were more divine, he did not see them as being created by a divine source. Instead, taking a more scientific approach, Aristotle’s ideas held that matter and form were eternal. Another form of cosmology that came about after was the Medieval Cosmology. While sticking with the Christian view of the world, Greek mythology was accepted and reconciled with biblical teachings. God was still seen as the ultimate, perfect being who created all. God’s angels were the movers of the planets, while the humans were the controllers of the earth. They believed in a hierarchy of quality in which angels and humans stemmed from God, the most perfect. Continuing with this hierarchical pattern were the ideas of Church and State. In the political world, the state was the controller of all people. Christianity soon became a state religion of the Roman Empire, giving the Roman Empire and the church an authoritative power over all things spiritual. Although still under God, the state had the right to control the laws and impose them onto the people. The unity of church and state did not last forever. In the early 1500’s, Martin Luther called for reformation of the church. A Protestant, Luther disagreed with many of the churches doctrines, and with the help and protection of a prince, the Protestant population grew. The disagreements which continued for years, led to political life being based merely on a pragmatic basis. Religion no longer played a part in the governing of society.The Protestant Reformation was one cause of rationalism, but it was not the only cause. In an attempt to revise Plato’s cosmologist view of the planets, Copernicus discovered that the earth was not stationary. Although he still believed in the existence of angels, and divine spheres of the cosmos, he altered the hierarchical pattern of the universe. Another scientist and astrologist, Galileo, soon made observations of the stars and planets t...
