| > it was certainly the official position of the Catholic church that witchcraft did not and could not exist. That is definitely not true and it is impossible that an "official position" would be held and revoked later. This is not something that happens with doctrine or dogma. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15674a.htm Supposing that the belief in witchcraft were an idle superstition, it would be strange that the suggestion should nowhere be made that the evil of these practices only lay in the pretending to the possession of powers which did not really exist. Feel free to cite a refutation. Your assertion means nothing. You've made many assertions about church/European history and you must consider yourself well-read in the topic, so surely you know sources that support your (crazy, unfounded) assertion? But before you refute anything, I urge you to carefully examine the article I cited, which in turn cites primary sources, and gives a thorough overview of condemnations throughout the "Dark" and "Middle" Ages we're discussing! No impossible or nonexistent practice could be condemned or punished, right? Christian teaching has always insisted that magic, witchcraft, or occultism was "false" or superstitious and dangerous, but "false" does not mean "nonexistent" or "impossible". Bottom line. The hostility of science against religion, and the perception of hostility of religion vs. science, is very new. It is completely novel. Christianity (and Islam and Hinduism alike) all encouraged scientific inquiry into the natural world, discover, architecture, engineering, and many projects stood atop the support of church patronage. Many engineering projects in the Middle Ages were accomplished by religious orders (cf. Carmelites built aqueducts in Spain, etc.) and if you ask Wikipedia for a list of scientists who were also clergymen, you'll see just how intertwined were faith and reason for the entire history of religion and science itself. |
What can I say.. look up the council of Paderborn and canon law in general during the period.
> impossible that an "official position" would be held and revoked later
You don’t know much about the Catholic church do you? That’s kind of its thing…
> No impossible or nonexistent practice could be condemned or punished, right?
Belief in witchcraft and supernatural was of course widespread.. that’s why the church considered it heresy that they had to crack down on. Since effectively it challenged the legitimacy of Christian faith..
> examine the article I cited
Which you surely did not bother reading yourself.
> does not mean "nonexistent" or "impossible".
Belief in witchcraft is logically incompatible with non Gnostic Christianity, since only God can perform miracles.
> of scientists who were also clergymen
Yes, scientific method as we know it was to a large extent developed by Christian theologians back in those days. Not sure what does that have to do with magic and witchcraft?