MD- Deep Duck - Chapter 10 (sermon)

[Mark Kohut]

Becky writes:

** The scientific revolution "nurtured a growing awareness" that
"there were universal laws of nature at work that ordered the movement
of the world and its parts." James K. A. Smith and Amos Yong write
that in "astronomy, the Copernican revolution regarding the
heliocentrism of the solar system, Johannes Kepler's (1571-1630) three
laws of planetary motion, and Isaac Newton's (1642-1727) law of
universal gravitation--laws of gravitation and of motion, and notions
of absolute space and time--all combined to establish the regularities
of heavenly and earthly bodies."

For Sir Isaac Newton, "the regular motion of the planets made it
reasonable to believe in the continued existence of God."[4] Newton
also upheld the idea that "like a watchmaker, God was forced to
intervene in the universe and tinker with the mechanism from time to
time to ensure that it continued operating in good working order."[5]
Like Newton, René Descartes viewed "the cosmos as a great time machine
operating according to fixed laws, a watch created and wound up by the
great watchmaker."[6]  **

So for Cherrycoke to be preaching a positive comparison between
astronomy and religion/God is interesting in that it shows the two
entities were not separate at the time- in Cherrycoke's age the
Natural World was God's World.  So it follows that Mason and Dixon
could be both men of cutting edge science and look to a God of the
cosmos including Jesus Christ.

Thoughts?

yes, I think this is the time when both could coexist in History and
did. (if my suggestion about Cherrycoke's doubts is true, he is a kind
of historic hinge. He foretells the faith loss of the near future.
***********

On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 10:09 AM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
> Chapter 10 - p. 94
>
> Overview:   (from Wiki):
> The opening of the episode returns to Philadelphia where the Reverend, using an orrery, lectures on the Transit of Venus and the solar parallax. In Cape Town, the skies clear long enough for Mason and Dixon to take their observations. A strange lassitude descends on the colony for several weeks after the event but normal routines are soon restored, even as the Vroom daughters find new objects for their attentions. After several months, Mason and Dixon depart Cape Town aboard the Mercury. The Reverend closes the episode by musing whether something other than philosophical or scientific desire drives astronomers worldwide to their observations."
>
> ****
> From an unpublished Sermon:
>
> *  "As Planets do the Sun, we orbit 'round God according to Laws as elegant as Kepler's.  God is as sensible to us, as a Sun to a Planet.  Tho' we do not see Him, yet we know where in our Orbits we run, -- when we are closer, when more distant, -- when in His light and when in shadow of our own making. . . . We feel as components of Gravity His Love,  His Need,  whatever it be that keeps us circling. Surely if a Planet be a living Creature, then it knows, by something even more wondrous than Human Sight, where its Sun shines, however far it lie.  We feel as components of Gravity,  His Love"*
> Gravity's Rainbow?  Or not?
>
>  I think this chunk of unpublished sermon is included to acknowledge that science and religion had NOT gone their separate ways at that point.  (I think in the US that was in the 1920s with the Scopes Trial.)  In fact,  discovering the universal laws of nature, especially in astronomy,  worked quite well with the religion of some scientific men.  Later this developed into what was called the "Watchmaker analogy."  Meanwhile,  the idea that history was the search for Christ was covered in Chapter 7 (p. 75).
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watchmaker_analogy
>
> ** The scientific revolution "nurtured a growing awareness" that "there were universal laws of nature at work that ordered the movement of the world and its parts." James K. A. Smith and Amos Yong write that in "astronomy, the Copernican revolution regarding the heliocentrism of the solar system, Johannes Kepler's (1571-1630) three laws of planetary motion, and Isaac Newton's (1642-1727) law of universal gravitation--laws of gravitation and of motion, and notions of absolute space and time--all combined to establish the regularities of heavenly and earthly bodies."
>
> For Sir Isaac Newton, "the regular motion of the planets made it reasonable to believe in the continued existence of God."[4] Newton also upheld the idea that "like a watchmaker, God was forced to intervene in the universe and tinker with the mechanism from time to time to ensure that it continued operating in good working order."[5] Like Newton, René Descartes viewed "the cosmos as a great time machine operating according to fixed laws, a watch created and wound up by the great watchmaker."[6]  **
>
> So for Cherrycoke to be preaching a positive comparison between astronomy and religion/God is interesting in that it shows the two entities were not separate at the time- in Cherrycoke's age the Natural World was God's World.  So it follows that Mason and Dixon could be both men of cutting edge science and look to a God of the cosmos including Jesus Christ.
>
> Thoughts?
> ***********
>
> Bek
>
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