Comparing Augustine, Aquinas, Galileo, And Organized Religion

1). Copernicus came from Poland, a very Catholic nation, which explains his choice to dedicate his book to Pope Paul III. John Calvin, a theologian who founded the Calvinist sect of Protestantism, was very fond of astronomy, saying that it shows the wisdom of God (Doc. 2). Other religious figures condemned the work of scientists, like Giovanni Ciampoli, who in a letter to Galileo insisted that Galileo censure facts due to the disagreement of church doctrines to the findings of Galileo (Doc. 3). Other philosophers merged their ideas on the sciences to religious beliefs to please the church and their own traditional beliefs. In a book by Walter Charleton, an English doctor and philosopher, he states that the creation of atoms and arrangement of them could only be achieved by a higher power (Doc. 8). His occupation as a doctor may have led him to this conclusion as the human body is a very complex machine, and it seemed that only God would be capable of engineering such an organism. Another philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz, compares God to an engineer manipulating his machines, further affecting the work of scientists by meshing religious and scientific ideas (Doc. 12). Many scientists’ works were condemned by the church at this time for blasphemy, so many turned to deism, where God made the Universe like a clock and let it run on its own. Many scientists’ work during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was

During the time of Galileo, the church was very strict with physicists who believed in the Copernican model. This is exactly the position that Galileo found himself in. In 1600 Galileo began making his own telescope. He became the first person to point one at the night sky. What staggered him the most by doing this was the sheer volume of stars that were not visible with the naked eye. Galileo used his telescope to make many discoveries; one of these is the discovery of Jupiter’s four moons. He even plotted and tracked there rotations around Jupiter. The main thing however, was that Jupiter even had moons, this was proof that the geocentric model was incorrect and that this discovery was in favour of the Copernican model.

It is evident that the Catholic Church realized their inaccuracy of their theory of the function of the solar system. After several centuries, the church accepted the truth in the theory of Galilei’s heliocentrism theory. The Timeline further explains that in, “1939: Pope Pius XII called Galileo a hero of research”(Doc A: Line 14). Galileo was no longer known as heresy of the Catholic religion but rather a hero that drew the line between reality and belief.

Galileo was the first European to make systematic observations of the heavens through his improved invention of the telescope. Through his telescope, Galileo made a series of discoveries. Galileo’s observations demolished among the traditional cosmology of what the universe seemed to be composed of. Not only did Galileo make astonishing discoveries, but he was also offered a new position from Grand Duke Cain II of Florence, as his court mathematician. During this time, Galileo was told that he could continue to discuss Copernicanism, as long as he would maintain everything as mathematical supposition, and not as facts. Due to the Inquisitions response, the church attacked the Copernican system since it threaten the Scripture and its’ entire conception of the universe. The new system rose'd much uncertainty that seemed as prudent to simply condemn it. In 1633, Galileo was found guilty of teaching the condemned Copernican system and was then forced to be placed under house arrest. He spent the remaining eight years of life studying mechanics. The principal of motion was the one of the problems that fell under the heading of mechanics. At the end, Galileo made two contributions to the problem of motion. He demonstrated by experimenting uniform force to accelerate

Through the use of the two quotes by Galileo and Pope John Paul II, Postman proposes that the use of religion and science can provide the bases for morality and human improvement should one be free from dogmatic judgement towards religion or science. Postman further emphasizes this common theme present in the quotes by juxtaposing the two figures, Galileo being an important contributor to the fields of science and Pope John Paul II holding one of the highest positions in the Catholic Church, the two figures of which are almost antithetical to each other given their roles. Following the essay’s theme of religion and the new age of information being similar through the use of blind faith, this juxtaposition further accentuates the religion/science

The centers of learning were universities run by the Catholic Church, so most scholarly pursuits involved analyzing the Bible and other religious texts. When scholars explored science, they did so to prove that the Church’s ideas were correct.

Prior to Galileo’s time, the Greek and medieval mind, science was a kind of formalism, a means of coordinating data, which had no bearing on the ultimate reality of things. The point was to give order to complicated data, and all that mattered was the hypothesis that was simplest to understand and most convenient. Astronomy and mathematics were regarded as the playthings of intellectuals. They were accounted as having neither philosophical nor theological relevance. There was genuine puzzlement among Churchmen that they had to get involved in a quarrel over planetary orbits.

