[[Martin Luther]] suggested that the renovation of science would follow religious reform. And that is indeed what happened. With the Protestant Reformation, the freedom of the individual conscience was elevated to an unprecedented degree, and with it, the sense of human destiny and capacity. Peter Harrison suggests the era of the Protestant Reformation saw an increased focus on the biblical creation accounts, with their claim that humanity is made in the [[Image of God]], and called to [[Creation Mandate|understand and govern nature]]. This may explain the rapid increase in scientific activity in the period 1517-1630. However, this was not sufficient for maintaining a long-lasting scientific process. They also needed a scientific community and scientific institutions, where knowledge could be collected, tested, shared, and passed on to the next generation. [[Francis Bacon]] catalyzed this step, with his description of a *social*, *missional* scientific methodology. He articulated this in both analytical form, and in a science fiction story about a religiously advanced society, whose righteous living and liturgy generate profound scientific advancements. This led directly to the formation of [[The Royal Society]] in 1660. People were very aware of the scientific revolution as it was happening, and many understood it as the fulfillment of the religious reform begun with the [[Protestant Reformation]]. Galileo, himself Catholic, understood it in part as the removal of Aristotle from the church's theology.