Medieval History of Science and Religion

“...this wonderful book. With an engaging fervour, James Hannam has set about rescuing the reputation of a bunch of half-forgotten thinkers, and he shows how they paved the way for modern science.” Boris Johnson, Mail on Sunday

“A spirited jaunt through centuries of scientific development… captures the wonder of the medieval world: its inspirational curiosity and its engaging strangeness.” Sunday Times

“This book contains much valuable material summarised with commendable no-nonsense clarity… James Hannam has done a fine job of knocking down an old caricature.” Noel Malcolm, Sunday Telegraph

“Hannam, the liveliest of guides, makes enjoyable reading out of some seriously dusty history and difficult ideas.” The Scotsman

“Here, in short, is a readable book, aimed at an intelligent but ignorant layman. You'll enjoy it.” Daniel Hannan MEP, Daily Telegraph

“A very useful general survey of a difficult topic, and a robust defence of an unfairly maligned age.” The Spectator

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God's Philosophers is published in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia by Icon Books.

It can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca.

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od’s Philosophers tells the unknown story of medieval science. It shows how Copernicus’s sun-centred universe, Kepler’s optics and Galileo’s mechanics all owed their inspiration and much of their detail to medieval antecedents. You will meet fascinating characters and hear their stories, including the tragic love affair of Abelard and Heloise, the burning of the astrologer Cecco D’Ascoli, the family disasters of Jerome Cardan and the trial of Galileo. God's Philosophers debunks many myths about the Middle Ages. Medieval people did not think the earth was flat, nor did Columbus 'prove' that it is a sphere. Everyone already knew. The Inquisition burnt nobody for their scientific ideas, nor was Copernicus afraid of persecution. No Pope tried to ban human dissection or the number zero. Medieval thinkers were not uncritical slaves to Aristotle. The Middle Ages were an era of invention and rapid technological change. For example, spectacles, the mechanical clock and the windmill were all invented in thirteenth century Europe. Ideas from the Far East, like printing, gunpowder and the compass were taken further by Europeans than the Chinese had imagined possible. Historians now utterly reject the idea that science and religion have been locked in a great conflict throughout history. God’s Philosophers shows how the Church supported but also set boundaries for science in the Middle Ages. Many of the most significant contributors to medieval science became bishops or cardinals. Many people today still believe that heavy objects fall faster than light ones and that vacuums suck. In God's Philosophers, you will not only learn the truth about physics, but also how medieval scholars overturned the false wisdom of ancient Greece to lay the foundations of modern science.

God's Philosophers is written by a historian with degrees in physics and history from Oxford and London universities. The author also has a PhD in the history of science from the University of Cambridge. It is based on the author’s own research as well as highly regarded academic work by the world’s leading historians of medieval science such as David Lindberg, Edward Grant, William A Wallace, Alan Debus, John North, Lynn Thorndike, Anneliese Maior and Lynn White. This is the first history of medieval science intended for the lay reader and makes available the exciting developments in modern scholarship.

Medieval Science and Philosophy

God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science By James Hannam

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