Mdthbs

How much more “incompatible” was rationalism with Catholicism compared to Protestant christianity?

Of course everyone learned in high school that the enlightenment was in direct opposition to Catholic dogma. In the 18th century it relentlessly attacked and ridiculed the Catholic Church, we all know enough examples – so this question may sound a bit naive.

The difference to me seems:

Rationalism has always been

• completely incompatible with Catholicism


• an important part of Protestant thought

But… the curious thing is: it starts right with the early enlightenment, with someone as as careful as the Catholic Descartes (when it comes to faith, he sounds more like a spokesman for the Middle Ages). His works ended upon the Index (stayed there till its abolition in the 20th century) and were also banned by royal decree… while Leibniz was revered in Protestantism.

I wonder if I overstate things?

Were there any instances in history were rationalism was tolerated by the Catholic Church? Did any other rationalist philosopher after Descartes make an attempt to reconcile his philosophy with Catholic faith?

Or were there were major conflicts between Protestant authorities and a Protestant rationalist (like Descartes vs. the Catholic Church)?

To suggest a different perspective, Whitehead writes the following: (page 8-9)

The Reformation and the scientific movement were two aspects of the historical revolt which was the dominant intellectual movement of the later Renaissance. The appeal to the origins of Christianity, and Francis Bacon's appeal to efficient causes as against final causes, were two sides of one movement of thought....

....It is a great mistake to conceive this historical revolt as an appeal to reason. On the contrary, it was through and through an anti-intellectualist movement. It was the return to the contemplation of brute fact; and it was based on a recoil from the inflexible rationality of medieval thought.

Protestantism could be viewed as a rejection of the rationalism of Catholicism desiring to go back to the origins of Christianity for the brute facts in the Bible rather than relying on Scholastic or Catholic authority.

Regarding Descartes, Wikipedia offers a hint as to why he may have had trouble with Catholic authorities:

In shifting the debate from "what is true" to "of what can I be certain?," Descartes arguably shifted the authoritative guarantor of truth from God to humanity (even though Descartes himself claimed he received his visions from God)—while the traditional concept of "truth" implies an external authority, "certainty" instead relies on the judgment of the individual.

If that best describes the events then rationalism (and the external authority grounded on it) characterized Catholicism while the Protestant revolt modeled itself more on a scientific pursuit through individual judgment of the brute facts each believer found in the Bible.

Whitehead, A. N. Science and the Modern World. Retrieved from Internet Archive on October 5, 2019 at https://archive.org/details/alfrednorthwhiteheadscienceandthemodernworld1997/page/n19

Wikipedia contributors. (2019, October 5). René Descartes. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 19:33, October 5, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ren%C3%A9_Descartes&oldid=919735446