Copernicus

When I read about Copernicus' hypothesis on why the earth was round and why it was not the center of the earth it caught me by surpise. Today we have the technology to go into space, and also during OUR lifetime we've known that the world is round and that that we go around the sun. It blows my mind that Copernicus was able to come up these educated guess' on his own, without the ability to go into space of have satellites take pictures to prove he was right. Although he died before his book was published, he defnitley would have looked insane for even thinking what he had written about, when he was actually correct. I can't imagine how much research and testing was involved for him to get the points he wanted to proved his hypothesis valid.

The Petition of Right

Reading the Petition of Right, makes me realized how much of tyranny we've read about throught history from anyone who was in position to have power over the people. From the start of this class to now and even some history we haven't disucussed in class we see that power turns into greed. The Petition of Right reminds of the Bill of Rights. Both of these documents try to give the free people the right and power to govern the quality of their own lives without the interference or fear of the government or king. The Petition of Rights could have the set the ground work for the free people, to think for themselves and relieve themselves of persecution and migrate to the country we live in today, which in sense uses the same blue print out government that Parliment used for their King.

Wikipedia #3: Martin Luther

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This article discussed the life of Martin Luther. This article also discusses his exile and his point of view on Anti Semitism. It also talks about Martin Luthers translation and discussion of the bible. Other topics discussed were Justification by faith, response to papacy and controversy and the start of reformation. I don't recommend this article because it seems really broad and really boring. I got more out of the readins from class.

The King v. Parliment

The English Civil War was interesting because through all the battles and different leaders that came into play, in the end there was still a King and there was still parliment. Charles I tried so hard to fight parliment but always seemed to be on the losing end, while I thought Cromwell was helping out parliment, he ends up turning against them and forcibly getting rid of them as a whole and become Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. So we go from two entities battling for power when its the third unknown that actually wins. The funny thing is Cromwells son blows it and runs off allowing Charles II to become King. All of sudden we have royalty and parliment all existing together again, once again disagreeing, but not the same extent as the last time. Although its not till later that Parliment seems to have more control, its entertaining to see all the shifting that happens just to see it come back around.

Martin Luther

I like how Martin Luther brings up the topic of tyranny within the Church because of the power that has been given to Popes, Bishops and Lords, all title which Martin Luther points out aren't the given names for those appointed positions in the Bible. Its funny because the power that comes with the position of being the head of the church seems to lead to some sort of tyranny. Martin Luther says that these figures are called minister, servants and stewards in the bible, yet I have never heard of a servant who has the power to control large portions of land, and control people in what they should believe. It would be crazy to imagine what our history would have turned out like though if these religious leaders didn't abuse their title and power, would the first pilgrims have settle here when they did without religious persecution, how would the history of our country have changed.

Reading the Bible

I always hear friends and family discuss their faith, and how they dont have to go to church or read the bible to have faith, or I hear the opposite about how they go every sunday and even weekdays and are very educated in scripture. So its kind of funny to hear that due to the difficulty of interpreting the bible, the Church did not want common people to read the bible because it would lead to error. I wonder how the church knew that St. Jerome had it correct, was this person not biased and put everything as it should be in the bible or did this person put what he thinks should be in the bible. Very complicated, but I guess if you have something you believe in and to a certain degree and you have the power to make the rules, you'll do whatever i takes to protect that belief.

Machiavelli

In the reading pertaining to Machiavelli I put myself in the prince's shoes and imagined my self reading this letter from his point of view. I think I would have been infuriated by this letter because Machiavelli had been exiled and now he send me letter on pretty much how I can be a better prince. The message also sent across would be that I don't have what it takes to be a good prince. In a sence Machiavelli gets the last words in and it's kind of like a slap to the face. From my point though, I really liked the letter. It seems clever that Machiavelli sent this letter and it never directly says that the prince is a bad prince. At the same time it seems like a helpful letter to the prince, but I think we know the intentions behind letters like this. I think he wanted the prince to know that he wasn't the best a prince could be.