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Johannes Kepler's Religious Beliefs

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Johannes Kepler was a famous mathematician, best known for his works on the planetary laws of motion. During his lifetime he faced many oppositions to his work, Kepler was known to be a very quiet tempered man with little interest but his research, which was often impeded. Kepler’s personal religious beliefs were what caused him the most trouble in his professional and personal life. He was denied positions and friendships due to his Protestant beliefs; finding enemies in the Catholic church and in the Lutheran for his sympathy towards Calvinists. In addition, Kepler’s family life was increasingly problematic. His first wife often prevented him from getting work done, and two of his sons died. Finally, Kepler’s mother was accused of being a witch, this greatly affected Kepler, as he had to take time out of his research to help prove her innocence on the matter. Kepler had a lot of issues with his religious beliefs, they were out of the ordinary and did not fall perfectly in line with the popular beliefs at the time. His job was in constant jeopardy because he was unsure of which religion would …show more content…

Falsely accused of witchcraft, Katherina Kepler spent 14 months in jail after a Cambridge professor accused her of being a witch. The charges included townspeople claiming that they had seen her turn into a cat, and a 12-year-old girl saying that Mrs. Kepler hit her arm in a way that made her unable to move her finger. In order to help save his mother, Kepler moved from Linz to southern Germany. Kepler and his family all stayed in southern Germany until the entire ordeal was over, only for Mrs. Kepler to die a few months after he name was cleared. This event undoubtedly had a great effect on Kepler’s work. With the stress that such an event would incur hanging over him for the good part of 6 years, and the focus required to help clear his mother’s name, Kepler had hardly any time for his

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