The sale of indulgences – Johann Tetzel – differences between northern and southern Catholicism – Martin Luther – nails his theses to Wittenberg
church – the Knights’ War – the Peasants’ Revolt – Anabaptists – German character of the Reformation – Calvin – Puritan ethic – sack of
Rome – book censorship and the Index – the Tyndale affair – Council of Trent – Loyola and the Jesuits – Jesuits in the East – varieties of Protestantism
– the cult of the sermon – Protestantism’s effects on literacy, discipline and marriage – Counter-Reformation art – the Baroque style – Bernini
23. The Genius of the Experiment
Was there a scientific revolution? – why the Muslims and Chinese never developed modern science – understanding the heavens as the most important aim of science
– Copernicus – Brahe – Kepler – elliptical orbits – Galileo – the telescope – Newton – decimals – logarithms and the calculus –
Leibniz – Principia Mathematica – gravity – optics – speed of light – Vesalius – Harvey – Kircher, Leeuwenhoek and microscopic life – Bacon and
the philosophy of science – Descartes’ method – the Royal Society and the experiment – universities and science – the rise of scientific instrumentation
24. Liberty, Property and Community: Origins of Conservatism and Liberalism
The rise of the nation-state – absolute monarchy – Machiavelli – The Prince – Mariana and Suárez – Bodin – Hobbes –
Leviathan – Locke – Two Treatises of Government – Spinoza – Tractatus Theologico-Politicus – Vico – Scienza Nuova – the invention of ‘the
public’
25. The ‘Atheist Scare’ and the Advent of Doubt
The effect of Copernicus’ discovery on belief – vernacular translations of the Bible – discrepancies revealed – atheism in Greece, Rome and medieval
Europe – the alternative tradition of unbelievers – Montaigne and the secular world – Galileo and the moons of Jupiter – four stages of doubt – rationalistic
supernaturalism – deism – scepticism – atheism – the attack on miracles – second thoughts on the soul – the attack on Jesus – the attack on prophecy
– Hobbes – Hume – Bayle – Vanini the first modern atheist – the attack on the Old Testament – the attack on Genesis – the attack on biblical
chronology
26. From Soul to Mind: the Search for the Laws of Human Nature
