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

Ashkannejad, Ali; Hoshyar, Yassaman; Ghandehari, Mohammadhadi

doi:10.22083/jccs.2026.554412.4125

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

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Ali Ashkannejad ¹

Yassaman Hoshyar ²

Mohammadhadi Ghandehari ²

¹ Azad University, North Tehran

² Member of the Philosophy Department, Azad University, North Tehran

10.22083/jccs.2026.554412.4125

Abstract

The relationship between reason and faith is one of the fundamental issues in the history of Western philosophy and theology. This study, using an analytical-historical approach and within the framework of cultural studies, examines how the religious culture of Europe changed during the transition from the Middle Ages to the Age of Enlightenment and shows that this cultural transformation paved the way for a transformation in the relationship between reason and faith. In the Middle Ages, faith and the institution of the church had intellectual and social authority, and reason served to explain the teachings of revelation; but with the emergence of modern rationalism, this traditional balance changed. Philosophers such as Descartes, Spinoza, and Kant, each redefined the relationship between reason and faith in a different way and gradually transferred faith from an institutional and revelational framework to a rational and moral realm. A comparative analysis of the views of these three philosophers shows that the transformation in European religious culture was not only a change in religious beliefs, but also a profound restructuring in ways of thinking, epistemic authority, and the experience of the sacred. The result of this transformation was the emergence of a new form of rational and moral faith that continued in the heart of modern culture.

Keywords

Reason

Faith

Transformation of Religious Culture

Cultural Studies

Cultural Secularization

Subjects