Desiderius Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (27 October[1] 1466 – 12 July 1536), known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, or simply Erasmus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style. Amongst humanists, he enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists"; he has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists".[2] Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. These raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote On Free Will,[3] The Praise of Folly, Handbook of a Christian Knight, On Civility in Children, Copia: Foundations of the Abundant Style, Julius Exclusus, and many other works. Erasmus was his baptismal name, given after St. Early life[edit] Ordination and monastic experience[edit] Education and scholarship[edit]
Irreligion Irreligion (adjective form: non-religious or irreligious) is the absence of religion, an indifference towards religion, a rejection of religion, or hostility towards religion.[1] When characterized as the rejection of religious belief, it includes explicit atheism, religious dissidence, and secular humanism. When characterized as hostility towards religion, it includes anticlericalism, antireligion, and antitheism. When characterized as indifference to religion, it includes apatheism. When characterized as the absence of religious belief, it may also include deism, implicit atheism, spiritual but not religious, agnosticism, pandeism, ignosticism, nontheism, pantheism, panentheism, religious skepticism, and freethought. Irreligion may include forms of theism, depending on the religious context it is defined against. In 18th-century Europe, the epitome of irreligion was deism.[2] Constitutional protections[edit] Demographics[edit] See also[edit] References[edit] Further reading[edit]
Scholasticism Predominant method of critical thought in academic pedagogy of medieval European universities, circa 1100–1700 14th-century image of a university lecture Scholasticism was a medieval school of philosophy that employed a critical method of philosophical analysis presupposed upon a Latin Catholic theistic paradigm which dominated teaching in the medieval universities in Europe from about 1100 to 1700. It originated within the Christian monastic schools that were the basis of the earliest European universities.[1] The rise of scholasticism was closely associated with these schools that flourished in Italy, France, Spain and England.[2] Scholasticism is not so much a philosophy or a theology as a method of learning, as it places a strong emphasis on dialectical reasoning to extend knowledge by inference and to resolve contradictions. Etymology[edit] History[edit] Early Scholasticism[edit] High Scholasticism[edit] Spanish Scholasticism[edit] Late Scholasticism[edit] Lutheran Scholasticism[edit]
Antitheism Antitheism (sometimes anti-theism) is active opposition to theism. The term has had a range of applications; in secular contexts, it typically refers to direct opposition to organized religion or to the belief in any deity, while in a theistic context, it sometimes refers to opposition to a specific god or gods. Opposition to theism[edit] The Oxford English Dictionary defines antitheist as "One opposed to belief in the existence of a God". The earliest citation given for this meaning dates from 1833.[1] An antitheist may oppose belief in the existence of any god or gods, and not merely one in particular. Antitheism has been adopted as a label by those who regard theism as dangerous or destructive. Opposition to the idea of God[edit] The Chambers Dictionary defines antitheism in three different ways: "doctrine antagonistic to theism; 'denial' of the existence of a God; opposition to God." Other uses[edit] Etymology[edit] See also[edit] Notes[edit] References[edit] Hitchens, Christopher (2001).
Secular humanism The philosophy or life stance of secular humanism (alternatively known by some adherents as Humanism, specifically with a capital H to distinguish it from other forms of humanism) embraces human reason, ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.[1][2][3][4] The International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU) is the world union of more than one hundred Humanist, rationalist, irreligious, atheistic, Bright, secular, Ethical Culture, and freethought organizations in more than 40 countries. The "Happy Human" is the official symbol of the IHEU as well as being regarded as a universally recognised symbol for those who call themselves Humanists. Terminology[edit] However, many adherents of the approach reject the use of the word secular as obfuscating and confusing, and consider that the term secular humanism has been "demonized by the religious right...
