A KISSed History of Beliefs

[GWH]

In 1453, the Hundred Years War concluded, and the Turks captured Constantinople (ending the Byzantine Empire), then took Athens, Bosnia and Herzegovina by 1467. The exodus of Byzantine scholars to Italy, the patronage of Cosimo Medici, the humanism of Marsilio Ficino (director of a Platonist Academy founded by Medici in 1439), and Gutenberg’s printing press (1450) combined to promote a Renaissance centered in Florence.

In 1479, Ferdinand and Isabella unified Spain and cooperated with the RC Inquisition, and in 1480, Ivan III became Czar of Russia. In 1492, Spain expelled the Jews and conquered Granada, while Columbus sailed to the Bahamas in America. The next year, the Turks invaded Croatia and encroached upon Italy. Meanwhile, Leonardo da Vinci worked in Florence as an inventor and painter, and the Portuguese explored ever further along the west coast of Africa, finding a sea route to India in 1498.

In 1501, a papal bull ordered the burning of books that undermined RC authority, and Erasmus published The Handbook of the Christian Soldier, calling for reformation by reading the Scriptures. However, he tried to remain neutral in the Reformation, and his fellow humanist, Thomas More (author of Utopia in 1516), actively opposed Lutheranism and apparently approved of the torture and burning of heretics.

Other events of interest during this period included Michelangelo‘s David sculpture in 1504, Copernicus’ discovery of the heliocentric solar system in 1512, and Portuguese explorers’ reaching China by sea in 1514. In 1517, Machiavelli wrote Il Principe, and Martin Luther protested the sale of indulgences by nailing 95 theses on a church door, beginning the Protestant Reformation in Germany.

 

[GWH]

Although the focus of this summary is on the history of beliefs or ideology, science is now included with political events, because these domains affected human beliefs (and information about the arts is added for spice). The advent of the printing press caused the recording of more details, so that our summary becomes more complex and I merely locate the “dots”, leaving it to the reader to connect them. Political events are put within regular brackets [ ] in a separate paragraph preceding the summary of beliefs, while scientific and cultural developments are located within irregular brackets { } in a separate paragraph following the ideological summary. The years discussed in each paragraph or section are placed within parentheses at the beginning.

(1517-1544) [Regarding political events: the migrations of the Middle Ages were replaced by almost continual warfare as various rulers sought to expand and defend their territories. The Turks captured Egypt and Arabia in 1517, Belgrade in 1521, and Hungary in 1541 under Sultan Suleiman I. Magellan began the circumnavigation of the globe in 1519, Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico in 1521, and Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru in 1533. Babar founded the Mogul dynasty in India in 1526.]

The world had four main ideologies: Christianity in Europe, Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, atheist Buddhism and Confucianism in the Far East, and polytheism in the rest of the world. In 1520, Thomas Muntzer went beyond Luther’s reforms and began the Anabaptist movement when he rejected infant baptism, and he was beheaded after leading a peasant’s revolt in 1525, trying to establish a communistic theocracy. In 1528, Balthasar Hubmaier was burned at the stake in Vienna for preaching adult baptism, so his wife drowned herself in the Danube River.

In Zurich, Ulrich Zwingli followed Luther’s lead, including rejection of Anabaptists, but he was killed in a battle with Swiss Catholic cantons in 1531. In that year, Henry VIII became head of the Church of England so he could divorce Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry had Thomas More and William Tyndale murdered for opposing him, and Anne Boleyn for not bearing him children. In 1535, John Calvin fled France to Switzerland, where he began his lifelong work on Institutes of the Christian Religion, which rejected infant baptism but adopted a deterministic view of Augustine’s doctrine of predestination. His followers in France were called the Huguenots.

{Regarding the arts and sciences: Renaissance artists included Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Lotto in Italy, and Durer in Nuremburg. Music included Lutheran hymns, Forster’s secular songs, madrigals and lute playing. Coffee, chocolate, and turkeys were introduced to Europe, while horses were taken to America. Spectacles were invented, bowling began in England, spinning wheels became common, lunatic asylums were established, and the first Christmas tree appeared (at the Strasbourg Cathedral). Spanish explored America, and Portuguese reached Japan. Halley’s comet made a reappearance in 1531.}

 

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(1545-1602) [The Turks continued to expand, taking Moldavia in 1546, part of Persia in 1548, Tripoli in 1551, Cyprus in 1571, Tunis in 1574, and skirmishing with Austria-Hungary in the 1590s. Ivan IV became Czar in Russia in 1547.

The Elizabethan age (1558-1603) began in England. Spain occupied the Philippines in 1564, captured Haarlem in the Netherlands in 1573, and assassinated William of Orange in 1584, but its naval armada was defeated when it attempted to invade England in 1588 (that was authorized as a crusade by the Pope).

In 1572, French Catholics massacred thousands of Huguenots, beginning in Paris on St. Bartholemew’s day, and in 1576 the Catholic League was formed for the purpose of exterminating them. The Moguls under Akbar I conquered Afghanistan in 1581, and the Russians expanded into Siberia. Japan’s dictator, Hideyoshi, banned Portuguese missionaries in 1587. The slave trade between Africa and America began.]

From 1545-63, the Council of Trent met in 25 sessions under three popes to counter Protestant reforms. It affirmed the deutero-canonical books, church tradition, seven sacraments, purgatory, celibacy, Jerome’s Vulgate and papal authority. Nostradamus began making his astrological predictions in 1547. Calvin approved of the execution of Michael Servetus for “heresy” in 1553. John Knox led a presbyterian reform movement that established the Church of Scotland in 1560.

{Although there were relatively few ideological developments during this period, much happened in the sciences. The magnetic pole was discovered by Mercator, potatoes and tobacco were transported from America, and the Gregorian calendar was adopted in RC countries. The plague again plagued Europe as typhoid fever decimated American Indians.

In the 1590s, Galileo conducted numerous experiments, and the bow was abandoned as a weapon of war in England. Inventions in Europe included: the water closet, shoe heel, fork eating utensil, thermometer, and telescope. Other novelties included: court jesters, sedan chairs, taverns, tulips, pencils, violins, cellos and porcelain. This period also saw the advent of life insurance, paper mills, mechanical saws and knitting machines.

Shakespeare wrote several plays. Music included: orchestral works, Byrd’s pieces for organ, ballet, opera (Peri’s Dafne), and “Greensleeves”. New artists included: Palladio in Venice, Breughel in the Netherlands, and El Greco in Spain. Recreational activities also included the games of golf, cricket and billiards.}

 

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(1603-1647) [The Tokugawa dynasty re-established the shogunate in Japan at modern Tokyo in 1603. The Spanish founded Santa Fe in 1605, the English founded Jamestown in 1607, and the Jesuits founded Paraguay in 1608. Michael Romanov became Czar in Russia in 1613, and the English, Dutch and Portuguese skirmished in India in 1615.

The Thirty Years’ War in central Europe began in 1618, which pitted RC against Protestant and Bourbon France against Hapsburg Spain, Flanders and the Holy Roman Empire (Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, etc.). Lutheran Denmark and then Sweden also participated in order to gain territory in northern Germany along the Baltic Sea, opposed by the German Catholic League.

Korea began paying tribute to China in 1627, which began the Manchu Ch’ing Dynasty in 1636. In 1635, the Dutch occupied Formosa, the English settled the Virgin Islands, and the French took Martinique. Turkey recovered Baghdad from Persia and Swedes settled on the Delaware River in 1638, Russian Cossacks advanced from the Urals to the Pacific in 1639, and England occupied the Bahamas in 1646.]

In 1610, followers of Jacob Arminius (called Remonstrants) published a document objecting to Calvin’s deterministic doctrine of predestination. The King James Bible was produced in 1611. Galileo was arrested by the RC Inquisition and prohibited from scientific work in 1616. The Synod of Dort condemned Arminianism in 1619.

