can someone give me a short summary on the enlightenment (aka age of reason)?

Answer 1

After the Christians had gained political power via Constantine, they spent the first 300 or so years destroying all 'heretical' (non-biblical) knowledge... over 1,000 years worth of the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of mankind. They kept Homer and a little bit of Plato and Aristitle.

When the Moors (Moslems) conquered Spain, it turned out that they had retained copies of a SMALL part of the treasure of knowledge that had been destroyed by the christians in THEIR libraries. This information began to get translated and circulate among scholars in Europe. This marked the beginning of the 'Enlightenment'. May of the great 'discoveries' of this period were not discoveries at all... it was re-learning of what had been known to the Greeks (and others) over 1,000 years before.

Had it not been for christianity, Christopher Columbus would probably have been on a space ship, on his way to set up a mining colony in the asteroid belt, or something like that, rather than setting off in a wooden ship to find a shortcut to the Orient.

324 The emperor Constantine sacks the Oracle of the god Apollo and tortures the pagan priests to death. He also evicts all non-Christian peoples from Mount Athos and destroys all the local Hellenic temples.

335 Constantine sacks many pagan temples in Asia Minor and Palestine and orders the execution by crucifixion of “all magicians and soothsayers.” Martyrdom of the neoplatonist philosopher Sopatrus.

341 Constantius II (Flavius Julius Constantius) persecutes “all the soothsayers and the Hellenists.” Many gentile Hellenes are either imprisoned or executed.

354 A new edict of Constantius orders the destruction of the pagan temples and the execution of all “idolaters”. First burning of libraries in various cities of the empire.

359 In Skythopolis, Syria, the Christians organise the first death camps for the torture and executions of the arrested non-Christians from all around the empire.

364 Emperor Jovian orders the burning of the Library of Antioch. An Imperial edict (11th September) orders the death penalty for all those that worship their ancestral gods or practice divination. Three different edicts (4th February, 9th September, 23rd December) order the confiscation of all properties of the pagan temples and the death penalty for participation in pagan rituals, even private ones.

370 Valens orders a tremendous persecution of non-Christian peoples in all the Eastern Empire. In Antioch, among many other non-Christians, the ex-governor Fidustius and the priests Hilarius and Patricius are executed. The philosopher Simonides is burned alive and the philosopher Maximus is decapitated. Tons of books are burnt in the squares of the cities of the Eastern Empire.

372 Valens orders the governor of Minor Asia to exterminate all the Hellenes and all documents of their wisdom.

373 The term “pagan” (pagani, villagers, equivalent to the modern insult, “peasants”) is introduced by the Christians to demean non-believers. The non-Christians are called “loathsome, heretics, stupid and blind”. In another edict, Theodosius calls “insane” those that do not believe to the Christian God. The Christian priests lead the angry mob against the temple of goddess Demeter in Eleusis and try to lynch the hierophants Nestorius and Priskus.

381 At the Council of Constantinople the 'Holy Spirit' is declared 'Divine' (thus sanctioning a triune god). On 2nd May, Theodosius deprives of all their rights any Christians who return to the pagan religion. Throughout the Eastern Empire the pagan temples and libraries are looted or burned down.

385 to 388 Thousands of innocent pagans from all sides of the empire suffer martyrdom in the notorious death camps of Skythopolis.

389 to 390 Hordes of fanatic Christian hermits from the desert flood the cities of the Middle East and Egypt and destroy statues, altars, libraries and pagan temples, and lynch the pagans. Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, starts heavy persecutions against non-Christian peoples, turning the temple of Dionysius into a Christian church, burning down the Mithraeum of the city, destroying the temple of Zeus and burlesques the pagan priests before they are killed by stoning. The Christian mob profanes the cult images.

392 On 8th November, Theodosius outlaws all the non-Christian rituals and names them “superstitions of the gentiles” (gentilicia superstitio). New full scale persecutions are ordered against pagans. The Mysteries of Samothrace are ended and the priests slaughtered. In Cyprus the local bishop “Saint” Epiphanius and “Saint” Tychon destroy almost all the temples of the island and exterminate thousands of non-Christians.

395 Two new edicts (22nd July and 7th August) cause new persecutions against pagans. Rufinus, the eunuch Prime Minister of Emperor Flavius Arcadius directs the hordes of baptised Goths (led by Alaric) to the country of the Hellenes. Encouraged by Christian monks the barbarians sack and burn many cities (Dion, Delphi, Megara, Corinth, Pheneos, Argos, Nemea, Lycosoura, Sparta, Messene, Phigaleia, Olympia, etc.), slaughter or enslave innumerable gentile Hellenes and burn down all the temples. Among others, they burn down the Eleusinian Sanctuary and burn alive all its priests (including the hierophant of Mithras Hilarius).

