In the ancient world, it was commonplace to see all of nature as meaningful, full of signs of divine intentions for men. In this enchanted world, everything had its place. The Christian world was no exception, refashioning this system into a biblical frame. As Renaissance astrologers and alchemists pressed the boundaries of the craft to illuminate this system, the system became less and less able to accommodate these observations. The New Philosophy reordered the cosmos, taking these experimental findings and structuring them into a mechanical and mathematical form. Divine intentions became superfluous, even if God still remained the mover. However, it was only a small step from here to render God an epiphenomenon in this disenchanted universe.
Unhappily we have lived, with Christians in feeble spurts trying pitifully to advocate for the Intelligent Designer or the uniqueness of humans over other animals. As Christians fail to move their culture back to a belief in an enchanted universe, or better, life in harmony with it, humanity still suffers ironically in a deep longing for communion with God and nature. We pine away for meaning and purpose, but have excluded their possibility from the start. What then is the solution? Is it to reject ideas which disenchanted the world? Is re-enchantment a return to, say, a Medieval Christian model of the world with all of its pagan trappings? If not, how then can we learn again to see, yet with our modern eyes, what Paul insists we can see (Rom 1), but struggle so much more now to see than in former times?
This seminar will be led by Dr. Jason Rampelt (History of Science and Medicine Archivist, University of Pittsburgh)
Dr. Rampelt completed a PhD in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge University on John Wallis (1616-1703), the Oxford mathematician and theologian. This was followed by post-doc at the newly formed Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, St. Edmund’s College, Cambridge. The research from his PhD was published by Brill.
Dr. Rampelt worked for over three years as a lab technician/manager in the Departments of Neurobiology and Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh then for six years as a lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science. He is currently the History of Science and Medicine Archivist in Archives & Special Collections in the University of Pittsburgh Library System.