Pilgrims seeking separation from the Church of England founded a colony at Plymouth in 1620, governed by the Mayflower Compact. In 1621 Johann Kepler’s work was banned by RC. In 1624, Jacob Boehme published three books that influenced subsequent theosophists.

In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by Puritans who wanted to cleanse the Anglican Church from vestiges of RC. In 1637, Rene Descartes published Discourse on Method, containing his famous maxim, “I think, therefore I am.” Foreign religions were prohibited in Japan in 1637. In 1638, Anne Hutchinson was banished from the Massachusetts Colony, but her church was invited to settle in Rhode Island by its founder, Roger Williams, who first used the term “wall of separation” to describe the relation between religion and government and whose colony was the first to establish religious liberty.

{The Dutch East India Company shipped tea from China to Europe in 1609. Negro slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619. In 1626, the Dutch West India Company founded New Amsterdam for commercial purposes. Galileo discovered the moons of Jupiter, Henry Hudson discovered Hudson Bay in Canada, and William Harvey studied the circulation of blood.

Inventions and new customs during this time included: adoption of January 1 as the beginning of the year, patent laws, fire engines, wigs, eyeglasses, clocks, public advertising, cafes, cotton goods, and income and property taxes. New music included: Monteverdi’s operas and books of madrigals #4-8, Praetorius’ collection of hymns, and music for virginals (keyboard). New artists included: Rubens, Bernini, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Velazquez, and British architect Inigo Jones.}

 

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(1648-1689) [In 1648, the Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years’ War despite the Pope’s bull, and the English Parliament won a war with King Charles I. In 1655, the first Northern War began, involving Sweden against Poland and Brandenburg against Prussia and then Sweden (until 1661). The Dutch settled in S. Africa in 1660.

In 1664, a protracted war between eastern European powers and Turkey began with a victory by the HRE, and Britain took New Amsterdam from the Dutch. Portugal won independence from Spain in 1665, and Poland ceded Kiev to Russia in 1667. Also in 1667, European warfare erupted again involving France, England, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, then Austria in 1673, Denmark in 1675 and Russia in 1678. Poland defeated the Turks in 1673 and allied itself with France in 1675.

In 1682, La Salle claimed the Louisianna Territory for France. In 1684, the HRE and Poland formed a league against Turkey, and in 1686 Russia also declared war on Turkey.]

In 1648, George Fox founded the Society of Friends (Quakers), who valued inner light over dogmatism and creedalism. In 1651, Thomas Hobbes published Leviathan, in which he argued that it is in peoples’ rational self-interest to make a “social contract”, ceding personal liberty to an absolute sovereign for the sake of civil peace.

In 1654, Blaise Pascal formulated theories of probability, later applying this to theology in his Pensees as “Pascal’s Wager”. In that year, Baruch Spinoza completed his Ethics, in which he espoused pantheism, determinism and Stoicism.

In 1681, William Penn obtained a royal charter for Pennsylvania, where he guaranteed freedom of religion and elected government. In 1684, John Bunyan completed Pilgrim’s Progress, a Christian allegory.

In 1689, John Locke published Two Treatises, the first rejecting the divine right of kings, and the second advocating for natural rights and consent of the governed, which influenced the English Parliament to issue a Declaration of Rights and crown William and Mary, establishing a constitutional monarchy (while Peter the Great became Czar of Russia).

{In 1650, the world population is estimated to have been about 500 million, although wars and plagues reduced Germany’s population from 17 to 8 million during this period. Leather upholstery was used for furniture, and drinking chocolate, cheddar cheese and ice cream were introduced. Stockings and grenades were manufactured, Stradivari made violins, and minute hands were put on watches. Paris was the center of European culture. In music, the aria and recitative became distinctive in opera, opera houses proliferated, the overture and minuet forms emerged, modern harmony was established, and the French horn was added to orchestras. New musicians included: Lully and Purcell. Vermeer was a notable artist, and Wren an architect.}

 

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(1690-1747) [England took Gibraltar in 1704 and Barcelona in 1705, and it united with Scotland to form Great Britain in 1707. The European wars continued to evolve with the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and the Quadruple Alliance of 1718, indicating shifts in attempts to resolve territorial disputes and balance power. The Turkish wars also continued: with Russia in 1711, with Sweden in 1713, and with the HRE Prince Eugene (a military commander for 60 years under three emperors) in 1716-18. In 1720, Spain occupied Texas, China administered Tibet, and Ireland had joined Great Britain. Russia began sending prisoners to populate Siberia.]

This period saw a marked increase in rationalist or Descartesian philosophy. In 1690, Locke published An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, in which he established empiricism, according to which the mind begins as a blank slate and develops knowledge from experiences.

In 1692-93, witchcraft trials were held in Salem, and 25 people were killed. In 1696, John Toland founded deism, stating in Christianity not Mysterious that reason is superior to revelation and what contradicts reason is not revelation. In 1710, George Berkeley published a treatise in which he argued that “to be means to be perceived”, which means that we know ideas, not objects (subjectivism).

In 1710, Gottfried Leibniz published Theodicee, in which he espoused optimism, that God would create the best possible world. He also postulated the existence of metaphysical monads as the ultimate essence of the universe. In 1716, Christianity was banned from China (like Japan in 1637).

The first freemason Grand Lodge was formed in London in 1717. Freemasonry used the stonemasonry square and compass as symbols of virtue, and promoted service to the Great Architect, but prohibited discussion of politics and religion. (It was condemned by the Pope in 1736.)

In 1722, Count Zinzendorf founded a Moravian settlement called Herrnhut, stressing that “there can be no Christianity without community” (communalism). In 1730, John and Charles Wesley founded Methodism, seeking to revive the Church of England. In 1736, John Wesley (an Arminian) and George Whitefield (a Calvinist) led the “First Great Awakening” spiritual revival in the British colonies in America (revivalism), which encouraged living in accordance with New Testament teachings.

In 1740, Frederick II allowed freedom of worship and of the press in Prussia. In 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered a famous sermon in Massachusetts, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, which popularized Calvinist theology.

{At the turn of the 18th century, bull-fighting was popular in Spain, sedan chairs were a popular mode of transportation, and the court of Versailles was the paradigm. Beards were taxed in Russia, and unmarried women in Berlin. Samuel Sewall protested against slavery in America, and serfdom was abolished in Denmark. Captain Kidd was hanged for piracy in 1701, and Queen Anne sanctioned horseracing with sweepstakes in 1702. Cricket, boxing and yachting were also popular in Great Britain, which passed a Copyright Act. The emperor of China outlawed opium. Porcelain and wallpaper became fashionable in Europe. In 1703, Isaac Newton was elected president of the Royal Society.

In music, Johann Bach and George Handel began careers that culminated the Baroque period of music and opera (between the Renaissance and Classical eras). Daniel Defoe published one of the first novels, Robinson Crusoe, in 1719, followed by Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels in 1726. Benjamin Franklin founded a library in 1731 and began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac in 1732.}

 

[GWH]

(1748-1783) [The British captured Quebec in 1759, then Martinique, Grenada, Havana and Manila in 1762. In 1765, Virginia led a challenge to the Stamp Tax, then Massachusetts resisted tax collections in 1768. Freedom of religion was granted by Russian Czarina Catherine in 1766, the Jesuits were expelled from Spain in 1767, and the Inquisition was abolished in France in 1772. The Encyclopedia Britannica was published in 1771 and Diderot’s Encyclopedie in 1772 in France. In 1775, the revolt of the British colonies in America began, and independence was won in 1783.]

The increased rationalist philosophical activity that began in the previous period continued during this and succeeding ones, becoming increasingly deist and atheist. In 1748, David Hume published A Treatise of Human Nature, which advocated skepticism–atheism and influenced Immanuel Kant. Hume discussed the problem of inductive reasoning and the uniformity of natural operations, saying that we are instinctually/necessarily compelled to believe things behave in a regular manner (in the absence of verified miracles) or have objective existence or are moral.

