Kepler's Tubingen: Stimulus to a Theological Mathematics (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History) [Hardcover]

Charlotte Methuen (Author)

Book Description

Series: St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History | Publication Date: August 1998

This interdisciplinary study considers theology and the beginnings of modern science at the University of Tubingen in the time of Johannes Kepler (1571-1630). The author casts light upon the origins of modern scientific method by examining the relationship between theology, astronomy and dialectics at the university in the work of Kepler's teachers. Studies of Kepler generally treat him as a precursor of the modern scientist - the influences upon him are identified as Platonist or Pythagorean and his theological interests have often been ignored, or considered as a mystical aberration unworthy of in-depth treatment. This text attempts to place Kepler's work in the wider tradition of mainstream 16th-century thought. It portrays and analyzes the influences and ideas which permeated the life of the university in Tubingen in the second half of the 16th century and places them in relationship to the theology of Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon. The study pays particular attention to the use of theological concepts, astronomical observations, logical demonstrations and the categories of physics, and to the interplay between them.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Scolar Pr (August 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859283977
• ISBN-13: 978-1859283974
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,412,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Tübingen and theology than Kepler and mathematics, February 27, 2009

By 

Viktor Blasjo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kepler's Tubingen: Stimulus to a Theological Mathematics (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History) (Hardcover)

For someone interested in Kepler this is an interesting book, although the emphasis is more on Tübingen and theology than on Kepler and mathematics.

The human mind is created to do mathematics. According to Melanchthon, the atomistic doctrines of creation by chance "wage war against human nature, which was clearly founded to understand divine things" (p. 76); astronomical observations are as natural to a human being as "swimming to a fish or singing to a nightingale" (p. 85). Kepler elaborates: "Rather, as we do not ask what hope or gain makes a little bird warble, since we know that it takes delight in singing because it is for that very singing that a bird was made, so there is no need to ask why the human mind undertakes such toil in seeking out these secrets of the heavens" (p. 207).

The purpose of scientific study is therefore twofold. (1) "inflaming their souls with love and enthusiasm for the truth and rousing them to understanding of the noblest things" (Melanchthon, p. 73). "[T]he reason why there is such a great variety of things, and treasuries so well concealed in the fabric of the heavens, is so that fresh nourishment should never be lacking for the human mind, and it ... should have in this universe an inexhaustible workshop in which to busy itself" (Kepler, p. 208). (2) Astronomers are "priests of the book of nature" (Kepler, p. 206n3). The existence of God follows from the universe's "beauty, order, and all things which have been founded for settled purposes" (Heerbrand, p. 137). "God desired that knowledge of the wonderful courses and powers should lead us towards knowledge of the divine" (Melanchthon, p. 76).

Another influence is of course Maestlin who proved by parallax that the 1572 nova was a star (p. 173) and that comets are "in the height of the aether" (p. 179).

"Where is Platonism? Where, for that matter, is Neoplatonism, or the Hermetic trends which are to be found in Kepler's thought? They seem not to have been at all current in Tübingen's university circles." (pp. 221-222)