The Role Of God In The Protestant Reformation

The theological assumption of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries assumed God as the ultimate source of intervention in day-to-day affairs – a reflection of the authoritative power of the Church of the era. Because there was no alternate existing explanation for the seemingly random occurrence of phenomena, people believed that God was the sole cause of natural events. Deism, the belief in a supreme being that created the universe but does not interact with humankind, distinctly contrasted with this prevailing religious dogma of the era. Essentially, this theological perspective brought the Protestant Reformation to a logical conclusion, providing empirical proof for the criticisms brought up by Martin Luther. The emergence of this new
religious outlook was a result of a series of scientific and intellectual inquiries, pursued to provide a substitute explanation for natural occurrences on the basis of rationalism and empiricism rather than faith. These developments compelled the reformulation of the current theological belief system in terms of God’s ultimate role in the universe, which in turn resulted in the emergence of deism. The scientists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries conducted their research in search of a deductive explanation for natural phenomena, which lessened God’s influence on earthly occurrences. For example, Copernicus’ heliocentric theory abolished the belief that the earth holds the utmost importance in the eyes of God. The idea that the earth was no longer the centre of the solar system implied that humans are insignificant relative to the grand scale of the universe, and that God is not directly involved in individual lives. The emergence of this theory initiated an era of doubt for Christianity, which allowed room for the deism movement to gain momentum. Kepler, a German astronomer, tried to discover a mathematical harmony that would provide an algorithmic explanation for the occurrences he observed through Brahe’s observatory. This led him to discover the three laws of planetary motion, which asserted that the planets interacted with each other under the influence of natural laws, not God. His ideas, combined with Galileo’s laws of terrestrial motion, proved there is an existing mathematical order to the universe, which can be understood by scientific analysis. Newton, an English physicist, combined the ideas of Kepler, Copernicus and Galileo to come up with the law of universal gravitation. This further proved the mathematical regularities that exist between cosmic and earthly bodies. These three innovations in logic provided explanations for the natural world, for which God had previously been the only available and accepted source. As opposed to being governed by a highly involved God, earthly affairs could now by explained through algorithmic mechanisms. God created these laws, but then left the world to operate upon these pre-established mechanisms on its own, without any divine intervention.
As scientific pursuits gained popularity, enlightened thinkers began to apply their deductive principles to philosophy. Human rationality emerged in the form of various intellectual developments that emphasized the importance of reasoning and proof in the pursuit of truth. Although not a deist himself, John Locke, an English philosopher and one of the main intellectual contributors to deism, constructed an epistemological platform for it by investigating the concept of collecting information through the senses. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he stated that all knowledge is derived from experience, and that empirical proof is the only valid proof, meaning that, at birth, the mind is a blank slate. This contradicted the widely accepted theory of innate ideas – the fact that God implants certain characteristics that predispose people to be a certain way. Locke established and propagated the belief that our ideas are not derived from God, but from our individual experiences. Voltaire, a French philosopher and deist whose ideas were inspired by Locke, asserted that God has no direct involvement in the affairs of the world that he created. He stated that the world acts in accordance with natural laws established by God, and that his existence can be proved through the understanding of these laws. Montesquieu actively applied these concepts by protesting against the church, stating that the clergy was “interested in keeping people ignorant”, and that their assertions were not based on empirical proof. By fighting against the church, which relied on faith, he perpetuated the belief that rationalism is the only valid source of knowledge. Famously, he said “The false notion of miracles comes of our vanity, which makes us believe we are important enough for the Supreme Being to upset nature on our behalf.” These intellectuals belong to a generation of enlightened philosophers that aided in popularizing the concept of rationality as opposed to faith, which provided further evidence for the validity of deism. The theological implications of these intellectual and scientific developments are what resulted in the emergence of the religious outlook of deism.
The previous ideal of God being the controller of all natural occurrences did not reconcile with the newly discovered natural laws. Deism did not gain popularity suddenly, but rather through years of accumulated subtle changes in theological beliefs as a result of various empirical developments. Faith-based religious ideals that contradicted scientific discoveries were eventually abandoned, as they could not be explained by the empiricism of science. This resulted in the denial of God’s role in everyday affairs. Gradually, religious rituals that praised God’s involvement in daily events were abolished. According to the beliefs of deism, God is only involved in the creation of the world (the past) and as a possible source of future destruction (the future). This is only because of the fact that scientists had not yet begun to explore these distant polar ends of the linear time scale yet, and therefore had not discovered empirical proof to explain this phenomenon. The events God was meant to explain were now explained by science, so society had no need to rely on theology anymore. Essentially, the emergence of deism is directly linked with the scientific and intellectual developments of the era in the sense that they replaced the previous faith-based explanation for natural
incidences. Deism emerged as a logical reaction to the scientific and intellectual developments of the scientific revolution. By denying God’s immediate role in everyday affairs, this religious outlook altered the course of theology and simultaneously propagated the secular ideals of scientific inquiry and critical thinking. As populations realized that their fate was held squarely in their own hands and not in those of God, action was taken to fight for a better life for the masses. The French Revolution, a period dominated by deist beliefs, exemplifies the newly-discovered individual autonomy of the era, as people now took to the streets to bring about liberalist social reforms, no longer constricted by their “God-given” societal role. Although deism is no longer a dominant theological position, the concepts and beliefs articulated within its doctrine initiated a ripple effect of rationality and science that provoked revolutionary changes that transcended the strict theological framework of traditional religion, and still acts as a basis for truth in our modern society.