Also in 1748, Emanuel Swedenborg claimed to have a spiritual awakening and a commission from God to reform Christianity. He published Heaven and Hell in 1758, saying that both faith and charity are necessary for salvation. In 1749, Gotthold Lessing published The Freethinker, advocating freedom of thought and the sufficiency of human reason. In France, Voltaire, a deist, criticized the government and RC Church and devalued the Bible as an outdated human work, although saying, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him.” His most popular writing was Candide (1759), which satirized the optimism of Leibniz. A contemporary, J.J. Rousseau, was exiled from France after he published Emile, or On Education in 1762, which espoused Unitarianism and religious equivalence, while rejecting sin and divine revelation. His valuing of the simple rural life or natural man over corrupt urban political society in his first book, New Heloise, influenced romanticism. In The Social Contract (1762), he advocated Locke’s view on government checked by the general will of its populace. In 1777, Lessing published a work advocating tolerance of all religions.

In 1781, Immanuel Kant published Critique of Pure Reason, which is viewed as a philosophical watershed. He posited that the mind is not a blank slate, but rather it contains innate categories that shape experience, which was a sort of compromise or synthesis of the rationalist and empiricist positions. He also distinguished analytic propositions, which are tautological definitions, from synthetic propositions, which add a predicate concept that needs verification by experience.

Joseph Priestley published A History of the Corruptions of Christianity in 1782, which influenced Thomas Jefferson’s ideology. He followed Spinoza in affirming materialism (no mind-body dualism) and determinism. He had assisted Theophilus Lindsey in founding the Unitarian denomination in 1774. In 1776, Moses Mendelssohn published Phadon or On the Immortality of Souls, after which he was compared to both Plato and Moses and later called the father of the Jewish Enlightenment for affirming religious tolerance and the priority of reason over revelation.

{Sign language for the deaf was devised in 1749. The population of Europe reached about 140 million in 1750. England forbade marriage by unauthorized persons in 1753, and an iron-rolling mill was built in 1754. Franz Haydn and Wolfgang Mozart composed symphonies in the 1760s, and the waltz became popular in Vienna in 1773. The potato became the staple food. Mesmer used hypnotism in therapy in 1774.

Isaac Watt ushered in the industrial revolution in 1775 with his invention of the steam engine. In music, the minuet and waltz became popular dances, and new classical composers included Haydn, Mozart, Gluck and Beethoven. New artists included Boucher and Reynolds. A new writer was Goethe, who promoted “Sturm und Drang” or emotionalism in reaction against rationalism.}

 

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(1783-1822) [Following Great Britain’s (G.B.) recognition of the United States (U.S.) in the Treaty of Versailles, Russia annexed the Crimea from Turkey, which declared war in 1787. Joseph II suspended the constitution in Hungary in 1784.

The French States-General created a constitution in 1789, beginning a revolution that banned RC and executed the king and queen in 1793, followed by many others. In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte began a campaign of conquest in Italy that expanded into Austria, western Germany, Egypt and Syria, ending the HRE in 1801. In 1803, the U.S. purchased the Louisiana territory from France. Napoleon became King of Italy in 1805 then took Berlin and Warsaw in 1806, Portugal in 1807, and Spain in 1808, which enabled revolts in its American colonies. However, in 1812, his army was decimated attempting to take Moscow, allied armies defeated his forces in 1814, and he was banished to Elbe. He attempted to regain power in 1815, but was defeated at Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena, where he died in 1821.

Meanwhile, the U.S. and G.B fought the War of 1812-14, during which Mexico became independent, followed by most of Latin America by 1821. The U.S. and G.B. agreed on the 49th parallel as the Canadian border in 1818, and the U.S. purchased Florida in 1819.]

In 1785, William Paley published The Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy, in which he supported abolition of slavery, then in 1794 he wrote on natural theology, describing the teleological argument using the analogy of a watchmaker. About this time Jeremy Bentham propounded utilitarianism, which valued the greatest good as the primary ethical principle. He designed a prison called the Panopticon, which contained cells surrounding a central post for a hidden jailer, and advocated menial labor to help pay the cost of imprisonment.

In 1791-92, Thomas Paine published The Rights of Man in defense of the French Revolution against criticisms by Edmund Burke, and then in 1794 The Age of Reason, criticizing organized religion and biblical inerrancy and advocating deism. In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, defending women’s equality, and Johann Fichte went beyond Hume’s and Kant’s subjectivism (inability to know things in themselves) by proposing idealism, the idea that consciousness is separate from anything outside of itself. Another idealist was Friedrich Schelling, who published System of Transcendental Idealism in 1800. He said that nature is visible spirit, and that history is the progressive disclosing of the Absolute.

In 1818, Georg Hegel succeeded Fichte as professor of philosophy in Berlin. He took his cue from Heraclitus, viewing Absolute Knowledge as evolving in a dialectical process of contradiction and negation, in which a thesis and its antithesis form a new and better or more complete synthesis, which in turn serves as the new thesis. Also in 1818, Arthur Schopenhauer published The World as Will and Idea. He affirmed Hinduism and agreed with Buddhism’s negation of volition in order to avoid painful desires, but viewed Hegel as vacuous and criticized Kant for over-looking the validity of intuition as prior to the operation of conscious reason. He adopted Aristotle’s four-fold analysis of knowledge: material using cause and effect, abstract using logic, mathematic using numerical operations, and psychological using moral reasoning. In 1820, Friedrich Schleiermacher published The Christian Faith, in which he argued that dependence on God rather than understanding Him is fundamental. He rejected hell in favor of universalism.

{During this period, the seismograph, cotton gin and telegraph were invented, uranium and the Rosetta Stone were discovered, mutineers took the H.M.S. Bounty, Washington D.C. was founded, a steamboat was launched, a school for the blind was established, slavery was abolished in G.B., a smallpox vaccination was created, the metric system was adopted in France, copper pennies were minted. Also, atomic theory was introduced, a submarine and steam locomotive were produced, biology was so-named, Shrapnel invented the cannon shell, Macintosh invented waterproof fabric, morphine was isolated, batteries and stethoscopes were made,

London streets were gas lit, trolleys traveled on iron tracks, food was canned, crushed stone roads were constructed, electro-magnetism was discovered, rugby originated, and Elizabeth Seton founded the Sisters of Charity in Maryland. In music, Paganini debuted, Casanova died, Beethoven went deaf, Rossini was a new composer, and “Silent Night, Holy Night” was composed. Goya was a new artist and Nash a new architect. New writers included Blake, Burns, Schiller, Wordsworth, Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”, the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Scott, Byron, Coleridge, Keats, and Cooper’s The Pioneers.}

 

[Inquisitor]

Although the focus of this summary is on the history of beliefs or ideology, science is now included with political events, because these domains affected human beliefs (and information about the arts is added for spice). The advent of the printing press caused the recording of more details, so that our summary becomes more complex and I merely locate the “dots”, leaving it to the reader to connect them. Political events are put within regular brackets [ ] in a separate paragraph preceding the summary of beliefs, while scientific and cultural developments are located within irregular brackets { } in a separate paragraph following the ideological summary. The years discussed in each paragraph or section are placed within parentheses at the beginning.

(1517-1544) [Regarding political events: the migrations of the Middle Ages were replaced by almost continual warfare as various rulers sought to expand and defend their territories. The Turks captured Egypt and Arabia in 1517, Belgrade in 1521, and Hungary in 1541 under Sultan Suleiman I. Magellan began the circumnavigation of the globe in 1519, Cortes conquered the Aztecs in Mexico in 1521, and Pizarro conquered the Incas in Peru in 1533. Babar founded the Mogul dynasty in India in 1526.]

