Nice essay, Nathan. Much to know, and I appreciate your scholarship. Clearly, too much of Roman Catholic religion is in truth anti-religion.
I understand that Islam preserved much of Classical literature, and Renaissance scholars were able to access it in the Caliphate of the time.
Also, Muslim science was astounding in its time as we know from 'algebra' and 'algorithm' and 'alcohol', all Arabic words that passed into European languages along with their practices.
Spot on, as always, Tedder! A few alchemical books—like the very short Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus—were known to Medieval Europe through Muslim scholarship. That's where the term alchemy comes from: the Arabic word "al-Kīmiyā," or "Egyptian Art."
But the conquests of the Turkish Sultans stirred up the intellectual pollen of Greece, and it drifted over Europe as sweet perfume. The Florentines were astonished to get their hands on the 14 additional books of the Corpus Hermeticum. Magic was a fresh alternative to stale Roman Catholic orthodoxy.
Nice essay, Nathan. Much to know, and I appreciate your scholarship. Clearly, too much of Roman Catholic religion is in truth anti-religion.
I understand that Islam preserved much of Classical literature, and Renaissance scholars were able to access it in the Caliphate of the time.
Also, Muslim science was astounding in its time as we know from 'algebra' and 'algorithm' and 'alcohol', all Arabic words that passed into European languages along with their practices.
Spot on, as always, Tedder! A few alchemical books—like the very short Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus—were known to Medieval Europe through Muslim scholarship. That's where the term alchemy comes from: the Arabic word "al-Kīmiyā," or "Egyptian Art."
But the conquests of the Turkish Sultans stirred up the intellectual pollen of Greece, and it drifted over Europe as sweet perfume. The Florentines were astonished to get their hands on the 14 additional books of the Corpus Hermeticum. Magic was a fresh alternative to stale Roman Catholic orthodoxy.