Essay Sample on Scripture: Faith vs Science - Born of the Holy Spirit

Introduction

Scripture is based on more of faith and less of scientific reasoning. Although some of the happenings recorded in the scripture are possible scientifically, many are based on faith. An example is the birth of Jesus Christ. The scriptures say that Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit without the intervention of a man. According to the science of reproduction, it is not possible to create a child without the fusion of a sperm and ovum. Thus reasoning scientifically, this is a fantasy. This is the reasoning that Menocchio had. If anything was not scientifically proven, it could not happen.

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Menocchio had an analytical mind that scrutinized issues carefully, such that he ended up differing with the general belief of many on scripture. He particularly hated the hierarchy of the church, since he viewed it as placing some humans above others. He insisted that all humans were equal no matter their position in the church. This is the reason why he was so much against confession to priests. According to Menocchio, no human had the power to hear the sin of another and declare them forgiven. According to the teachings of the church, which are based on Matthew chapter 18 verse 18, priests have been given the power to hear confession. The church teaches that the priest stands in the person of Christ (persona Christi) when hearing confessions, and does not have authority to forgive them, instead acts as a physical representation of Christ and only serves to be a link. Menocchio had other strong beliefs, which the church found heretical. He also did not believe in creation and developed his theory of creation where earth came into existence through spontaneous generation. Coagulated cheese laced with worms was angels, which is the origin of his book "The Cheese and the Worms."

Professor Ginsburg went into detail to analyze the heresy of individuals, Menocchio included. Ginsburg picks up individuals from a community and does not examine the dissent as a common error. Heresies that exist in a society mainly stem from one of them who influence others with his thinking. The author explains the various heresies in the Roman Catholic Church and how they differ from church teachings. The Roman Catholic Church extracts its teachings from three sources: The Holy Scripture, the tradition passed from the apostles by word of mouth and magisterium (agreements/decisions made by the council of bishops and the pope). Understanding every practice and why it happens so can, therefore, be quite a task. It requires careful analysis, with prior knowledge on the history of the Roman Catholic Church. In his book, professor Ginsburg explores how Menocchio differed from the church in his reasoning on faith and its implications. Information that was written by monks in the fifteenth century was combined, sieved, and used as teachings on faith since during that time; priests were the source of teachings (Carlos, 31). This means that if some of them made mistakes, they could have been passed down the generation. However, people in the early fifteenth century did not question much on faith, until philosophers and scholars came into the scene to analyze the teachings. Ginsburg thus analyses the reasoning style that Menocchio used to deduce the shortcomings he noticed in the scripture and general teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Domenico Scandella (Menocchio) was a miller in the town of Montereale in Friuli. His place was often full of people who came to socialize, which was a bold step since from 1532 to 1600 was more static and people rarely interacted. Millers often shared ideas and were receptive to new ideas, so often scrutinized issues deeply. It was during these sessions that Menocchio developed his critically analytical mind. This explains why millers were many among heretical sects and Anabaptists. Menocchio was well known in Friuli for his teachings in the sixteenth century that were anti-clerical (Carlos, 31). During his first trial for heretical teachings, it was declared by the jury that the Venetian regulations required the presence of a secular official during the trial. He was therefore set free and lived an entirely free life since his village was silently tucked away in the mountains.

Professor Ginsburg analyses the interrogation of Menocchio to bring out his reasoning behind his beliefs. Menocchio was a loner who mostly kept his thoughts to himself. He had therefore formed many thoughts in his mind concerning Christianity that he had not spoken about before. However, during his trial, he found an audience that needed to hear his thoughts and was not reluctant to voice them out. The jury was even surprised how much he had held in his mind, and the complexity of his thoughts made it difficult to spot the specific heresies.

Menocchio had read and even written books widely about the Roman Catholic faith. He had gone back to history to find out the origin, development, and hierarchy of the church. He paid special attention to how the teachings of priests in the fourteenth and fifteenth century were used to shape the hierarchy of the church. It was from this specific read that he differed with the pope being at the top of the hierarchy and the lay or Christians being at the bottom. He felt that all human being equal despite their position in the church. Menocchio's case was hard to tackle, as he had orthodox reasoning (Hill, 5). Even his idea of God being water and air was outrageous, according to believers. Print media had given him so much information, that he declined the traditional teachings and invented a theory on cheese and worms. Although Menocchio was an extensive reader who sought to deeply understand issues, his reading was one-sided, as though seeking specific answers. He did not read the many books to add knowledge and judge justly but seeking to justify his reasoning.