The world had four main ideologies: Christianity in Europe, Islam in the Middle East and North Africa, atheist Buddhism and Confucianism in the Far East, and polytheism in the rest of the world. In 1520, Thomas Muntzer went beyond Luther’s reforms and began the Anabaptist movement when he rejected infant baptism, and he was beheaded after leading a peasant’s revolt in 1525, trying to establish a communistic theocracy. In 1528, Balthasar Hubmaier was burned at the stake in Vienna for preaching adult baptism, so his wife drowned herself in the Danube River.

In Zurich, Ulrich Zwingli followed Luther’s lead, including rejection of Anabaptists, but he was killed in a battle with Swiss Catholic cantons in 1531. In that year, Henry VIII became head of the Church of England so he could divorce Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Henry had Thomas More and William Tyndale murdered for opposing him, and Anne Boleyn for not bearing him children. In 1535, John Calvin fled France to Switzerland, where he began his lifelong work on Institutes of the Christian Religion, which rejected infant baptism but adopted a deterministic view of Augustine’s doctrine of predestination. His followers in France were called the Huguenots.

{Regarding the arts and sciences: Renaissance artists included Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian and Lotto in Italy, and Durer in Nuremburg. Music included Lutheran hymns, Forster’s secular songs, madrigals and lute playing. Coffee, chocolate, and turkeys were introduced to Europe, while horses were taken to America. Spectacles were invented, bowling began in England, spinning wheels became common, lunatic asylums were established, and the first Christmas tree appeared (at the Strasbourg Cathedral). Spanish explored America, and Portuguese reached Japan. Halley’s comet made a reappearance in 1531.}

Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion, with approximately 1.20 billion followers.

Religion is not an ideology.

 

[GWH]

Hinduism is the world's third-largest religion, with approximately 1.20 billion followers.

Religion is not an ideology.

Yes, I should add that Hinduism to Buddhism in that comment.

Since ideology means belief system, I am not sure why you balked at me using the terms that way.

 

[GWH]

(1823-1849) [President Monroe issued his Monroe Doctrine against European colonization in the Americas in 1823. Russia forced Turkey to accept the independence of Greece in 1829, but it quashed a Polish revolt against its rule in 1831. Egypt took Syria from Turkey in 1832. Texas won independence from Mexico in 1836. Victoria became Queen of G.B. in 1837. G.B. took Afghanistan in 1840 and Hong Kong and New Zealand in 1841. The Boers established Natal and then the Orange Free State in 1842. The U.S. took New Mexico in 1846, then the rest of the west in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.]

In 1830, Joseph Smith published the Book of Mormon and founded the Latter-day Saints or Mormonism, teaching that his church was the only true denomination of Christianity. In 1831, Johann Goethe discovered the Hypsistarians and affirmed their reverence for the best and most perfect knowledge as connected to God. The Spanish Inquisition ended in 1834. In 1835, David Strauss pioneered the skeptical investigation of the life of Jesus by viewing all miraculous elements as mythical.

In 1838, Auguste Comte labeled Sociology as the most comprehensive of the sciences, and in 1844 he published a work recommending that positivism (the golden mean of poetic ideals between philosophical ideas and political realities) replace Catholicism. He also coined the term “altruism” for the moral obligation that trumps individual rights. In 1839, Louis Blanc expressed the mantra of socialism: “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” In 1841, Ludwig Feuerbach published The Essence of Christianity, saying that God is a creation or projection of man, a chimera, personification and idolization of goodness.

In 1846, Brigham Young established the Mormons in Utah. In 1843, Soren Kierkegaard published Either/Or, which described two phases of existence: the aesthetic, and the ethical. He argued that subjectivity is truth, meaning that ethical behavior is more important than physical facts. The loss of divine authority results in uncertainty, angst, dread and lack of meaning. His solution was to take a leap to faith despite having doubt, replacing herd mentality and state religion with personal passionate commitment. His views founded existentialism.

In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels co-authored The Communist Manifesto, which described history in terms of class struggles, and promoted rule by the proletariat or working class, which would own all property and require universal labor.

{Cultural and scientific developments during this time included: a society for preventing cruelty to animals was founded in London, baseball was organized in New York, Ohm measured electrical resistance, Garrison promoted abolitionism in America, Webster published a dictionary, Poe wrote poems and short stories, Rossini and Wagner composed operas, Dickens and Balzac wrote novels,

Carroll built the Baltimore to Ohio railroad, Wohler began organic chemistry, G.B. abolished suttee (burning widows) in India, McCormick patented a reaping machine, Hansom introduced horse-drawn cabs, Finney preached revivalism, Halley’s comet made another appearance (1836), Audubon painted birds, the Blue Riband was awarded to the S.S. Britannia in 1840 (for crossing the Atlantic eastbound in only nine days), Barnum opened a freak show, Dorothea Dix reported horrible conditions in prisons and asylums, the YMCA was founded in England.

Also, the potato crop failed in Ireland, the U.S. Naval Academy opened, gold was discovered in California in 1847, David Livingstone explored central Africa, and the U.S. population reached 23 million in 1850. Inventions and discoveries included: paraffin, sulfur matches, the function of sperm, sewing machines, chloroform, the telegraph and wood-pulp paper. New musicians included: Liszt, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Berlioz, and Wagner. Jenny Lind was the “Swedish Nightingale”. There were no famous artists. New writers included: Hugo, Balzac, Poe, Tennyson, Andersen’s tales for children, Dicken’s novels, Hawthorne’s Twice Told Tales, Browning, Longfellow, Dumas, Disraeli, Dostoevsky, Melville and the Bronte sisters.}

 

[GWH]

(1850-1874) [In 1852, the Dutch established the South African Republic, and Louis Napolean revived the empire in France. Russia and Turkey fought the Crimean War in 1853-56. Britain fought Persia, India and China in 1856-58. In 1860, Republican Abraham Lincoln, became the 16th U.S. President, sparking the Civil War (1861-65) between northern (abolitionist) and southern (pro-slavery) states. Prussia under Bismarck expanded its territory into Germany and France in 1866-71. Britain established Canada, and Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867.]

In 1857, Herbert Spencer coined the term “evolution” and applied it universally, but especially to society, founding sociology. After reading Darwin, he coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to describe natural selection. He was a utilitarian, but he said that people should be allowed to experience the natural consequences of their conduct in order for evolution to progress. He preached agnosticism, viewing God as the “Unknowable”.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, substituting “natural selection” for Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s “spontaneous generation” in theorizing how new species develop when adaptively advantageous variations are transmitted over several generations. Subsequently, evolutionism was opposed by some theists, who thought it contradicted the “creationism” taught in Genesis. In 1859-69, John Stuart Mill published works advocating liberty, utilitarianism positivism and gender equality. In 1864, the Pope condemned liberalism, socialism and rationalism, and “In God We Trust” was printed on coins in the U.S.

In 1870, the First Vatican Council promulgated the dogma of papal infallibility. In 1871, Charles Russell founded the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a pacifist, Adventist sect, claiming to be the only true religion. In 1874, Franz Brentano published Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, which affirmed the scholastic concept of intentionality, perception of physical reality is shaped by psychological phenomenon. His disciples included Husserl.

