Wednesday, March 18, 2020

The Characteristics of the Henrician Reformation Essays

The Characteristics of the Henrician Reformation Essays The Characteristics of the Henrician Reformation Paper The Characteristics of the Henrician Reformation Paper The Characteristics of the Henrician Reformation In 1534, when Henry VIII decided to separate England from Rome, he did so for both political and personal reasons. We can identify Henry’s political reasoning because he wanted to consolidate his power as King. His personal reasoning is simply that he wanted to secure an heir to the throne. I am focusing on the political reasoning for this paper. At that time, Henry was deciding to separate England from Rome, public opinion viewed the Church’s representation as worldly, corrupt and immoral. The Pope’s power was used for personal advantage and benefit not for the spiritual development of the people or country but for the benefit of the higher clergy. Lower clergy was leading a life of misery and poverty, while the higher clergymen lived a life of wealth and pleasure. With all of these discontentment and resentment, it was an optimum time for Henry to make his change. Using the people’s resentment and cry for change, Henry VIII boldly took major steps to put an end to growing power of the church and consolidate his power. He took necessary steps to limit the power of the clergy in the English church by destroying monasteries and enacting laws that were to be followed by the church authorities. The substance of these laws mandated that a priest could be associated with a single church only and that the Pope was to be elected by the clergy who were nominated by the King. In the end, the English church was separated from the Roman church and the communities of Christians were split into two camps: the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. The Henrician Reformation is characterized by the monarchy and the Church of England being fundamentally reshaped. I believe that this reshaping was distinguished by two categories: (1) Act of Supremacy; and (2) The dissolution of the monasteries. I. Act of Supremacy Henry VIIIs plan for Reformation was made clear through the Act of Supremacy. Henry saw himself as a godly reformer, a king who answered directly to God. This notion became deeply rooted in Henry’s kingship, where it became a part of his identity and reinforced by the imagery surrounding him. He sees himself as the king who had banished corruption from the Church and restored the truth of the Bible. [1] Henry set about reforming the Church that had come under his jurisdiction. The Act of Supremacy is one of the crucial key in Henrician Reformation as well as his plans for monastic dissolution. After all, he was the King of England and as King, he was the head of the church. As the head of the Church, he has all authority to make all decisions regarding the Church and religious matters. 2] In Henry’s view, how could someone governs a part of your realm that is not higher than you or God? In 1530, Henry instructed his representative in Rome to advise the pope that the royal person was not only prince and king, but set on such a pinnacle of dignity that we know no superior on earth. †[3] â€Å"For Henry, the Royal Supremacy was as much about the King as it was about God and questions of doctrine and church tradition were inseparable from an understanding of his divinely-ordained kingship. [4] Henry intertwined his views of Royal Supremacy with his religious belief by attending Mass on a daily basis, celebrating holy days and participating in other parts of his religion. If Henry was to be the head of the church as king, he had to be a godly king because his success was dependent on his divineness as the head of the English church. So to maintain his divineness, Henry had to dissolve the monasteries. This was crucial since the religious houses were loyal to the papal authority and this loyalty had to be crushed in order to drown out all foreign influence. Further, dissolving the monasteries was an act that clearly exercised the kind of authority Henry VIII bestowed upon himself through the Act of Supremacy. The type of control Henry desired was made to manifest through the dissolution of the monasteries, and any attempt to defy him was crushed mercilessly. Since Henry’s basis for his Supremacy was based upon the Bible, it was necessary that every parish church have an English Bible. In 1537, the English Bible was published under sanction of the government and allowed to be freely distributed. Although, Henry VIII had no real interest in the English people studying the Bible, it was another way for Henry to promote English nationalism and ensure that English church would no longer be relying on the Roman Latin Bible. II. The Dissolution of the Monasteries One of the key features in the Henrician Reformation was the attack on the monasteries known as the â€Å"the dissolution of the monasteries†. To Henry, the monasteries were seen as another evidence of Papal authority in England and Henry VIII was not going to tolerate it. Henry knew that monasteries were likely to bear allegiance to Rome, so he abolished them. Another factor that played in the abolishment of the monasteries was greed. [5] Since Henry VIII naturally assumed that these monasteries would remain loyal to the Pope, he cleverly used several key pieces of enactments that were introduced to end any evidence of the Pope’s authority. Legislations such as Act of First Fruits and Tenths of 1534, Valor Ecclesiaticus of 1535 and Dr. Thomas Layton and Mr. Richard Leigh, the crown’s investigative dynamic duo, whose letters concerning the monastic houses, known as the Compendium Compertorum, gave Henry his sovereignty ability to act. Starting very small, Henry VIII took steps against the power of the Church in 1538. To avoid too much outcry, Henry started on the less powerful houses and confiscated their property making their buildings unsuitable to use. He then he focused on the monasteries that were rich. Some were sold to wealthy gentry as country estates and others became building materials for local inhabitants. The key point to this was that not only did it serve Henry VIII’s self-interest but a lot of the wealth involved found its way back to the royal treasury. How did it affect the clergy? Not much because most of the clerics themselves believed it was time for a change. The only realy difference is that they thought that the wealth ascertained by the closing of these monasteries should have gone to charity or educational program. Greed always played a factor when dealing with politics or religion. Henry wanted money, Parliament wanted the money, gentry saw a way to increase their holdings and the merchant middle class saw a chance to become landed gentry themselves. So who profited the most with all of the dissolution of the monasteries? The new class of gentry who bought the lands benefitted the most. [6] The control and dismantling of the monasteries was so severe that there was no other economic base to compete with the new class of gentry. The real sadness is that numerous priceless manuscripts were destroyed in the process. CONCLUSION Within the Henrician Reformation, there were many events that contributed its formulation but the Act of Supremacy and dissolution of Monasteries were the key events that allowed Henry VIII to consolidate his power and establish himself as the head of the English Church. As we look back and evaluate his attitudes and policies as he pursued his self-interest by dismantling the control of the Roman Catholic’s influence on the English church, while not abandoning his religious beliefs, it clearly show that Henry was looking for a middle ground between Protestant and Catholic. What he really wanted was a church with a medieval model as respects constitution and doctrine, but an English sovereign for its supreme head in place of the Pope. Basically, what he wanted was a Catholic church without the pope. Still, as Henry VIII acquired more power by eliminating monasticism, he took over a lot of ecclesiastical property. He gave properties to the lesser nobility to appease them and win their support. Without such complete sovereignty, dissolving the religious houses would not have been possible. No matter what his political motives were, it is very clear, that Henry changed the established religion in England. WORK CITED Ban, Joseph D. â€Å"English Reformation: Product of King or Minister? † Church History, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun. , 1972), pp. 186-197. Ryrie, Alec. The Age of Reformation: The Tudor and Stewart Realms 1485-1603. Harlow: Pearson, 2009. Wooding, Lucy. â€Å"Henry VIII and Religion†. History Review, Dec 2008, Issue 62, p42-47. [1] Wooding, Lucy. Henry VIII and Religion. History Review, Dec 2008, Issue 62, p 45. [2] Alec Ryrie, The Age of Reformation: The Tudor and Stewart Realms 1485-1603. Harlow: Pearson, 2009, p. 128. [3] Ban, Joseph D. , English Reformation: Product of King or Minister? Church History, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Jun. , 1972), pp. 186-197 [4] Wooding, at 47. [5] Ryrie, pp. 134-135. [6] Ryrie, p. 131.

