The Word and the World explores the significant impact of biblical reading practices on the scientific thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, engaging not only with canonical figures such as Bacon, Brahe or Galileo, but also with less well-know figures, including Bruno, Browne and Khunrath. It addresses the idea that early modern natural philosophers forged their new disciplines despite, rather than because of, the pervasive bible-centredness of early modern thought. The essays in this volume challenge this critical presumption and offer substantial evidence for the centrality of scriptural interpretation for scientific thinkers of the period. It ranges across the early modern scientific landscape, as well as attending to a wide spectrum of religious confessions across Europe. In addition, the contributions display mulidisciplinary interests and appproaches, drawing from backgrounds in Theology, the History of Science, Intellectual History, Literature and the Humanities.
List of figures
Notes on contributors
Introduction; P.J.Forshaw & K.Killeen
PART 1: THE WORD AND THE WORLD
The Use of Creatures: Allegory, the Literal Sense and the Contemplative Life; P.Harrison
Making Sense of Science and the Literal: Modern Semantics and Early Modern Hermeneutics; J.D.Fleming
Reading the Two Books with Francis Bacon: Interpreting God's Will and Power; S.Matthews
Textual Criticism and Early Modern Natural Philosophy: The Case of Marin Mersenne (1588-1648); P.Mueller
Giordano Bruno's Hermeneutics: Observations on the Bible in De Monade (1591); L.Catana
PART 2: INFERIOR AND SUPERIOR ASTRONOMY
Vitriolic Reactions: Orthodox Responses to the Alchemical Exegesis of Genesis; P.Forshaw
Tycho the Prophet: History, Astrology and the Apocalypse in Early Modern Science; H.Håkansson
'Whether the stars are innumerable for us?': Astronomy and Biblical Exegesis in the Society of Jesus around 1600; V.Remmert
Reading the Book of God as the Book of Nature: The Case of the Louvain Humanist Cornelius Valerius (1512-1578); I.A.Kelter
PART 3: EXEGESIS AND SCIENCE IN EARLY MODERN CULTURE
The Fortunes of Babel: Technology, History, and Genesis 11:1-9; J.Sawday
Duckweed and the Word of God: Seminal Principles and Creation in Thomas Browne (1605-1682); K.Killeen
Days of the Locust: Natural History, Politics, and the English Bible; K.Edwards
KEVIN KILLEEN is Lecturer in Renaissance Literature at the University of Reading, UK, and writes on Early Modern Religion and the History of Ideas.
PETER J. FORSHAW is a lecturer and British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and researches Early Modern Magic, Science and Religion, as well as teaching Renaissance Literature.
Description
The Word and the World explores the significant impact of biblical reading practices on the scientific thought of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, engaging not only with canonical figures such as Bacon, Brahe or Galileo, but also with less well-know figures, including Bruno, Browne and Khunrath. It addresses the idea that early modern natural philosophers forged their new disciplines despite, rather than because of, the pervasive bible-centredness of early modern thought. The essays in this volume challenge this critical presumption and offer substantial evidence for the centrality of scriptural interpretation for scientific thinkers of the period. It ranges across the early modern scientific landscape, as well as attending to a wide spectrum of religious confessions across Europe. In addition, the contributions display mulidisciplinary interests and appproaches, drawing from backgrounds in Theology, the History of Science, Intellectual History, Literature and the Humanities.
Contents
List of figures
Notes on contributors
Introduction; P.J.Forshaw & K.Killeen
PART 1: THE WORD AND THE WORLD
The Use of Creatures: Allegory, the Literal Sense and the Contemplative Life; P.Harrison
Making Sense of Science and the Literal: Modern Semantics and Early Modern Hermeneutics; J.D.Fleming
Reading the Two Books with Francis Bacon: Interpreting God's Will and Power; S.Matthews
Textual Criticism and Early Modern Natural Philosophy: The Case of Marin Mersenne (1588-1648); P.Mueller
Giordano Bruno's Hermeneutics: Observations on the Bible in De Monade (1591); L.Catana
PART 2: INFERIOR AND SUPERIOR ASTRONOMY
Vitriolic Reactions: Orthodox Responses to the Alchemical Exegesis of Genesis; P.Forshaw
Tycho the Prophet: History, Astrology and the Apocalypse in Early Modern Science; H.Håkansson
'Whether the stars are innumerable for us?': Astronomy and Biblical Exegesis in the Society of Jesus around 1600; V.Remmert
Reading the Book of God as the Book of Nature: The Case of the Louvain Humanist Cornelius Valerius (1512-1578); I.A.Kelter
PART 3: EXEGESIS AND SCIENCE IN EARLY MODERN CULTURE
The Fortunes of Babel: Technology, History, and Genesis 11:1-9; J.Sawday
Duckweed and the Word of God: Seminal Principles and Creation in Thomas Browne (1605-1682); K.Killeen
Days of the Locust: Natural History, Politics, and the English Bible; K.Edwards
Authors
KEVIN KILLEEN is Lecturer in Renaissance Literature at the University of Reading, UK, and writes on Early Modern Religion and the History of Ideas.
PETER J. FORSHAW is a lecturer and British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at Birkbeck, University of London, UK, and researches Early Modern Magic, Science and Religion, as well as teaching Renaissance Literature.
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