{Inventions and discoveries during this period included: Bunsen’s burner, Singer’s sewing machine, Helmholtz’s ophthalmoscope, Wood’s syringe, cocaine, a Neanderthal skull (in Germany), Pasteur’s bacteria and pasteurization (for wine), Lenoir’s internal-combustion engine, Gatling’s gun, Mendel’s law of heredity, Pullman’s sleeping car, Nobel’s dynamite, diamonds (in South Africa), Cro-Magnon man bones (in France), and color photography.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: “America” won the America’s Cup, the U.S. imported sparrows to combat caterpillars, street-poster pillars were built in Berlin, the first World’s Fair was held in Paris, the first oil well was drilled in Pennsylvania, snow-skiing became a competitive sport, the Swiss organized the Red Cross, the London underground railroad was constructed, a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable was laid, the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Tennessee, the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, Stanley met Livingstone in Ujiji, England and Scotland played soccer, and Barnum, Bailey and the Ringling Brothers conducted circuses.
Musical compositions during this time included: Wagner’s Lohengrin, Verdi’s Il Trovatore, Liszt’s Les Preludes, J. Strauss’s Blue Danube, Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, and Bizet’s Carmen. Literature published during these years included: Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Melville’s Moby Dick, Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Thoreau’s Walden Pond, Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, Longfellow’s “The Song of Hiawatha”, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Alcott’s Little Women, and Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.}

 

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(1875-1899) [Turkey fought Serbia, Russia and Greece in 1876-78. Britain left Sudan, but Belgium took Congo and Germany annexed Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1885. In 1897, the Zionist Organization was founded in Switzerland. The U.S. fought Spain in 1898, which ceded Cuba and the Philippines. Britain fought the Boers in 1899-1900.]

In 1875, Helena Blavatsky founded the Theosophical Society, which taught that all religions were spiritually true, but imperfectly manifested. She published Isis Unveiled in 1877. Also in 1875, Mary Baker Eddy published Science and Health, founding Christian Science, which taught that the universe is spiritual, evil is unreal, and understanding God results in healing.

In 1878, Charles Pierce published How to Make Our Ideas Clear, founding pragmatism, which described scientific inquiry as beginning with abduction or hypothesis, deduction or testing of the hypothesis, and induction or deriving a conclusion. He noted that in order to learn, one must have desire or wonder, and he identified three categories that condition experience: Firstness (feeling, possibility, subjectivity), Secondness (relation, actuality, concreteness) and Thirdness (representation, necessity, generality). He also expanded Locke’s mention of semiotics into a study of how meaning is signified.

Also in 1878, Heinrich Treitschke began the anti-Semitic movement with the slogan, “The Jews are our misfortune!” In 1879, Gottlob Frege published Begriffsschrift, influencing the founders of analytic philosophy. The goal was to eliminate intuitive elements by the operation of pure logic denoted by conceptual notation. In 1883, Friedrich Nietzsche published Thus Spake Zarathustra, which declared God to be dead and sought to replace him with “the superman” race, advocating racism and implying moral nihilism.

In 1886, Adolf von Harnack published History of Dogma, advocating practical Christianity or a social gospel and rejecting the Gospel of John as well as miracles.

{ Inventions and discoveries during this period included: Bell’s telephone, Edison’s phonograph and light bulb (with Swan), Hughes’ microphone, Pope’s bicycle, canned food, Pasteur’s vaccines, Swan’s synthetic fiber, sterilization, hydroelectric power, Kodak’s camera, Dunlop’s tire, Judson’s zipper, Diesel’s internal-combustion engine, Berliner’s gramophone disc, Marconi’s radio, Ross’s malaria bacillus, Thompson’s electron, Ramsay’s inert gases, the Curie’s radium, and Zeppelin’s airship.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: Rochet founded the Blue Cross in Switzerland to combat alcoholism. Cody entertained with a “Wild West Show”. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated. Beauty contests and May Day celebrations were held. Football was played in Pennsylvania in 1895. The modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896.

Musical compositions during this time included: Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operettas, and pieces by Mahler, Dvorak, and Rimsky-Korsakov. Artists included: Monet, Renoir, Rodin, Cezanne, and Van Gogh. Literature published during these years included: Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hardy’s The Return of the Native, James’ Daisy Miller, Wallace’s Ben Hur, Harris’ Uncle Remus, Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Burton’s The Arabian Nights, Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mysteries, Kipling’s The Jungle Book, and Wells’ The War of the Worlds.}

 

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(1900-1913) [In 1900, the Boxers fought the Europeans in China, and the Commonwealth of Australia was formed. In 1901, 25th U.S. President McKinley was assassinated and succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt. In 1902, the U.S. took charge of building the Panama Canal, and the Boer War ended. In 1903, France and England established entente, and the Russian Social Democratic Party split into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks. In 1905, Greeks on Crete revolted against the Turks, and Norway separated from Sweden. In 1908, Russia accepted Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Belgium acquires the Congo. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea, and South Africa became a dominion in the British Empire. In 1911, Italy took Tripoli from Turkey, and China became a republic as the Manchu dynasty ended. In 1912, the Balkan War began involving Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro. In 1913, Mahatma Ghandi was arrested for leading a passive resistance movement in India, and the U.S. established the Federal Reserve System and income tax.]

In 1900, Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis with publication of The Interpretation of Dreams. In 1901, Edmund Husserl published Logical Investigations, which developed Brentano’s concept of intentionality into a school of thought called phenomenology, which affirmed Kant’s concept of categories as structures of consciousness (such as perception, memory and imagination) and influenced Heidegger, Sartre and Max Scheller. In 1902, William James published The Varieties of Religious Experience, which promoted pragmatism and that truth includes value as well as existence. In 1903-1906, anti-Jewish pogroms (mob violence) occurred in Russia. In 1904, Max Weber published The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, arguing that religious ideals influenced the development of western economies and governments. In 1906, Albert Schweitzer published The Quest of the Historical Jesus, which followed Strauss (1835) in not finding much he deemed credible. In 1912, Carl Jung published The Theory of Psychoanalysis, founding analytical psychology, which viewed the human psyche as essentially spiritual and stressed the need for individuation and wholeness by integrating the conscious and collective unconscious. In 1913, Bertrand Russell and A.N. Whitehead published Principia Mathematica, following Frege in founding analytic philosophy along with Wittgenstein (1921). Russell was influenced to be an atheist by his father (John, who wrote Analysis of Religious Belief) and the writings of J.S. Mill (1859).

{ Inventions and discoveries during this period included: Planck’s quantum theory, Browning’s revolvers, Fessenden’s radio transmissions, Evan’s excavations of Minoan culture, Caruso’s phonograph recording, Nernst’s third law of thermodynamics, the Wright brothers’ airplane, Einstein’s “Special” and then “General” theories of relativity, neon signs, and Picasso’s paintings.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: Ewry won eight Olympic gold medals for the U.S., Muldoon was the first professional wrestling champion, the Cake Walk was a popular dance, Davis presented the international tennis cup, the first Nobel Prizes were awarded, Ford founded the first motor company, the London Symphony Orchestra was formed, Helen Keller graduated from college, trenches were first used in war, Amundsen traversed the Northwest Passage, Baden-Powell founded the Boy Scouts, Mother’s Day (and three years later Father’s Day) was established, the “Ziegfeld Follies” and the first daily comic strip (“Mr. Mutt”) appeared, Halley’s Comet reappeared in 1910, the Titanic sank, the first successful parachute jump occurred, and the Panama Canal opened in 1914.

Classical composers during this period included: Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Elgar, Debussy, Ravel, Bartok, Mahler, Stravinsky, and Berlin’s “Alexander Ragtime Band”. Scott Joplin popularized ragtime music in America, which was followed by a new jazz genre in New Orleans and then Chicago. Artists during this period included: Picasso, Matisse, and various others in the styles of Dadaism, cubism, expressionism and abstract.

The new artistic field of film began with “Cinderella” and “The Great Train Robbery” (12 minutes). Subtitles replaced a commentator with “Skating”, starring Max Linder, which included a slow-motion effect. Charlie Chaplin became popular in 1914. Literature and plays published during these years included: Potter’s Peter Rabbit, Shaw’s Man and Superman, London’s Call of the Wild, Barrie’s Peter Pan, Sinclair’s The Jungle, Forster’s A Room with a View, Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers, Tarkington’s Penrod,. Poets included: Robert Frost, Joyce Kilmer, and Ezra Pound.}

 

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(1914-1924) [In 1914, World War I began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, prompting Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia, which prompted Russia to mobilize, prompting Germany to declare war on Russia and France, and so forth in a series of alliances acting like dominos. In 1915, Germany employed submarines and zeppelin airships. In 1916, the fifth through ninth battles of the Isonzo were fought, Pancho Villa raided New Mexico, the U.S. bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark, and German saboteurs blew up a munitions arsenal in New Jersey.

