25 + 1 Questions

Research Question(s)
How was the changing concept of the structure of the universe depicted in literature in the 16th and 17th centuries? What did the new discovery that the universe was heliocentric rather than geocentric mean for individual people, especially in terms of their relationship to God (both physically and spiritually)? How are these different views of the universe reflected in modern thought and belief?

25 Questions

1. Where do people believe God is located?

2. What role do people feel God plays in their lives? Is He involved? Are humans the center of His focus? Does He ignore us? ... Etc. 

3. Does God having a specific location in the universe change how people feel about their relationship to Him?

4. What are some primary texts that would give me an idea of how God's location relative to man changed their perception of their relationship to Him, and their perception of themselves?

5. How would God's physical relation to the earth and to man be manifested in architecture? Stained glass in churches? 

6. What sites in England would be most likely to contain such information? If there aren't any sites remaining from that time period, how would I get that information?

7. How would physical manifestations (architecture, stained glass, etc.) of these concepts affect people today? Would they at all?

8. How has the concept of God's location changed throughout time?

9. Though its primary use after being scientifically debunked was primarily literary, how did that gradually fade out? Or are Renaissance cosmological ideas still being used in literary texts still today?

10. What were the political implications of the scientific debunk-tion of the geocentric universe?

11. What were the social implications of the scientific debunk-tion of the geocentric universe?

12. What would be the best sources of information on political and social implications? Where would I find them?

13. How would political and social implications also affect religious thought indirectly?

14. How was organized religion directly impacted by the scientific discovery that the earth was not the center of the universe?

15. How exactly did the concept of the universe change after they realized that the sun was the center of our solar system?

16. How did people react to the change through literature?
17. Did people try to accept the new universe view and use it as a literary device like those who clung to the old view?
18. Did anyone ever merge the two concepts of the universe? If so, how?
19. How have people used the still expanding idea of the universe in literature?
20. What different ideas emerged about man's place in the universe after the heliocentric discovery?
21. Since the Renaissance idea of the cosmos had such a huge impact on other aspects of Renaissance life, what things replaced the universe as models for those things?
22. How much did the common people understand about the Renaissance view of the cosmos? Were they scientifically literate?
23. Was the Renaissance view of the cosmos held on to longer by more upper or lower class people?
24. How does our concept of the universe impact our thought today?
25. What would we do if we had a universe-shaking discovery like those in the Renaissance actually did experience?