Bede

DC,

To account for how rationalism took root in a Christian society necessarily requires us to engage the Christianity/rationalist interface. It is not trivial to consider the cultural context, it is fundamental. Science did not start out as a successful trend and we need to ask why Christians thought it was an idea going places. I would suggest we are still very far from an answer but the old idea that Christianity was opposed (which you did not mention) is dead in the water. Indeed, setting up any kind of dichotomy between early scientist's religious views and their rational ones is a mistake.

Yours

Bede

Bede's Library - faith and reason