EURO1004 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Dignitatis Humanae, Religious Skepticism, David Strauss
WEEK 6 – Revolutionary Europe
Textbook reading: ‘The Year of Revolutions’, in William Simpson and Martin Jones
(eds),
Europe: 1783-1914
, Third edition (London and New York: Routledge, 2015),
pp. 122-39 and 175-191
CH 8: CHANGES IN THE WORLD OF IDEAS
Section A
NEW WAYS OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD
Religious belief and practice
- On one hand, there was religious scepticism voiced by Hume, Voltaire, Diderot,
etc. and this was echoed and strengthened by a succession of thinkers who placed
their faith firmly in rational enquiry and the need for evidence.
- On the other hand, after the French Revolution, those who found the application
of reason alone to be an inadequate guide to the mystery of life and source of
morality had their doubts about the powers of unaided reason confirmed by men’s
evident failure to solve the problems of human existence.
- One positive gain from both the French and American Revolutions was the belief
in religious toleration, not just because it was practical/useful but as a positive good
–
e.g. in the 16
th century for the sake of civil peace in both Germany and France, a
form of religious toleration was worked out
- Whilst most European states had adopted the principle of religious toleration by
1900, the Roman Catholic Church took longer to accept it
- A much more wholehearted acceptance of the principle of religious toleration was
finally promulgated by Pope Paul VI at the Vatican Council in 1965 in the decree
Dignitatis Humanae
- Religious toleration necessitated freedom of opinion for agnostics and atheists as
well as for different variants of Christians
- One eminent Historian, O. Chadwick said that
“The real coming of toleration, for
atheism, or for any sort of religion, was the biggest single difference between 1800
and 1914”
Challenges to belief
-
The intellectual challenges to Christianity came in two main forms:
1. The undermining of belief in the truth of the biblical account of creation as a
result of scientific discoveries
o The scientific challenge first came from the new science of geology
o
E.g. James Hutton, a Scottish geologist
– argued that the earth’s
structure was produced by continuous geological forces of erosion and
the emergence of new strata
2. The doubts cast on the historical accuracy of Christ’s life and divine nature as
given in the Gospels, as a result of textual analysis and comparison with other
evidence
o A more immediate impact than the scientific discoveries was the
scrutiny and textual analysis, particularly of the New Testament,
centred in Germany
o
E.g. in 1835, David Strauss
put in effort to reconstruct the life of Jesus
and noted the many discrepancies – and, in some cases, contradictions
in the Gospel accounts. He expressed his doubts over the literal truth
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Textbook reading: the year of revolutions", in william simpson and martin jones (eds), europe: 1783-1914, third edition (london and new york: routledge, 2015), pp. Ch 8: changes in the world of ideas. On one hand, there was religious scepticism voiced by hume, voltaire, diderot, etc. and this was echoed and strengthened by a succession of thinkers who placed their faith firmly in rational enquiry and the need for evidence. One positive gain from both the french and american revolutions was the belief in religious toleration, not just because it was practical/useful but as a positive good. E. g. in the 16th century for the sake of civil peace in both germany and france, a form of religious toleration was worked out. Whilst most european states had adopted the principle of religious toleration by. 1900, the roman catholic church took longer to accept it.
