It was 1627 when Sir Francis Bacon published his utopian treatise The New Atlantis and Europe was polluted by religious tensions, much of which revolved around the recent rise of science, but some had been around for a long time. Of course, we could enumerate these conflicts, citing the Protestant Reformation as one of their catalysts, but, guided by the New Atlantis, we should focus on the still tense Judeo-Christian dynamic to the extent that it illuminates Bacon's construction of his Bensalem utopia. Before we begin, it should be clarified that the Jewish-Christian conflict long predates Bacon's writings and has its most salient roots in Jewish judgment, to which many Christians have blamed the crucifixion of Jesus on the Jewish people and have cited the Bible as proof. . (King James Bible, Matthew 27:24-25). This, combined with a myriad of other complications, permeated anti-Semitism throughout the European continent, translating it into various crusades and pogroms that resulted in the massacre of countless Jews. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essayNow, given this brief history of Judeo-Christian tension, it can be compared to the New Atlantis, in which Bacon offers to its reader a utopia in which Jews and Christians tolerate each other. But it's not like Bensalem resembles Europe in every way except religious harmony; in fact, Bensalem departs radically from Europe, because if this were not the case, its Jews and its Christians would not coexist. The main difference is that Bensalem is a primarily scientific society, dedicated to the research of natural philosophy, described here as the knowledge and understanding of God's creations. (Lard, 20). Devotion to natural philosophy, as it exists in Bensalem, can be understood as the transcendent solution to the incessant conflict between Jews and Christians in Europe; In other words, through his utopia, Bacon hopes to assert that science, and the objective mentality it employs, promotes tolerance and peace. To this end, Bacon weaves Jewish tradition through the otherwise Christian Bensalem, and ultimately personifies such a fusion in the story's only Jewish character, Joabin, in whom he immediately dramatizes and rectifies the Jewish-Christian conflict. Before analyzing the implications of Bensalem and Bacon's intentions, it goes without saying that we must understand both the history and the institutions of utopia. For an explanation of the first case, we can turn to Joabin, who recalls the original Jewish ancestry of Bensalem: "desiring, by tradition among the Jews there, to make believe that his people were of the generation of Abraham …and that Moses, by a secret the cabal ordained the laws of Bensalem which they now use…” (26). Yet Bensalem has since moved beyond its Jewish roots, becoming Christianized after the crucifixion of Jesus and the subsequent revelation of the ark by the apostle Bartholomew. (13). Intended to bring “salvation and peace,” this ark contained books from the Old and New Testaments – the former relating only to Judaism but both to Christianity – and thus saved Bensalem from “infidelity” , avoiding the flood that would overwhelm the rest. of the old world. (13). Despite this Christianization, Bensalem still retains “a few strains of Jews” (25), like Joabin, free to practice their religion. Indeed, Utopia will never truly get rid of its Jewish roots: its name translated from Hebrew to mean "peaceful son", and perhaps Bacon chosethis to remind the now Christian state of its heritage. In any case, the Jews who remain, Bacon emphasizes, are "of a very different disposition" (25) from European Jews, who "hate the name of Christ and have a secret and innate grudge against the people among whom they live.” » (26). On the other hand, the “good Jew” of Bensalem would recognize that “Christ was born a virgin; and that he was more than a man,” and such beliefs align with the Christian remainder of the population, negating any potential conflict between the two groups. Now, one could argue that in Bacon's Bensalem it is not science that eases religious tensions, but that plus a flexible breed of Judaism that is inherently less at odds with Christianity and therefore less controversial. But it is crucial to remember that Bensalem only exists hypothetically and that the Jewish-Christian conflict did exist and inspired Bacon's writings. Whatever the differences between actual contemporary European Jews and those of Bacon, there is no Jewish-Christian conflict in Bensalem, and the reasons for this conflict remain to be understood. As mentioned, Bensalem is a scientific society, supported within it by the institution of the "House of Solomon", the implications of which are both complex and vital to understanding the deepest allegories of the New Atlantis. Sonically, “the House of Solomon” recalls two characters: the first, Solomona, was the first king of Bensalem (18), and the second, the biblical Solomon, was the son of David and king of Israel. According to the Bible, God gave King Solomon "exceptional wisdom and understanding, and a large heart" (1 Kings, 4:29), a description that undeniably guides Bacon's construction of King Solomona, who has a "large heart." large » similar (18). Moreover, the crowning achievement of Solomon's biblical achievement was the building of a "house of the Lord in Jerusalem" (2 Chron., 3:1); this first Jewish temple, or "Solomon's Temple", was the contemporary Mecca of Jewish worship, housing the Ark of the Covenant and attracting as a crowd "all the men of Israel" (1 Kings, 8: 2). Just as the Bible remembers King Solomon for his temple, the Bensalemites also remember King Solomona for his, also named "the house of Solomon" and considered the "noblest foundation...that ever existed on the earth , and the lantern of [Bensalem”. ]” (Bacon, 20 years old). Indeed, the sonic similarity between the two respective institutions is by no means accidental, as the "House of Solomon" of Bensalem can be considered "the king of the Hebrews" that King Salomona "happens to symbolize" and of which it seems to draw the works. were influenced. (20). It turns out that King Solomon actually advanced natural philosophy, leaving the remains of his studies not to the Europeans but to the Bensalemites: “for we have certain parts of his works which among you are lost; namely, that natural history which he wrote of all plants…and of all things which have life and motion” (20). Then, being perfectly and undeniably aware of the link between the natural sciences and King Solomon, these Bensalemites sometimes refer to the "House of Solomon" under another name, "The College of Works of Six Days", a nomenclature which admits that their “excellent king had learned from the Hebrews that God created the world and everything in it in six days” (20). Not surprisingly, this second name also nods to the Bible, in which God is said to have created the world in six days, the seventh being considered the Sabbath (Ex. 20:11). Undoubtedly aware of this infamous six-day deadline and its centrality to Jewish tradition, Bacon uses this number all..