Journal of Culture-Communication Studies

Journal of Culture-Communication Studies

The Transformation of Religious Culture in the Transition from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment (A Study on the Relationship between Reason and Faith with an Emphasis on the Views of Descartes, Spinoza, and Kant)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Ali Ashkannejad 1
Yassaman Hoshyar 2
Mohammadhadi Ghandehari 3
1 PhD Student. Department of Philosophy, NT.c., Islamic Azad University. Tehran, Iran. Email: ali.ashkannejad@iau.ac.ir
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities. NT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3 Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities. NT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. Email: Qmh313@gmail.com
10.22083/jccs.2026.554412.4125
Abstract
Introduction: The relationship between reason and faith has long been one of the central questions in the history of Western philosophy and theology. Adopting an analytical-historical approach within the broader framework of cultural studies, this study examines the transformation of European religious culture during the transition from the middle Ages to the Enlightenment. It argues that this cultural transformation fundamentally reshaped the epistemic relationship between reason and faith. During the medieval period, faith and ecclesiastical authority occupied the dominant position in intellectual and social life, while reason primarily functioned as an instrument for explaining and defending revealed doctrines. The emergence of modern scientific rationalism and the gradual decline of traditional religious authority, however, disrupted this intellectual order. Against this background, the study investigates how the philosophical conceptions of reason developed by René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Immanuel Kant contributed to a structural transformation in the understanding of faith. More specifically, it examines how the rationalization of knowledge redirected European religious culture from a paradigm centered on revealed authority toward one grounded in autonomous reason and moral agency.
Methods: This study employs a qualitative analytical-historical methodology informed by the theoretical perspective of cultural studies. Through a comparative analysis of the philosophical systems of René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Immanuel Kant, it explores both the intellectual and cultural transformations in the relationship between reason and faith.
Within this study, the transformation of religious culture is understood as a combination of institutional, discursive, and symbolic changes, including the reconfiguration of ecclesiastical authority, the emergence of new forms of religious discourse, and the rise of scientific rationalism as a dominant epistemic framework. Rather than treating the philosophical works of these thinkers as isolated systems of argument, the analysis situates them within the broader cultural changes that accompanied Europe’s transition from the medieval to the modern period.
The study further draws upon historical and philosophical scholarship concerning the transition from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment and analyzes major philosophical texts to examine the gradual reinterpretation of faith within modern philosophical discourse.
Findings: The comparative analysis reveals a gradual transformation in the epistemic status of faith through an increasing emphasis on the authority of reason.
Descartes initiated this transformation by grounding certainty in methodological doubt and individual reason. Within his epistemological framework, faith remained acceptable only insofar as it was compatible with rational clarity, thereby assigning reason a foundational role in establishing religious certainty.
Spinoza extended this process by replacing traditional theological conceptions with a monistic understanding of God and nature. His philosophical system rejected divine transcendence, miracles, and supernatural intervention in favor of a rational interpretation of reality governed by necessary causal relations.
Kant subsequently redefined the relationship between reason and faith by demonstrating the limits of theoretical reason while relocating faith to the domain of practical reason. In his philosophy, faith functions not as theoretical knowledge or doctrinal assent but as an ethical postulate grounded in moral agency and the pursuit of the highest good.
Taken together, these philosophical positions illustrate a progressive reconfiguration of faith from a revealed and transcendent source of knowledge toward forms of belief increasingly shaped by rational inquiry, causal explanation, and moral autonomy.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that the transition from the Middle Ages to the Enlightenment represented not merely an intellectual change but a broader transformation in European religious culture. Across the philosophical systems examined, faith was progressively reinterpreted through the conceptual frameworks of modern rationality. Descartes associated religious certainty with rational demonstration, Spinoza redefined the divine within a naturalistic metaphysical system, and Kant relocated faith to the sphere of practical morality.
From the perspective of cultural studies, these developments illustrate a gradual shift in the social and epistemic functions of faith, reflecting broader changes in the relationship between religion, knowledge, and authority during the emergence of modernity. Rather than disappearing, faith assumed new philosophical and cultural forms shaped by the growing authority of rational inquiry. The study therefore contributes to a deeper understanding of how modern philosophy transformed the cultural meaning of faith and redefined its place within European intellectual history. Future research may extend this analysis by examining comparable transformations in non-Western intellectual traditions or through broader comparative studies of religion and modernity.
Keywords
Reason
Faith
Transformation of Religious Culture
Cultural Studies
Cultural Secularization
Subjects
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