On Astronomy & Astrology

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Order of Contents

Articles  2
History  2
Latin  1

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Articles

1600’s

Turretin, Francis – 7. ‘From the use of the luminaries posited by Moses can judiciary astrology be built up?  We deny against the astrologers and planetarians.’  in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr.  (1679–1685; P&R, 1992), vol. 1, 5th Topic, pp. 452-57

van Mastricht, Peter – bk. 3, ch. 6  in Theoretical-Practical Theology (RHB), vol. 3

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The History of Astrology

On the 1500’s – 1600’s

Article

Tessicini, Dario – Astrology, Heliocentrism & the Copernican Question (Essay Review of R. Westman, ‘The Copernican Question. Prognostication, Skepticism & the Celestial Order’)  in Galilaeana, X, 2013, pp. 219-236

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Book

Dohoney, Justin – ‘In So Many Ways Do the Planets Bear Witness’: The Impact of Copernicanism on Judicial Astrology at the English Court, 1543-1660  Masters thesis  (Clemson Univ., 2011)

Abstract: “The traditional historiography of science from the late-nineteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries has broadly claimed that the Copernican revolution in astronomy irrevocably damaged the practice of judicial astrology. However, evidence to the contrary suggests that judicial astrology not only continued but actually expanded during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries…

Contrary to their European counterparts on the Continent, English patrons typically required tangible, practical results to justify their support of client-scientists. The heliocentric theory received a largely positive reaction in England, and many astrologers readily employed its mathematics to make more precise predictions of planetary locations, which would presumably lead to better prognostications of human events. As long as scientists and patrons defined science in these exclusively mathematical terms, astrology could comfortably exist within these scientific boundaries.

However, throughout the mid-sixteenth century, multiple processes occurred that changed astrology from a science into a popular belief in England. Patrons began to lose interest in astrology and thus financed fewer astrologers, and with the instability of the Civil War, fewer patrons were in positions of power to provide this sort of support. Furthermore, as astrology enjoyed increased popularity among the lower and merchant classes of England through almanac and pamphlet publications, scientists saw it in their best professional interest to consciously distance themselves from astrology and redefine and re-categorize it beyond the reasonable margins of proper scientific practice. In short, while astrology declined as a scientific activity during the latter half of the seventeenth century, it found success as a popular activity beyond the confines of conventional science.”


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Latin

1600’s

Voet, Gisbert – Select Theological Disputations  (1669), vol. 5  The below work of Voet is listed at the end of the table of contents, but is not contained in the GB edition.

A Declamation on the Comets of 1604, by Andreas Libavius  137

Gisbert Voetius, An Exercitation on the Prognostications of Comets  141

Prolegomena on the Declamation of Dr. Libavius on the Comets seen in October, 1604  141

1. That from stars, and thus even from comets, special divinations have been rightly deduced, according to Libavius, is exploded  151

2. Whether any and all, or which sign of comets, being seen, are to be discarded?  154

3. On the presupposed premises and rightly constituted state of the controversy, this is put forth:  By the consensus of all peoples and wise men without foolishness and superstition, some portent is to be looked for in the appearance of comets.  165

4. What is to be judged of dread from an appearance and sight taken of comets?  190

5. The universal consensus of the peoples and wise men is confirmed by the judgment on prognostications of comets  201

6. Responds to Objections  227

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