1. What were the chief characteristics of the intellectual and religious climate of seventeenth-century Europe?

2. What effect did religion have on society? Consider its relation to politics / government and to individual belief. Was the seventeenth century becoming more secular and less religious?

3. Historians, like Sherlock Holmes, need to listen for the dogs that do not bark. Notice that Briggs uses the term "scientific revolution" in quotation marks. According to his interpretation, was the seventeenth century revolutionary in the realms of religion and science? Carefully consider the way in which he presents his themes and compare the presentation with the conclusion.

4. Was anything revolutionary about the so-called scientific revolution? Did science make an impact beyond professional circles of scientists?