Good stuff. I think the Church of England can also be given a lot of credit for helping inspire and sustain the Royal Society. A significant number of early members were Anglican clergy—or like Robert Boyle, had evangelistic intentions. Sprat’s 1667 “History of the Royal Society” follows Francis Bacon in seeing institutional science as a religious mission of Christian society. Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) opens with a theological explanation for the importance of using instruments in science—essentially a theology of fallibilism.
Good stuff. I think the Church of England can also be given a lot of credit for helping inspire and sustain the Royal Society. A significant number of early members were Anglican clergy—or like Robert Boyle, had evangelistic intentions. Sprat’s 1667 “History of the Royal Society” follows Francis Bacon in seeing institutional science as a religious mission of Christian society. Hooke’s Micrographia (1665) opens with a theological explanation for the importance of using instruments in science—essentially a theology of fallibilism.
You missed Lemaître ;)