In 1917, the Russians revolted against Czar Nicholas II, General Pershing commanded U.S. forces in France, and the British Balfour Declaration announced the intention of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine using peaceful means. In 1918, Lenin’s Bolsheviks seized power in Russia and executed the Czar’s family, Japan invaded Siberia, and the Allies defeated Austria-Hungary and Germany, ending WWI with an armistice. Germany became the Weimar Republic, and Austria Poland also became republics.

In 1919, President Wilson presided over the first League of Nations meeting in Paris. In Italy, Benito Mussolini founded a fascist party. In Russia, the Red Army conducted a campaign of conquest against the White Army Ireland was divided North and South. In 1921, Adolf Hitler’s storm troopers terrorized opponents, and Faisal I became King of Iraq. Hirohito became prince regent in Japan.

In 1922, Mussolini became dictator in Italy, and Soviet states formed the U.S.S.R. In 1923, the German mark inflated to 4 million per dollar, and a tri-state KKK conclave had 200,000 in attendance. In 1924, the U.S. limited immigration, banning Japanese, and Herbert Hoover became director of the Bureau of Investigation. In Russia, Lenin died and Joseph Stalin competed with Leon Trotsky for control of the Bolshevik Party, expelling him from Moscow and then the U.S.S.R.]

In 1917, Rudolf Otto published The Idea of the Holy, discussing the “numinous” as a feeling or mystery, both terrifying and fascinating. In 1919, Karl Barth published The Epistle to the Romans, reacting against the prevailing skepticism of theologians such as Schleiermacher (1820) and Harnack (1886) with a dialectical theology that noted the paradox in affirming both grace and judgment.

In 1921, Ludwig Wittgenstein published Logico-Philosophicus, which discussed reality in terms of language and viewed the role of philosophy as that of semantics or clarifying what is communicated. He defined logic as reflecting the physical world, thereby relegating theology and ethics to the realm of meaningless metaphysical and mystical subjects, which pleased the logical positivists (Carnap, Schlick and Russell), but Wittgenstein realized this negated his own philosophy as well.

In 1923, Freud analyzed the human psyche into the ego, id and super-ego. He viewed behavior as a conflict between an instinctual desire to live (libido) and a death instinct (thanatos). Also in 1923, Martin Buber published I and Thou, proposing that we may experience existence as object (“it”) or as relationship. In 1924, Emil Brunner published Mysticism and the Word, a neo-orthodox critique of liberal theology that upheld the centrality of Jesus as God incarnate.

{Inventions and discoveries during this period included: Junker’s fighter plane, transcontinental telephone call, refrigerated blood for transfusions, the Mount Wilson 100-inch telescope (allowing the dimensions of the Milky Way to be determined), Goddard’s rocket science, sound film, brain surgery, Rorschach’s inkblot psychological test, tuberculosis vaccine, Morgan’s chromosome theory, disintegration and transmutation of elements, vitamin E, insulin, Hubble’s Cepheid star, Svedberg’s centrifuge, insecticides, Baird’s television, quantum mechanics, and cosmic rays.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: Margaret Sanger advocated limiting family size, the U.S. National Park Service began, the U.S. population surpassed 100 million, Jack Dempsey became the heavyweight boxing champ, the Rose Bowl was inaugurated, RCA and the American Legion were founded, daylight savings time was introduced, Knute Rockne coached football at Notre Dame, Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe were baseball stars, the International Labor Conference endorsed the eight-hour workday, water-skiing and table tennis became popular, “Man O’War” won 20 horse races, the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated, the 18th Amendment prohibited alcohol sales, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right to vote, the first World Series was played (between New York AL and NL teams), the first Winter Olympics was held in 1924, Scopes taught evolutionism in Tennessee, and comedian Will Rogers, the Charleston dance, straight dresses hemmed above the knees and crossword puzzles were in popular.

New composers and compositions during this period included: Holst, Berlin, Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, Copland, Hindemith, “Tea for Two”, and American Negro spirituals. Artists (including film) during this period included: P. Picasso, F.L Wright, directors C.B. DeMille and D. Fairbanks, actors and actresses M. Pickford, C. Chaplin, painters J. Gris and P. Klee. Literature and plays published during these years included: Burrough’s Tarzan of the Apes, Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ibanez’s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Christie’s mysteries, Lewis’s Main Street, O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon, Kafka’s A Country Doctor, Sabatini’s Scaramouche, Youman’s No! No! Nanette, Salten’s Bambi, Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Emily Post’s Etiquette, and Keyne’s A Tract on Monetary Reform. New poets included: Carl Sandburg, T.S. Eliot, and e.e. cummings. The Reader’s Digest began to be published in 1922.}

 

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(1925-1935) [In 1925, Hitler reorganized the Nazi Party and published the first volume of Mein Kampf. In 1926, Ibn Saud became King of Saudi Arabia. In 1928, Stalin mandated a Five-Year Plan that gave priority to developing heavy industry, Chiang Kai-shek was elected President of China, and Hoover became the U.S. President. Also, the Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war was signed by 65 states in Paris. In 1929, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes became called Yugoslavia, and the Great Depression began in October.

In 1930, Constantinople was renamed Istanbul, the last Allied troops leave Germany, and the “Dust Bowl” drought exacerbated the depression in the U.S. Great Plains states. In 1931, bankruptcy in Germany prompted many to support Hitler’s Nazi Party, and Brazil destroyed surplus coffee. In 1932, FDR became 32nd U.S. President, the U.S.S.R. experienced famine under the Second Five-Year Plan, the Nazis won the Reichstag, and Saudi Arabia was formed. In 1933, the U.S. gave independence to the Philippines, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler became dictator of Germany, assisted by Goebbels’ propaganda. In 1934, Germany sent Jews to concentration camps, the TVA and PWA were created by FDR in the U.S., and Hitler met with Mussolini. In 1935, the Nazis repudiated the Treaty of Versailles and began a military draft, Mussolini invaded Abyssinia, and FDR signed the Social Security Act.]

In 1927, Martin Heidegger published Being and Time, which was influenced by Husserl and Kierkegaard and which influenced Sartre. His discussion of Being versus beings was reminiscent of the scholastic debate of universals versus individuals. In 1928, Rudolph Carnap published Pseudoproblems in Philosophy, in which he affirmed logical positivism’s defining metaphysics out of meaningful existence. His co-founder of the Vienna Circle positivists was Moritz Schlick. Thus, Nazis practiced the moral nihilism preached or implied by atheist philosophers from Nietzsche to Schlick. In 1932, Karl Jaspers published Philosophie, which built on Kierkegaard’s existentialism, noting that as we explore reality, we encounter borders that empirical science cannot cross, presenting the choice of sinking into despair or freely taking a leap of faith beyond objective time and space toward ultimate Transcendence and authentic existence.

{Inventions and discoveries during this period included: Baird’s television, synthetic oil, Kodak’s 16mm movie film, Geiger’s radiation detector, teleprinter, Eastman’s color film, galvanometer, Einstein’s Unified Field Theory, photo flash-bulb, planet Pluto, vitamins A, D and B2, cyclotron, neoprene, positron, neutron, refrigeration and radar.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: Gertrude Ederle swam the English Channel, Lufthansa airline was founded, Lindbergh flew a monoplane to Paris in 33.5 hours (followed in the next year by Amelia Earhart), the Harlem Globetrotters and Alcoholics Anonymous were organized, six members of Chicago gangster Bugs Moran’s gang were gunned down by Al Capone’s gang, the comic strip “Blondie” and the rumba became popular, Hattie Caraway became the first female U.S. senator, the “Star-Spangled Banner” became the U.S. anthem, prohibition was repealed, jazz became swing, and Holland’s Zuider Zee drainage project was completed.

