Faith and Reason in the Enlightenment Essay -- The Enlightenment in Eu

In a time when trustingness and hard labor kept the majority of fraternity a dwell, the initiation of reason by the Enlightenment was initially perceived as a threat. People had focused on their convictions and grasped the traditions and rituals of their dogmas. The Enlightenment introduced the possibility of faith and reason coinciding and cooperating to form a more civilized and tolerable society to replace the Old Regime, and the changes lasted far after the period of the Enlightenment. star(p) up to the Enlightenment Prior to the Enlightenment, Eng solid ground and France instituted Old Regime societies in which common chord distinct classes of people embraced religion as the foundation of their lives. Each caste had a assorted lifestyle, with the clergy enjoying the upper class, the gentry in the position of influence, and the great majority of the people trapped in the hardship of the Third Estate. The clergy was different in the Protestant Church than in the Catholic Church because the Catholics had scarce to obey the Pope while the Protestant Church was run by the monarch. None of the clergy paid many royal taxes, but still owned much of the land. Since the clergy was a high class, it was beneficial for some of the offspring of the nobility to join the clergy in order to receive higher status. The nobility as a whole controlled much money and power while maintaining unceasing struggle with the crown over governmental power. The Third Estate worked to live and had no freedom except for their religious beliefs. They believed that they were at the mercy of the land and of an overpowering Creator. The Old Regime was characterized in large part by conflicts between countries and within countries over religious matters. It w... ...ove their minds. European society that was once stuck in the Old Regime lifestyle grew in many facets with the introduction of reason and enlightenment. Although initially reluctant, the s ocieties of the Old Regime embraced the thoughts of the Enlightenment, the conflict between faith and reason began to subside as people learned that they could practice both. References 1 Donald Kagan. The Western Heritage Brief EditionVolume II Since 1648. (Upper buck River Pretence Hall, 1999), 313. 2 Kagan 298 3 Perry Rogers. Aspects of Western Civilization Problems and Sources in invoice 3rd ed. (Upper Saddle River Pretence Hall, 1997), 12. 4 Rogers, 15. 5 Kagan, 317. 6 diaphysis Gay. Age of Enlightenment. (New York Time Life Books, 1966), 32. 7 Kagan, 402. 8 Kagan, 329. 9 Gay, 56. 10 Gay, 54. 11 Rogers, 102.