Author Bio: Galileo Galilei, was an Italian astronomer, physicist, engineer, philosopher, and mathematician who played a major role in the scientific revolution during the Renaissance. He is widely heralded as one of the greatest scientists of all time.
Speaker: See above
Date/Context: 1615, its like a page and a half so look on page 42
Summary:The intention of this letter was to accommodate Copernicanism with the doctrines of the Catholic Church. Galileo tried to use the ideas of Church Fathers and Doctors to show that the condemnation of Copernicanism would be inappropriate.
Key Quotes: From this i do not mean to infer that we need not have an extraordinary esteem for the passages of holy scripture.
Good work Riley! The only thing I would add/ change is your quote. I would change it to "On the contrary, having arrived at any certainties in physics, we ought to utilize these as the most appropriate aids in the true exposition of the Bible and in the investigation of those meanings which are necessarily contained therein for these must be concordant with demonstrated truths”. Having said that, I did like your summary and I think it was directly about the writing.
ReplyDeleteIt is important to put Galileo, and this letter into a broader historical context. Written in 1615 just before the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), this document put further strains on a Church that was under both external and internal pressure. Further, it is important to recognize the tone of this document. Galileo is critical of any who disagree with his assertions - particularly members of the Church. As a result of this letter, and Galileo's vehement defense of his findings, that he was excommunicated from the Church until 1993.
ReplyDeleteMore notable quotes:
-"I discovered in the heavens many things that had not been seen before our own age. The novelty of these things...stirred up against me no small number of professors - as if I had placed these things in the sky with my own hands in order to upset nature and overturn science."
-"I hold the sun to be situated motionless in the center of the revolution of the celestial orbs while the earth rotates on its axis and revolves about the sun."
-"These men have resolved to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible."
-"Contrary to the sense of the Bible and the intention of the holy Fathers...they would extend such authorities until even in purely physical matters - where faith is not involved - they would have us altogether abandon reason and the evidence of our senses in favor of some biblical passage."