New composers, musicians and songs during this period included: Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Kern and Hammerstein’s musical Show Boat (“Old Man River”), Rodgers and Hart’s A Connecticutt Yankee, “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”, “Singin’ in the Rain”, “I Got Rhythm”, “Mood Indigo”, “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, and Sousa’s marches. New visual arts and artists during this period included: O’Keefe, Dali, and Epstein; Disney’s Micky Mouse cartoons, Garbo, Hitchcock, Dietrich, Karloff (Frankenstein), Gable, Cooper, Weismuller (Tarzan), Temple, K. Hepburn, West, Ford, and Selznick. Publications during these years included: Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, Hesse’s Steppenwolf, Morgan’s Experimental Embryology, Lewis’ Elmer Gantry, Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, Huxley’s Brave New World, Auden’s Poems, Robert’s Rabble in Arms, and Day’s Life with Father.}

 

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(1936-1948) [In 1936, Hitler’s troops occupied the Rhineland, Mussolini annexed Abyssinia, and Chiang Kai-shek declared war on Japan. In 1937, Japan invaded China, the U.S. enacted neutrality, and Britain tried to appease Hitler. In 1938, Japan installed a puppet government in China, and Germany invaded Austria.

In 1939, Franco won a civil war in Spain, Italy invaded Albania, and Germany invaded Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland, prompting Britain and France to end appeasement, beginning World War II. In 1940, Germany invaded Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, but the RAF won battles for Britain. Stalin had Trotsky assassinated in Mexico. The U.S. economy boomed due to orders for military equipment.

In 1941, Britain fought Rommel in N.Africa, Germany invaded Russia, and Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines. In 1942, 26 nations united against the Fascist axis, Japan took the Dutch East Indies and Burma, but lost naval battles with the U.S. in the Coral Sea and near Midway. U.S. reinforcements put Rommel in retreat in N. Africa. In 1943, Japan lost Guadalcanal and numerous ships, Germany was defeated in Russia, and the Allies defeated Italy. In 1944, the U.S. captured the Solomon and Marshall Islands, Russia took Hungary, and France was liberated following D-Day, as Germany launched V-2 rockets into Britain.

In 1945, Russia took Poland and eastern Germany, Britain took Burma, and the U.S. took the Philippines. Mussolini was killed and Hitler committed suicide, after which Germany surrendered. Japan surrendered (after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and then on Nagasaki three days later), ending WWII. Then the Nuremberg trials of Nazis began, the Arab League was founded to oppose the creation of Israel, and Vietnam became a republic.

In 1946, the United Nations held its first General Assembly, President Truman created the Atomic Energy Commission, and the Soviet Union created the “Iron Curtain”. In 1947, General Marshall as Secretary of State called for a plan to rebuild Europe, and India-Pakistan was partitioned. In 1948, the UN partitioned Palestine to form a Jewish state, and the Berlin airlift began.]

The divide between theist and atheist philosophers continued. In 1936, A.J.Ayer published Language, Truth and Logic, in which he popularized the Vienna Circle’s “verification principle”, saying that a sentence can only be meaningful if it is empirically verifiable. Two Christian philosophers published works in 1941.

WWII prompted Reinhold Niebuhr to abandon pacifism and adopt “realism” in The Nature and Destiny of Man that would empower people against evil forces. Rudolf Bultmann applied form criticism to the Gospel of John and published New Testament and Mythology, which called for demythologizing the New Testament along the lines of Martin Heidegger’s temporal and existential categories, thereby clarifying the kerygma or gospel and increasing its palatability of theology in story form for modern scientific people.

In 1942, C.S. Lewis published The Screwtape Letters, in which the antagonist is not interested in tempting “the patient” to commit spectacular evil, but to become befuddled and slowly corrupted. In 1943, Jean-Paul Sartre was influenced by Heidegger to publish Being and Nothingness, which affirmed the freedom of the human being against being determined by physical causality.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was murdered for opposing Hitler in 1945. In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, he opposed cheap grace and advocated willingness to imitate the suffering of Christ for the cause of justice. Shintoism was abolished in Japan in 1945, and the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in 1947.

{ Inventions and discoveries during this period included: insulin for diabetes, vitamins K, E & B6, jet engine, ballpoint pen, helicopter, cyclotron, Rh blood factor, frequency modulation, penicillin, electron microscope, neptunium, plutonium, dacron, magnetic recording tape, computer, quinine, LP record. Also, the Manhattan Project began, Fermi split the atom, the atomic bomb was made, carbon-13 isotope was discovered, rocket missiles were developed and the Mt. Palomar telescope was dedicated.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: the Hindenburg dirigible made a transatlantic flight, Alcoholics Anonymous was organized, Hoover dam was built, Byrd led an expedition to South Pole, and Heyerdahl sailed a raft from Peru to Polynesia. . Publications during these years included: Wilder’s Our Town, Welles’ radio broadcast of Wells’ War of the Worlds, Douglas’ The Robe, Sartre’s No Exit, Pyle’s Brave Men, and Frank’s The Diary of Anne Frank.

New composers, musicians and songs during this period included: “I’m an Old Cowhand”, “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon”, “Whistle While You Work”, Bartok’s “Violin Concerto”, Copland’s “Billy the Kid” ballet, “Over the Rainbow”, “You Are My Sunshine”, “When You Wish upon a Star”, “Deep in the Heart of Texas”, “Chattanooga Choo-Choo”, “White Christmas”, “Accentuate the Positive”, Benny Goodman’s band, Duke Ellington, and music from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. New visual art and artists included: F.L. Wright (architecture), Bergman, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Gone with the Wind (Gable & Leigh), Wizard of Oz (Garland), Marx Brothers comedies, Holiday Inn (Crosby & Astaire), Casablanca (Bogart & Bergman), and Hamlet (Olivier).}

 

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(1949-1963) [In 1949, Communists led by Mao Tse-tung forced Chiang Kai-shek into exile on Formosa, Israel was admitted to the UN, the nations of German Federal Republic, Eire (Ireland), Vietnam and Indonesia were established, and the Berlin blockade-airlift ended. In 1950, China occupied Tibet, and North Korea invaded South Korea. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment limited terms in office.

In 1953, new political leaders included Queen Elizabeth II, President “Ike” Eisenhower, Tito in Yugoslavia and Khrushchev in the U.S.S.R. The Korean Armistice was signed, and the Rosenbergs were executed for spying. In 1954, racial segregation became illegal, the St. Lawrence Seaway project was approved, and McCarthy was condemned by Senate. Vietnamese Communists controlled Hanoi, Nasser seized power in Egypt, and SEATO was established. In 1955, the European Union was founded, Austria won freedom from Russia, and the A.F.L. merged with the C.I.O. In 1956, Pakistan became Islamic, the Soviets invaded Hungary, Castro landed in Cuba and Martin Luther King led campaign for desegregation.

In 1957, six European nations began the Common Market. In 1958, Egypt and Sudan formed the United Arab Republic, and Alaska became the 49th state. In 1959, De Gaulle became president of France, Castro controlled Cuba, and Hawaii became the 50th state. In 1960, a U-2 spy-plane is shot down, Eichmann was arrested, Cyprus and the Congo became independent and Kennedy debated Nixon on television.

In 1961, Kennedy authorized the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, and the Berlin Wall was built. In 1962, Kennedy negotiated removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba and began military aid to Vietnam. In 1963, M.L. King was arrested, the U.S.-U.S.S.R. “hot line” was established, a nuclear testing ban was signed, and Kennedy was assassinated.]

Ayer published three books promoting atheistic positivism, and Christian theism was represented by Paul Tillich’s The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957), as well as his Systematic Theology (1951–63). He conceived of God as the “Ground of Being” and of faith an existential necessity. In 1952, Niebuhr published Christ and Culture, N.V. Peale preached “The Power of Positive Thinking”, and the Revised Standard Version of the Bible was published. In 1953, B.F. Skinner sought to explain human behavior in terms of operant conditioning.

