Thoughts About How the Puritans viewed Secular Knowledge

[C. Matthew McMahon]

If you had to answer "how did the Puritans view secular knowledge (like science and philosophy) given their
high view of learning but also their commitment to education" what would you say?

How do you think they viewed non-biblical academic
disciplines?

This would, in turn, follow a question relating to the 1st article of the Westminster Confession of Faith regarding the Scriptures. What do you think is the extent of Chapter 1 article 6 as it relates to knowledge in secular
disciplines? Is this section of the WCF to be understood in a purely theological sense (addressing Roman Catholic definitions of authority) or in an academic sense as well? In other words, can secular disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy contribute
to our understanding of humanity (taking into account, of course, the imperfections of human intellectual pursuits as a consequence of sin) as long as they are not put on any type of equality with biblical authority?

What are your thoughts?

 

[Casey]

I don't know how to connect this to the Puritans (I suppose there's a way!), but in the Jan/Feb issue of the Mars Hill Audio Journal (link), discussion is had concerning the degradation of the University system. Having removed the original Christian theological "glue" that holds all knowledge together, and more than that, having turned knowledge into a commodity for consumption or entertainment, our present-day universities/colleges have become nothing more than an extended high school adolescence and glorified vocational training.

The point is this: If God exists, then all knowledge is related to him, and thus all knowledge is valuable--even that which has no pragmatic value (here's where I think the Puritans would agree, but I'm no expert). So, in universities today knowledge isn't inherently valuable, and so only what has utility is taught. Now you have students telling the professors what classes they want offered, instead of those who know what need to be taught determining what the students should be required to learn. The university has turned into nothing more than a business, vying for market share and power--instead of remaining a bastion of knowledge and guardian of traditional culture.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

I think that Puritans (and Reformed scholars) considered theology to be the "queen" of sciences over and above the study of the Trivium and the Quadrivium. Whereas many studied law, wrote Latin verse, read Shakespeare, wrote anthropological/social studies, studied world history, were extremely well-read in classical and mythological literature, in the tradition of the Apostle Paul and Moses (see Matthew Henry on Acts 7.22) (Calvin wrote a commentary on Seneca), in general they sought to acknowledge all truth as God's truth in subordination to Biblical principles and pursued knowledge in the manner famously described by Kepler.

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

See also Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, Part III, Quest. CLVIII. Should not christians take up with Scripture wisdom only, without studying philosophy and other heathens' human learning?, which also refers to Baxter's work The Unreasonableness of Infidelity, wherein he also "proved the usefulness of common knowledge called human learning," albeit that which is "subservient unto faith."

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

From Leland Ryken, Worldy Saints: The Puritans As They Really Were, pp. 168-169:

Believing in God's general revelation in nature as well as his special revelation in the Bible, the Puritans fully embraced the scientific study of the physical world. Whether they actually embraced the rise of modern science is a question of great scholarly debate, but that they were favorable to that movement is indisputable. Richard Baxter wrote:

Our physics, which is a great part of human learning, is but the knowledge of God's admirable works; and hath any man the face to call himself God's creature, and yet to reproach it as vain human learning?

Alexander Richardson wrote that "the world and the creatures therein are like a book wherein God's wisdom is written, and there must we seek it out." For John Cotton, "To study the nature and course and use of all God's works is a duty imposed by God upon all sorts of men."

The Puritans embraced the study of the arts as fully as science. In the Dorchester regulations of 1645 the master was required to instruct his pupils "both in human learning and good literature," which meant the humanities and the classics. Increase Mather went so far as to tell the legislature that "some have well and truly observed that the interest of religion and good literature hath risen and fallen together.

Buttressing the Puritan acceptance of the liberal arts was the doctrine of common grace, which has always been prominent in Calvinism. The doctrine of common grace asserts that God endows all people, believers and unbelievers alike, with a capacity for truth, goodness, and beauty. Calvin describes common grace thus:

In reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful...not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears.

A firm grip on the doctrine of grace allowed most Puritan educators to accept the validity of pagan learning. Increase Mather noted that "some among the heathen have been notable moralists, such as Cato, Seneca, Aristides, etc." Based on such a view of common grace, Mather could encourage people to "find a friend in Plato, a friend in Socrates and...in Aristotle." Charles Chauncy wrote, "Who can deny but that there are many excellent and divine moral truths in Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch, Seneca, etc.?" The English Puritan Richard Sibbes believed that since "truth comes from God," we "may read heathen authors."

[Edited on 7-3-2006 by VirginiaHuguenot]

 

[MW]

Morgan's "Godly Learning" is the place to go for these types of questions. They definitely placed a high value on secular studies, and boldly maintained the nature/grace dualism in doing so. A good place to start in terms of primary resources is Ames' Technometria, which attempted to systematise the arts. Fenner's arts of logic and rhetoric is fascinating, based as it is upon biblical examples. A number of Puritans also wrote on University reforms. The other day I was reading with interest William Pemble's geography, which is complete with illustrations. They certainly weren't as naive as they are sometimes made out to be; fideistic, yes. Pemble disagrees with Copernicus for biblical reasons.