Monday, March 2, 2020

The Invention of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

The Invention of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Magnetic resonance imaging or scanning (also called an MRI) is a method of looking inside the body without using surgery, harmful dyes or x-rays. The MRI scanner uses magnetism and radio waves to produce clear pictures of the human anatomy. Foundation MRI is based on a physics phenomenon discovered in the 1930s, called nuclear magnetic resonance or NMR, in which magnetic fields and radio waves cause atoms to give off tiny radio signals. Felix Bloch, working at Stanford University, and Edward Purcell, from Harvard University, discovered NMR. NMR spectroscopy was then used as a means to study the composition of chemical compounds. Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield The 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Paul C Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging. Paul Lauterbur, a Professor of Chemistry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook wrote a paper on a new imaging technique which he termed zeugmatography (from the Greek zeugmo meaning yoke or a joining together). Lauterbur imaging experiments moved science from the single dimension of NMR spectroscopy to the second dimension of spatial orientation- the foundation of MRI. Peter Mansfield of Nottingham, England, further developed the utilization of gradients in the magnetic field. He showed how the signals could be mathematically analyzed, which made it possible to develop a useful imaging technique. Peter Mansfield also showed how extremely fast imaging could be achievable. This became technically possible within medicine a decade later. Raymond Damadian- First Patent in the Field of MRI In 1970, Raymond Damadian, a medical doctor and research scientist, discovered the basis for using magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for medical diagnosis. He found that different kinds of animal tissue emit response signals that vary in length, and that cancerous tissue emits response signals that last much longer than non-cancerous tissue. Less than two years later he filed his idea for using magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for medical diagnosis with the U.S. Patent Office, entitled Apparatus and Method for Detecting Cancer in Tissue. A patent was granted in 1974, it was the worlds first patent issued in the field of MRI. By 1977, Dr. Damadian completed construction of the first whole-body MRI scanner, which he dubbed the Indomitable. Rapid Development within Medicine The medical use of magnetic resonance imaging has developed rapidly. The first MRI equipment in health was available at the beginning of the 1980s. In 2002, approximately 22 000 MRI cameras were in use worldwide, and more than 60 million MRI examinations were performed. Water constitutes about  two-thirds  of the human body weight, and this high water content explains why magnetic resonance imaging has become widely applicable to medicine. There are differences in water content among tissues and organs. In many  diseases, the pathological process results in changes  of  the water content, and this is reflected in the MR image. Water is a molecule composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The  nuclei of the hydrogen atoms  are able to act as microscopic compass needles. When the body is exposed to a strong magnetic field, the nuclei of the hydrogen atoms are directed into order- stand at attention. When submitted to pulses of radio waves, the energy content of the nuclei changes. After the pulse, a resonance wave is emitted when the nuclei return to their previous state. The small differences in the oscillations of the nuclei are detected with advanced computer processing, it is possible to build up a three-dimensional image that reflects the chemical structure of the tissue, including differences in the water content and in movements of the water molecules. This results in a very detailed image of tissues and organs in the investigated area of the body. In this manner, pathological changes can be documented.