Huldrych Zwingli Huldrych (or Ulrich/Ulricht[a]) Zwingli[b] (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. Born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system, he attended the University of Vienna and the University of Basel, a scholarly centre of humanism. He continued his studies while he served as a pastor in Glarus and later in Einsiedeln, where he was influenced by the writings of Erasmus. The Reformation spread to other parts of the Swiss Confederation, but several cantons resisted, preferring to remain Catholic. Historical context[edit] Map of the Swiss Confederation in 1515 The Swiss Confederation in Huldrych Zwingli's time consisted of thirteen states (cantons) as well as affiliated states and common lordships. The political environment in Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries was also volatile. Life[edit] Early years (1484–1518)[edit] Zurich ministry begins (1519–1521)[edit] First rifts (1522–1524)[edit]
John VIII Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus (Greek: Ἰωάννης Παλαιολόγος, translit. Iōannēs Palaiologos; 18 December 1392 – 31 October 1448) was the penultimate reigning Byzantine Emperor, ruling from 1425 to 1448. Life[edit] John VIII Palaiologos was the eldest son of Manuel II Palaiologos and Helena Dragaš, the daughter of the Serbian prince Constantine Dragaš. John VIII Palaiologos named his brother Constantine XI, who had served as regent in Constantinople in 1437–1439, as his successor. John VIII died at Constantinople in 1448, becoming the last reigning Byzantine emperor to die of natural causes. Marriages[edit] John VIII Palaiologos was married three times.[1] His first marriage was in 1414 to Anna of Moscow, daughter of Grand Prince Basil I of Moscow (1389–1425) and Sophia of Lithuania. His third marriage, arranged by the future cardinal, Bessarion, was to Maria of Trebizond in 1427. Representation in art[edit] Gallery[edit] Ancestry[edit] See also[edit] List of Byzantine emperors
List of religious populations This is a list of religious populations by proportion and population. Estimates made by reliable sources differ. The CIA's World Factbook gives the population as 7,021,836,029 (July 2012 est.) and the distribution of religions as Christian 31.59% (of which Roman Catholic 18.85%, Protestant 8.15%, Orthodox 4.96%, Anglican 1.26%), Muslim 25.2%, Hindu 15.0%, Buddhist 7.1%, Sikh 0.35%, Jewish 0.2%, Baha'i 0.11%, other religions 10.95%, non-religious 9.66%, atheists 2.01%. (2010 est.).[1] Adherent estimates Adherents.com says "Sizes shown are approximate estimates, and are here mainly for the purpose of ordering the groups, not providing a definitive number".[3] Notes By proportion Christians Countries with the greatest proportion of Christians from Christianity by country (as of 2010[update]): Muslims Countries with the greatest proportion of Muslims from Islam by country (as of 2010[update]) (figures excluding foreign workers in parenthesis): Buddhists Hindus Ethnic/Indigenous Indigenous Judaism
Evolutionary origin of religions The evolutionary origin of religions theorizes about the emergence of religious behavior during the course of human evolution. Nonhuman religious behaviour[edit] Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, argues that many species grieve death and loss.[5] Setting the stage for human religion[edit] Increased brain size[edit] In this set of theories, the religious mind is one consequence of a brain that is large enough to formulate religious and philosophical ideas.[6] During human evolution, the hominid brain tripled in size, peaking 500,000 years ago. Robin Dunbar argues that the critical event in the evolution of the neocortex took place at the speciation of archaic homo sapiens about 500,000 years ago. Tool use[edit] Lewis Wolpert argues that causal beliefs that emerged from tool use played a major role in the evolution of belief. Psychologist Matt J.
Martin Luther Martin Luther OSA (German: [ˈmaɐ̯tiːn ˈlʊtɐ] ( ); 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of the 16th-century movement in Christianity known later as the Protestant Reformation.[1] He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with monetary values. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar, with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517. His refusal to retract all of his writings at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521 resulted in his excommunication by the Pope and condemnation as an outlaw by the Emperor. Luther taught that salvation and subsequently eternity in heaven is not earned by good deeds but is received only as a free gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin and subsequently eternity in Hell. Early life Birth and education Monastic and academic life
Anna of Moscow Anna Vasilievna of Moscow (1393 – August 1417) was a Byzantine Empress consort by marriage to John VIII Palaiologos. She died while her husband was still the junior co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Family[edit] She was a daughter of Vasily I of Moscow and Sophia of Lithuania. Her maternal grandparents were Vytautas the Great and his first wife, Anna. Marriage[edit] She married John VIII in 1414. Ancestry[edit] External links[edit] Cawley, Charles, Her listing, along with her husband, ., Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy Syncretism Syncretism /ˈsɪŋkrətɪzəm/ is the combining of different, often seemingly contradictory beliefs, while melding practices of various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merger and analogizing of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of arts and culture (known as eclecticism) as well as politics (syncretic politics). Nomenclature, orthography, and etymology[edit] The Oxford English Dictionary first attests the word syncretism in English in 1618. It derives from modern Latin syncretismus, drawing on Greek συγκρητισμός (synkretismos), meaning "Cretan federation". The Greek word occurs in Plutarch's (1st century AD) essay on "Fraternal Love" in his Moralia (2.490b). Social and political roles[edit] Religious syncretism[edit] Ancient Greece[edit] Judaism[edit] Roman world[edit] Christianity[edit]