In 1954, Billy Graham began preaching an ecumenical gospel, and the World Council of Churches was convened. In 1955, P.T. de Chardin published The Phenomenon of Man, affirming theistic evolutionism and viewing Christ as its Omega point. In 1961 the New English Bible was published. In 1962, the Second Vatican Council began meeting.

{ Inventions and discoveries during this period included: cortisone, plutonium, Einstein’s General Field Theory, antihistimines, nuclear generated electric power, heart-lung machine, contraceptive pill, hydrogen bomb, streptomycin, prehistoric paintings in France, smoking causes cancer, Salk and then Sabin (oral) vaccines for polio, nuclear submarine, ultra-high frequency waves, vitamin B12, insulin, synthetic diamonds, neutrino, transatlantic telephone cable, manned balloon reaches 22.8 km, Sputnik I & II satellites, stereophonic recording, Van Allen radiation belts, Lunik III photographs moon, laser, bathyscape Trieste dives to 35,800 feet, carbon-14 dating, manned space flights, structure of DNA, and quasars.

Interesting and significant cultural events included: Mount Everest climbed, Piltdown man hoax, Nautilus passes under icecap at north pole, NASA established, thalidomide babies, world population reached 3 billion, U.S. population approached 180 million, London was largest city at 8.3 million, television sets proliferated, U.S. won Blue Riband (for crossing Atlantic in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes), boxing became popular (Rocky, Sugar Ray, Floyd & Sonny), golf also became popular (Hogan, Palmer, Nicklaus, Player), Bannister ran the first sub-4 minute mile, U.S. had 6% of population but 60% of cars, Eisenhower sent troops to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, Giants and Dodgers moved to California, Beatnik movement spread east from California, the U.S. death toll from auto accidents in 1959 was more than from all wars, Fischer became 4-time chess champion, and last run of the Orient Express.

Publications during these years included: 1,768 U.S. newspapers publish 59 million daily copies, Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Oursler’s The Greatest Story Ever Told, Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles, Frost’s and Sandburg’s Complete Poems, Jones’ From Here to Eternity, Ellison’s The Invisible Man, Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Dr. Seuss’s The Cat in the Hat, Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago, Uris’s Exodus, Michener’s Hawaii, Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, Heller’s Catch-22, Fleming’s Bond novels, and Christie’s mysteries.

New composers, musicians and songs during this period included: “Tzena, Tzena”, “Mona Lisa”, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, “Doggie in the Window”, “Mister Sandman”, “Davy Crockett”, “Sixteen Tons”, “Rock Around the Clock” (ushering in Rock and Roll in 1955), “Heartbreak Hotel” (Elvis’s first hit in 1956), Van Cliburn (piano virtuoso), Rodgers’ The Sound of Music, Piston’s Symphony No.7, Barber’s Piano Concerto No.1, Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”, and the Beach Boys’ “Surfin USA”.

New visual art and artists included: Davis (All About Eve), Brando (A Streetcar Named Desire), Cooper & Kelly (High Noon), The Greatest Show on Earth, Hepburn (Roman Holiday), Lancaster, Clift, Sinatra, Borgnine, Kerr & D. Reed (From Here to Eternity), Burton (The Robe), Stewart & Burr (Rear Window), Monroe (Seven Year Itch), Around the World in 80 Days, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Taylor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Heston (Ben Hur), The Apartment, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, and Andy Warhol’s pop art.}

 

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I end this KISSed HOB sixty years ago at 1964 mainly because I am not aware of any new significant beliefs after that year, and also because I became old enough to be able to remember history since then well enough by having lived during it. I conclude by sharing an analysis of the HOB timeline that might serve as a framework, skeleton or pneumonic device for remembering the main (top 21) beliefs and events that were covered.

The first point in this timeline is the beginning of the universe (Creation/Alpha, the “Big Bang”, circa 14 billion years B.C., #1) and the last point is its future ending or eschaton (Judgment, Omega/Zulu, fade to dark, c. 20 trillion years A.D.?, #21). Alpha includes the formation of Earth (c. 4 billion years B.C.), because human history requires geography/space as well as chronology/time.

The advent of Jesus of Nazareth traditionally has served in Western cultures as an important event by which to bisect the Alpha-Judgment timeline (Christ/Christianity, year “zero”, #10), and this analysis continues that practice.

1. Creation, 2. language, 3. writing, 4. Judaism, 5. Hinduism/karmaism, 6. Buddhism, 7. Atheist-humanism, 8. Hellenism, 9. Romanism,
10. Christianity, 11. Roman Catholicism, 12. Dark Age, 13. Islam, 14. Mongol Orientalism, 15. Renaissance/Reformation, 16. Protestantism, 17. Colonization, 18. United States, 19. Totalitarianism, 20. Today, 21. Judgment

I will let you ponder this list and offer comments before sharing my rationale for the rest along with dates in my next post.

 

[GWH]

KISSing the Kissed HOB produces the following framework:

1. Creation - Alpha, “Big Bang”, circa 14 billion years B.C. & Earth c. 4 billion years B.C., geography/space and chronology/time.

2. Language - GW & human oral language c. 10,000 B.C. is what writing records (communication).

3. Writing - invented c. 4,000 B.C. records history and GW/Scripture for posterity.

4. Judaism - Founded by Moses c. 1200 B.C. built on Abraham's monotheism.

5. Hinduism - Polytheism & reincarnation written in Vedas c. 1200 B.C.

6. Buddhism - Reformed Hinduism c. 520 B.C. by teaching that nirvana is attained via meditation vice worshipping gods.

7. Atheist-humanism - Appeared c. 450 B.C. in the writings of both Confucius (d. 480 B.C.) and Protagoras (d. 420 B.C.).

8. Hellenism - The Greek culture included science, the schools of Plato & Aristotle and Alexander's conquests (d. 323 B.C.).

9. Romanism - Adopted Hellenism, conquered the Mediterranean area and dominated Western history for centuries.

10. Christianity - Founded by Jesus & Paul c. 30-68 A.D. taught that God's love and plan of salvation includes everyone.

11. Roman Catholicism - After Constantine & the Nicene Council (325) Papalism gained power & differed from NT Christianity.

12. Dark Age - RC teachings were dominant in Roman lands during period after Germanic migrations ended the Roman Empire in 476.

13. Islam - Founded by Mohammed in 610 A.D. during DA mainly by means of conquest stressing one God & salvation via obeying laws. Muslims conquered Africa’s Med. coast & Spain until stopped by Charles Martel in 732, who began the Holy Roman Empire.

14. Mongol Orientalism - Kublai Khan (1260-1294) founded the largest empire in history between the Orient and the West.

15. Renaissance/Reformation - The printing press in 1450 promoted learning, and Luther led reform of RC in 1517 during a time of global exploration by Columbus in 1492 & Magellan in 1524 and artistic expression by L. da Vinci.

16. Protestantism - Lutheranism was followed by John Calvin’s Augustinianism and was persecuted by RC's Inquisition.

17. Colonization - European conquests were led by Spain, then dominated by England following its defeat of the Spanish Armada (in 1588, vying mainly with Holland and France for hegemony in America and Africa.

18. United States - The quest for freedom by the colonies climaxed with the founding of the United States of America in 1776, which became the world’s greatest defender of freedom of faith or religious tolerance.

19. Totalitarianism - An age of national totalitarianism began with Napoleon (d. 1821), climaxed with Hitler in World War II (1939-1945) and culminated with Marxist communism in Stalin's Russia & Mao's China and Islamic terrorism.

20. Today - Our lifetime (c. 2000+ A.D) continues the history of suffering & king of the hill (KOTH) struggle.

21. Judgment - the end of history or eschaton (Omega/Zulu, then fade to dark, c. 20 trillion years A.D.?).