FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W4248856336> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W4248856336 endingPage "245" @default.
• W4248856336 startingPage "245" @default.
• W4248856336 abstract "Francis Bacon: The Theological Foundations of Valerius Terminus Benjamin Milner Francis Bacon’s Great Instauration for learning and the sciences, formally launched with the publication of Novum Organum (1620), may fairly be said to have commenced fifteen years earlier with the publication of The Proficience and Advancement of Learning, Divine and Human (1605), which, revised and translated into Latin as De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum (1623), became an integral part of the Instauration. A few years earlier, however, Bacon made an attempt to formulate his philosophy of nature, or science, in a work which he evidently planned to publish but never did—Valerius Terminus: Of the Interpretation of Nature with the Annotations of Hermes Stella (1603?). 1 Fragmentary as it is, this work contains the ingredients of Bacon’s natural philosophy, although they are not in all respects identical with those of the later works which superseded it. The most distinctive feature of Valerius, however, is its disclosure of Bacon’s original interest in setting his program for the advancement of science on a theological footing. 2 What the nature of that foundation is, why Bacon thought it necessary, and why it was abandoned are questions that, as I shall try to show, are principally answered by an analysis of two earlier works, the Meditationes Sacrae (1597), the unpublished Confession of Faith (1602?), and Valerius Terminus itself. Bacon’s first published work actually comprises three different texts: one on rhetoric, Colors of Good and Evil; a collection of Essays; and Meditationes Sacrae. Of these, Meditationes fared most poorly in subsequent years. It was never translated into English by Bacon himself and was soon severed from the [End Page 245] Essays (VII, 229). Rarely commented upon, it has apparently been dismissed as having any significance for our understanding of Bacon’s thought, but a second look will show that this is not the case. There are twelve meditations, each of which has a biblical text, and the homilies that follow reflect biblical teaching. They have quite a range: “the works of God and the works of man,” “the miracles of our savior,” “the exaltation of charity,” “of earthly hope,” “of hypocrites,” “of heresies,” “the church and the scriptures”; but it is clear that two themes—Charity and Heresy—subsume the rest. Charity is not merely a thought or feeling but the actual performance of good works, the demand for which—in the life of the believer—is total: unless your work is God’s work “thou shalt work in pain and distress, and thou shalt look back upon thy work with disgust and reproach” (VII, 243). Three successive meditations deal explicitly with hypocrisy in religion, but Bacon brings each of these under the rubric of good works, deriding those who are ostentatious in the celebration and observation of ritual detail and cultic practice but who ignore the commandment to love their neighbor. The works of Jesus furnish the best model: all his miracles, Bacon keenly observes, “were for the benefit of the human body, his doctrine for the benefit of the human soul” (VII, 244). The religion espoused is one of good works, and Bacon invokes here, as elsewhere, the well-known definition of James (Jas.I.27): “pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction” (VII, 249). “Heresy” is the subject of the second group of meditations, but in these Bacon intends not so much to condemn or to exhort as to lay down theological positions. The text of the first, “Of Atheism,” is taken from Psalms 14.1: “the fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” But this is not what the fool has thought, Bacon insists, only what he has said. “That is, it is not so much that he feels it inwardly as that he wishes to believe it.” Strive as he may to do so, however, “there remains in him that sparkle of original light (igniculus luminis primi) whereby we acknowledge a divinity, to extinguish which utterly, and pluck the instinct (stimulum) out of his heart, he strives in vain.” It is not “out of his natural sense and judgment” that..." @default.
• W4248856336 created "2022-05-12" @default.
• W4248856336 creator A5003175285 @default.
• W4248856336 date "1997-04-01" @default.
• W4248856336 modified "2023-10-17" @default.
• W4248856336 title "Francis Bacon: The Theological Foundations of Valerius Terminus" @default.
• W4248856336 doi "https://doi.org/10.2307/3653868" @default.
• W4248856336 hasPublicationYear "1997" @default.
• W4248856336 type Work @default.
• W4248856336 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W4248856336 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W4248856336 hasAuthorship W4248856336A5003175285 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C1370556 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C27206212 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C2778692574 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C41895202 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C527412718 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C74916050 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C85085810 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C1370556 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C138885662 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C17744445 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C199539241 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C27206212 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C2778692574 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C41895202 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C527412718 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C74916050 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C85085810 @default.
• W4248856336 hasConceptScore W4248856336C95457728 @default.
• W4248856336 hasIssue "2" @default.
• W4248856336 hasLocation W42488563361 @default.
• W4248856336 hasOpenAccess W4248856336 @default.
• W4248856336 hasPrimaryLocation W42488563361 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W16380706 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W1980862305 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W2040547318 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W2097471405 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W2112358246 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W2288902617 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W3033561253 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W3214194972 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W4251311241 @default.
• W4248856336 hasRelatedWork W650544391 @default.
• W4248856336 hasVolume "58" @default.
• W4248856336 isParatext "false" @default.
• W4248856336 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W4248856336 workType "article" @default.