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Chapter 4 - Prodigies

from Part II - Expanding the Explanatory Scope of Natural Causality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2022

Peter N. Jordan
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
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Summary

This chapter looks at prodigies, unusual or unexpected phenomena thought to be personally or communally meaningful. Prodigies were widely thought to be an integral feature of a providentially governed world, and many different occurrences were taken to be communicative signs of God’s disposition toward, or impending judgement of, humanity. Some saw these strange occurrences as miracles and hence instances of divine action, but others dismissed such views as superstitious and misinformed, and conceived of ways to correct them. Following the lead of Francis Bacon, John Spencer was convinced that the explanation of these unusual occurrences should be reformed, and made the case for placing them under the purview of natural philosophy and explaining them naturalistically. This chapter looks at the occurrences that Spencer labelled as prodigies, his strategies for understanding them, the consequences of providing naturalistic explanations of prodigies for the perceived communicative capacities of nature, and the afterlife of Spencer’s analysis among members of the Royal Society

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Naturalism in the Christian Imagination
Providence and Causality in Early Modern England
, pp. 72 - 110
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Prodigies
  • Peter N. Jordan, University of Oxford
  • Book: Naturalism in the Christian Imagination
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009211970.006
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  • Prodigies
  • Peter N. Jordan, University of Oxford
  • Book: Naturalism in the Christian Imagination
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009211970.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Prodigies
  • Peter N. Jordan, University of Oxford
  • Book: Naturalism in the Christian Imagination
  • Online publication: 30 June 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009211970.006
Available formats
×