Encountering water in early modern Europe and beyond : redefining the universe through natural philosophy, religious reformations, and sea voyaging / Lindsay J. Starkey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Starkey, Lindsay J., author.

Series:

Environmental humanities in pre-modern cultures.

Environmental humanities in pre-modern cultures

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Discoveries in geography--History--16th century.

Discoveries in geography.

Reformation.

Religion and science--History--16th century.

Religion and science.

Water--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Water.

Water--Social aspects--Europe.

Southern Hemisphere--Discovery and exploration--History--16th century.

Southern Hemisphere.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (274 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2020.

Summary:

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, particularly sixteenth-century Europeans were especially concerned with why dry land existed. This book investigates why sixteenth-century Europeans 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.

Contents:

Introduction : why water?

Athens and Jerusalem on water

Gathering water in exegetical texts

Defining water in natural philosophical texts

Describing and depicting water in cosmographical and geographical texts

Water in newly rediscovered ancient and medieval texts

Exploring the created universe through water

Sea voyages and the water-earth relationship

Afterword : the redefinition of the universe and the twenty-first-century water crisis.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 20 Nov 2020).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-003-69476-4

9781003694762

OCLC:

1187189314