An example is his reasoning on the salvation of man. Menocchio believed that man was solely responsible for his sins and the devil and temptations should not be blamed. He, therefore, focused on reading works that justified Jesus did not come to earth and die on the cross, but rather men choose to do wrong by ignoring their conscience.

From the book, "Mandeville" Menocchio decided that he wanted to remain Christian since he was born and brought up as a Christian, not because he wanted to be one. He wanted to remain a Christian because he intended to explore the depth of Christian teachings. He said that every religion is good and has good practices, but then the followers do not know the right religion. This was his motive when he went into details of scripture analysis and ended up inventing his cheese theory. Despite influential Christian writers such as Machiavelli, Martin Luther, Copernicus, and Calvin, writing many books to address various heresies, he was not moved by these theological explanations (Hill, 4). Menocchio was of a rigid mind, choosing to believe only in what science could explain. He chose to analyze Christianity since it was his religion, in a bid to determine if it was the true religion. However, instead of focusing on understanding why the church taught what it taught, he formed oxymoron from the teachings.

Ginsburg is keen to note that Menocchio had little respect and tolerance for the opinion of others. This what motivated him to seek answers to his questions. From the book "Fioretto della," he derived that when the body dies, the soul dies too. From this statement, fuelled by his desire to discredit resurrection, he analyzed death and was convinced that Jesus Christ died and did not resurrect. The resurrection is the basis of Christianity, so discrediting resurrection nullifies the whole idea of Christianity (Carlos, 32). If Christ is not alive today, then Christianity is based on a fallacy. Despite inquisitors showing him evidence of the risen Christ, he remained trapped in his own belief. He even claimed that Christian writers who wrote books and articles to prove resurrection were misleading. Coupled with resurrection was ascension, a phenomenon that is not scientifically possible due to the law of gravity.

A culture shaped Menocchio's thinking in a major way. In the early fifteenth century, print media was not common yet, so he did not have a way to put down his ideas yet. However, upon the invention of writing, Menocchio found an avenue to let the world know his thoughts. Since his village was tucked away in the mountains, access to such inventions came later. He once said to a fellow villager "The inquisitors don't want us to know what they know!" Before he could access writing materials, Menocchio used oral teachings to enlighten fellow millers on the shortcomings of the Christian faith. He was also largely against the use of the Latin language as the language of his scriptures. He took pride in his culture and had a vernacular bible, which was at the time prohibited. His insistence of respecting people in equal measure further fueled his fight for liberal reasoning in the church. In his book, he advocates for oral peasant culture and insisted that only a liberal printing press that would not have to leave out some of its details could print his work. According to him, peasant and artisan culture deserved a say without being altered, since they are based on natural happenings and not Christian beliefs. Skepticism, rationalism, materialism, and religious naturalism are characteristics of this culture. Carlos, 33). The use of cheese, as an illustration, is also an indicator of the culture of the mountain, as the cheese was a common meal among the villagers.

Ginsburg seeks to analyze the prevailing conditions that influenced the thinking of heretics such as Menocchio and the effect it had on the communities they lived in. Throughout the analysis, he goes into details of what prior experiences the individuals had that resulted in their thinking. A summary of his thesis could be the background and impact of heretics of the fifteenth century.

Conclusion

While the church has been trying to correct them, religious heresies are common, and still, exist today. Philosophers, atheists, and scholars have come out to discredit faith, but the church has been careful in handling these issues. Since not all people are believers, the church needs to be open to criticism and respond to allegations patiently for it to remain firm in an age that opposition is increasing.

Works Cited

Hill Christopher "Montereale: The Cheese and the Worms: the Cosmos of a 16th-Century Miller review. Retrieved from https://www.lrb.co.uk/v02/n21/christopher-hill/monterealeGinsburg Carlo "The cheese and the worms" Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/14722547/Carlo_Ginzburg_The_Cheese_and_the_Worms_for_the_fortieth_anniversary_of_the_SIXTEENTH_CENTURY_JOURNAL_special_issue_40_1_2009_pp._31-34_