Product Description

Following on from "The Dawn of Astrology", Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds. Astrology is a major feature of contemporary popular culture, with recent research indicating that 99 per cent of adults know their birth sign. In the modern West, astrology thrives as part of our culture, yet it is a pre-Christian, pre-scientific world-view that continues to provide meaning for millions. Medieval and Renaissance Europe marked the high watermark for astrology, flourishing at all levels of society. It was a subject of high theological speculation, whilst also used to advise kings and popes, and to arrange an activity - from the beginning of a battle to the most auspicious time to have one's hair cut. It was applied to magic and medicine, could locate buried treasure and was regularly used to predict the Apocalypse.Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds as the ancient and classical theories of the relationship between humanity and the stars adapted. Spanning the period between the adoption of astrology in the Islamic world and the subsequent transfer of Islamic science to Europe, to the rise of popular astrology on the web, Campion challenges the historical convention that astrology flourished only between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. Concluding with a discussion of astrology's popularity and appeal in the twenty-first century, Campion asks whether it should be seen as an integral part of modernity.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262969 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 371 pages

About the Author
Nicholas Campion is Director of the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture and Senior Lecturer in Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Wales, Lampeter. He also teaches at Kepler College, Seattle, USA.

Customer Reviews

The Survival of an Ancient Art
The continued study af astrology over the centuries is remarkable given the theological,scientific and now skeptical objections. The author charts the course of astrological practice over the centuries and the characters who did the predictions.

Modern day practitioners who are asked to justify their belief will find the author a great advocate and when they have finished the book they could hand it to a friend or relative who will enjoy a well-written and informative guide to western religion and philosophy irrespective of what they think about star lore.

The author brings the story up to date and I particularly liked the way he took a mere paragraph to dismiss the credibility of one well-known skeptical scientist and went on to expose the dishonesty of some academics in the way the subject it treated