husband, lover, and lord Yet another major cultural change that blended Islam & Hinduism emerged with the growth of Sikhism

Sikhism developed in the Punjab region of northern India. Its founder, Guru Nanak ( ), had been involved in the bhakti movement but came to believe that “there is no Hindu; there is no Muslim; only God.” His teachings & subsequent gurus also set aside caste distinctions & untouchability & ended the seclusion of women, while proclaiming the “brotherhood of all mankind” as well as the essential equality of men and women.

Drawing converts from Punjabi peasants/merchants, both Muslim & Hindu, the Sikhs gradually became a separate religious community Guru Granth (teacher book) was their sacred text Sikhs were required to keep hair & beards uncut, wear a turban, & to carry a small sword During the 17 th century, Sikhs encountered hostility from both the Mughal Empire & some of their Hindu neighbors

Sikhism evolved into a militant community whose military skills were highly valued by the British when they took over India in the late eighteenth century.

S TRAYER Q UESTIONS In what ways did the Protestant Reformation transform European society, culture, and politics? How was European imperial expansion related to the spread of Christianity? In what ways was European Christianity assimilated into the Native American cultures of Spanish America? Why were missionary efforts to spread Christianity so much less successful in China than in Spanish America? What accounts for the continued spread of Islam in the early modern era and for the emergence of reform or renewal movements within the Islamic world? In what ways did Asian cultural changes in the early modern era parallel those of Europe, and in what ways were they different?