Joseph Priestley´s Science and Ministry, George Fox et al, and Spiritual Practice.

In relation to a news article about the greenhouse effect from 1912. Abr Bro We should really thank Joseph Priestly who discovered both Oxygen and CO2. · Reply · 7h Abr Br I see upon review that Priestley is credited with "carbonated water," but merely contributed to observations about carbon dioxide. He is credited in a close heat with another guy for the identification of oxygen, which he called "dephlogisticated air." I also reviewed his original and more extensive work in ministry. As a minister, he was a rationalist and in favor of science and history. He also appreciated certain qualities of integrity in early benevolent Christianity, and referred to their loss as corruption. However, he never appreciated the significance of spiritual practice Christian monasticism, with remarkable stories of people like pioneer Anthony of the Desert, Evagrius who authored the eight vices, John Cassian, and Benedict of Nursia. They identified three famous stages in spiritual practice, Purgatio, Illuminatio, and Unitio in what they call now "divinization" or "theosis." He missed fundamentally that early Christians weren´t benevolent because of rationalism, but in the spirit of uninstitutional religious Christian community. In the mid to late 1600s, Spinoza had some understanding of emotional insight. George Fox´s Quaker-Friends had also developed a sort of spiritual practice in their silent waiting worship. They did become famous for their integrity such as opposition to slavery by Priestley´s day. I´ve been reading about the German Christian Wolff who wrote a comparative work about Confucius, with ample humanist leaning. He also wrote another work on Confucius including Moses, Christ, and Mohammed. Meanwhile, he would have done well to read G Vico and H Grotius, both who emphasized an ongoing relevance of Providence. G Leibniz also was inclined towards rationalism, but referred to the difference between the higher order God and imperfect human beings who can correct their mistakes. These advances create a "wonderful spontaneity" in people´s lives, Leibniz observed. He was intensely interested in the quality of early Christianity, and concerned about the corruption that he recognized that had emerged historically. He believed that logic and comparative history. He was familiar with "conversion experiences" and had understood it to be important in his early years. He had been disappointed when he had not had one.