Religious Values & the Rise of Science in Europe

The research articles in this book review some trends and developments in early modern science during the 16th and 17th centuries and explore how values, particularly religious ones affected them positively or negatively. Therefore, this book attempts to provide new insights into the relationship between science and religion and puts forward the proper perspectives to be adopted in analyzing this relationship. These analyses shed light upon the values that were conducive or obstructive to scientific advancement, and the traditions that led to receptivity to science, as observed in Europe and in the Ottoman State. One of the major themes of the book is the reception of Copernican astronomy, which allows comparisons to be made between Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Ottoman responses.

The majority of the articles in this book were presented at the workshop titled “Science and Human Values”, organized by the European Science Foundation in cooperation with IRCICA and the Turkish Society for History of Science (6-7 October 2001, IRCICA Istanbul). The co-chairmen of the workshop were H.E. Prof. Dr. Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Secretary General of OIC and at that time Director General of IRCICA (1980 – December 2004) and Prof. Dr. John Hedley Brooke from Oxford University, Chairman of the European Science Foundation.

This book includes articles by the following distinguished scholars: John Brooke; John North; Peter Barker; Charlotte Methuen; Anne-Charlott Trepp; Kenneth Howell; Paolo Ponzio; Mariano Artigas, Rafael-Martinez & William Shea; Robert Iliffe; Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, and Sonja Brentjes. The book also contains illustrations.