Encountering Water in Early Modern Europe and Beyond
Redefining the Universe through Natural Philosophy, Religious Reformations, and Sea Voyaging
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Amsterdam University Press
Published:10th Sep '20
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
Both the Christian Bible and Aristotle’s works suggest that water should entirely flood the earth. Though many ancient, medieval, and early modern Europeans relied on these works to understand and explore the relationships between water and earth, sixteenth-century Europeans particularly were especially concerned with why dry land existed. This book investigates why they were so interested in water’s failure to submerge the earth when their predecessors had not been. Analyzing biblical commentaries as well as natural philosophical, geographical, and cosmographical texts from these periods, Lindsay Starkey shows that European sea voyages to the southern hemisphere combined with the traditional methods of European scholarship and religious reformations led sixteenth-century Europeans to reinterpret water and earth’s ontological and spatial relationships. The manner in which they did so also sheds light on how we can respond to our current water crisis before it is too late.
"Of the four elements that classical philosophy—and subsequently the hermeneutics of the Judaeo-Christian tradition—saw as forming the essence of life on Earth, water has undoubtedly received the greatest attention in both scientific and religious-philosophical writings. This fact is clearly demonstrated by Lindsay Starkey in Encountering Water in Early Modern Europe and Beyond. [...] Adopting a convincing line of argument, Starkey says that from the sixteenth century onwards there has been a shift away from a philosophical-religious approach to one that is more practical, discussing water more in terms of human activities (in particular, voyages of geographical discovery)."
- Salvatore Ciriacono, Università degli Studi di Padova, Renaissance and Reformation 44.1 (Winter 2021)
"Through the long-term approach, Starkey presents a novel and informative overview of developments in European intellectual thought over the course of a millennium and a half. [...] Encountering Water in Early Modern Europe and Beyond is evidence of the important insights that can be gained through covering long time periods. The book is also an important contribution to the discussion of how people have understood their environment throughout history and adds to our understanding of early-modern world views."
- Charlotta Forss, Imago Mundi, Vol. 74, Pt. 1
ISBN: 9789462988736
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
274 pages