Rene Descartes Influence On Religion

The Enlightenment period is a perfect example of the Church staying true to its teachings and reminding the world of the limits of science in satisfying man’s yearning for truth. As per usual, people were falling astray from the truth and started to doubt the Church. The views of philosophers, such as Rene Descartes, became popular amongst the people. Rene Descartes was dissatisfied that philosophers before him had been unable to agree on what is true. His solution was to start over and doubt everything. Descartes believed that the only thing for certain: “I exist” and “I think therefore I am” (Guinan Enlightenment). Following Rene Descartes philosophy, many people in society began to doubt and believed that nothing was certain except oneself. Other beliefs and philosophies began to emerge, such as empiricism, rationalism, and deism. Empiricism, founded by Francis Bacon, was the philosophical position that all human knowledge comes from experience. Religion is beyond disproof or proof because it is based on divine revelation, in other words, it cannot be scientifically proven. Deism is the belief that God exists and created the world but is not active in the universe. This belief portrays that God is not personal and is thus inconsequential. Rationalism is the belief that reason alone can know the truth. All of these beliefs are a radical rejection of what has been revealed through scripture and what all …show more content…
Vatican I adopted two documents: Dei Filius, which was on faith and reason, and Pastor Aeternus, which was on papal infallibility. By approving of Dei Filius, the council affirmed the validity of the Revelation, the connection between faith and reason, and the Church’s spiritual authority in matters related to the faith. A short excerpt from a translation of Cardinal Henry Edward Manning’s pastoral letter ‘The Vatican Council and It’s