399 With a new edict (13th July) Flavius Arcadius orders all remaining pagan temples, mainly in the countryside, be immediately demolished.

401 The Christian mob of Carthage lynches non-Christians and destroys temples and “idols”. In Gaza too, the local bishop “Saint” Porphyrius sends his followers to lynch pagans and to demolish the remaining nine still active temples of the city.

405 John Chrysostom sends hordes of grey-dressed monks armed with clubs and iron bars to destroy the “idols” in all the cities of Palestine.

408 The local bishops lead new heavy persecutions against the pagans and new book burning. The judges that have pity for the pagans are also persecuted. “Saint” Augustine massacres hundreds of protesting pagans in Calama, Algeria.

409 Another edict orders all methods of divination including astrology to be punished by death.

415 In Alexandria, the Christian mob, urged by the bishop Cyril, attacks a few days before the Judeo-Christian Pascha (Easter) and cuts to pieces the famous and beautiful philosopher Hypatia. The pieces of her body, carried around by the Christian mob through the streets of Alexandria, are finally burned together with her books in a place called Cynaron.

416 The inquisitor Hypatius, alias “The Sword of God”, exterminates the last pagans of Bithynia. In Constantinople (7th December) all non-Christian army officers, public employees and judges are dismissed.

423 Emperor Theodosius II declares (8th June) that the religion of the pagans is nothing more than “demon worship” and orders all those who persist in practicing it to be punished by imprisonment and torture.

435 On 14th November, a new edict by Theodosius II orders the death penalty for all “heretics” and pagans of the empire. Only Judaism is considered a legal non-Christian religion.

448 Theodosius II orders all non-Christian books to be burned.

450 All the temples of Aphrodisias (the City of the Goddess Aphrodite) are demolished and all its libraries burned down. The city is renamed Stavroupolis (City of the Cross).

482 to 488 The majority of the pagans of Minor Asia are exterminated after a desperate revolt against the emperor and the Church.

And THAT, folks, is a greatly abbreviated and redacted account of just the BEGINNING of the 1,200 year Christian 'Reign of Terror'... 'Holocaust'... whatever you want to call it. Here is a more complete and extensive list, along with a narrative... http://www.askwhy.co.uk/christianity/0780Bookburning.php

P.S.: looking at some of these other answers... what a bunch of freakin' morons.
.

Answer 2

The Age Of Enlightenment Summary

Answer 3

wikipedia can :)

Age of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment (French: Siècle des Lumières; German: Aufklärung;Italian: Illuminismo); was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. The term can more narrowly refer to the intellectual movement of The Enlightenment, which advocated reason as the primary basis of authority. Developing in France, Britain and Germany, its sphere of influence also included Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain and, in fact, the whole of Europe. Many of the United States' Founding Fathers were also heavily influenced by Enlightenment-era ideas, particularly in the religious sphere (deism) and, in parallel with classical liberalism, in the political sphere (which had a major influence on its Bill of Rights, in parallel with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen)...

Answer 4

How do you know they're imaginary? Did you personally invent them? Actually, I'm wondering why atheists are still wasting their time on the same obsession. Are your lives so devoid of meaning that you can't find anything better to do than ask the same question century after century? You'd better hope we never stop believing in the "Imaginary Sky Gods". It seems to be the only thing that gives your lives meaning. God bless.

Answer 5

The age of reason, is the age that a child knows right from wrong, follows rules and directions, and such. Typically at seven years old. I know what you meant I just like this age of reason better.

Answer 6

If the first post isn't what you're looking for, it's the age of development in the brain when it becomes capable to understand abstract ideas and compare them tangible objects and concepts

Answer 7

Radio will eventually control the world

because as it states within RADIO , i D\ A DIO and thats GOD. meaning yes the italians figured out how God talked to Paul and the others. A radio receiver inplanted in their heads.

Answer 8

When you get old enough to know right from wrong,then God
say,s choose this day whom you will serve,from then own
if you sin they will be counted to you by God and if you do not repent,when you die you will go to hell.

Answer 9

You can master your mind and understand why it come and go. It is the reason why you born here and why you go somewhere.
You are happy by now. None of emotion will influence you.

Answer 10

read duck phup's answer.