Christianity In The 17th, 18th And 19th Century

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the emergence of a scientific worldview and reflections on suffering challenged Christianity, causing the Church to refine ideas and respond. Belief only in scientific discoveries led to rationalism, the belief that there is no route to truth except through reason. Through careful deliberation and scholasticism, the Church examined the Christian tradition and drew new conclusions. Additionally, the Church addressed ideas on senseless suffering and atheism. Beginning in the sixteenth century, many scientists made discoveries that went against Church teaching and promoted new ideas of freedom, self-determination, and autonomy (379 Cory and Hollerich). In 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus published On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres, stating his hypothesis that the solar system is heliocentric (380 Cory and Hollerich). Additionally, in 1610 Galileo observes moons orbiting around Jupiter and teaches Copernican theory (380 Cory and Hollerich). These discoveries were so important and controversial at the time because the Church strongly supported the geocentric hypothesis. Medical Christians relied on the geocentric system because of the “emoryean,”the highest heaven where God and the angels were (380 Cory and Hollerich). All rational evidence pointed to a

God created humans to make their own choices. The saying, “Everything happens for a reason,” implies that God wants suffering. Schillebeeckx states there are some positive examples of suffering that are not meaningless (724). For example, when babies teeth, they are in pain, but that suffering is not meaningless (notes 11/28). There is suffering that is senseless and horrible, and there is no divine reason behind it because some things are just wrong (notes 11/21). That senseless, horrible suffering cannot be explained theologically because God does not want humanity to suffer (notes