Religion has been a major factor for the growth and development of societies since the establishment of even the very first ancient civilizations. Though each of the ancient societies—the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Indians, and the Mesopotamians—had different spiritual beliefs, they each shared the common belief that the presence of religion within a civilization would have positive results upon the entire civilization.

Galileo Galilei was also a supporter of the Copernican Theory. Galileo believed the earth, and other planets, rotated on its axis around the unmoving sun. He used his new invention of the telescope to prove Copernicus’ theory. With the telescope, Galileo found sunspots on the earth’s moon, which gave proof to him that the heavens were not perfect and changeless but were more like the changeable earth. iv He also discovered Jupiter and the four moons that revolved around it. He only discovered one moon revolving around the earth. Galileo therefore stated if Jupiter were to revolve around the earth, then the earth would have to have at least four moons, and it doesn’t. v The Church objected Galileo’s theory because the Bible said the sun moved through the sky. Being totally rejected by the church, Galileo was forced to take back what he had written and was also prevented from any further teachings of his theory. Galileo was condemned by the Catholic Church for his ideas. The Church succeeded in silencing Galileo but couldn’t stop the advancements in science.

During the Middle Ages, the relationship between science and religion was central to the ability of intellectuals to pursue the natural sciences. Without approval from their religious leaders, the great thinkers of the Middle Ages were unable to make any large strides in natural philosophy. However, this does not mean that the pervasiveness of religion prevented science from thriving. Rather, the nature of the relationship between science and religion was wholly dependent on the religion in question. In some cases, such as in Christianity, science was given a comparably more sympathetic environment in which to grow and develop. Due to the necessity of a class of men who were both theologians and natural philosophers in Christian societies,

Not to mention, the Catholic Church was making a fool of themselves by not accepting Copernicanism because they believe that Copernicus and Galileo were criticizing the Bible and the Catholic Church. In the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina he stated, “I think in the first place that it is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the Holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood.” He wrote this to Madame Christina of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany because he believes that the Catholic Church had misunderstood him based on his theory. In fact, he tried to explain that his works were not in conflict with the Scripture. Furthermore, Galileo wanted to present that Copernicus never used anything involved with the authority of sacred writings or religion to make an argument about his experiment. Galileo stated, “He did not ignore the Bible, but he knew very well that if his doctrine were proved, then it could not contradict the Scripture when they were right

Tradition has lost its dominance over science and this resulted in devaluation of myths semantic processes. For example in The Masks of God: Creative Mythology, Campbell has mentioned some of the scientific events which had a negative effect on myth’s function and the result of this conflicting issue had eventually led to degradation of Christian mythology. He “think[s] of the year 1492 as marking the end—or at least the beginning of the end—of the authority of the old mythological systems by which the lives of men had been supported and inspired from time out of mind” . Significant scientific progresses in the renaissance, such as the works of Galileo and Copernicus, were in direct contradiction to the preachments of Christian scriptures.

As a Copernican, Galileo believes in a heliocentric model of the universe – that is, that the sun is “situated motionless in the center…while the earth rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun” (663, 12-16). He writes that the idea is not his own, and his critics “pretend not to know that its author…was Nicholas Copernicus.” (664, 4-8). Furthermore, his critics call out his propositions as contrary to the Bible and heretical. Galileo explains that these individuals attempt to use Bible passages to disprove the heliocentric cosmology, but to no

Galileo was a prime example of a conflict between the Catholic Church and science. He was a devout roman catholic, however a great scientist. Galileo had many contributions to the world such as the telescope and his many discoveries in outer space. However one of the more widely recognized was his support to Copernicus’ theory of heliocentricity. Before this the church had stated that the sun revolved around the earth, known as the theory of geocenctricity. Galileo’s teachings were consequently banned by the church, and Galileo himself imprisoned. However, in 1992 the Vatican under Pope John Paul II held a ceremony to proclaim that Galileo was right in his findings and support of Copernicus. (Tracts) This shows that the present day church does not see science as a threat or interference to its teachings. The present day church actually supports science, as well as the theory of evolution by natural selection.

One of the ways many of the early scientists were the same was they each had a knack for fully accepting unproven theories as fact in their search for the truth. Even though each sought new, unheard of, or at least not well defined answers to what were, in many cases, new and unasked questions, they did so with one portion of their findings already defined. Even Descartes, claiming to believe only the things that were proven without a doubt (35-38), behaved similarly to so many other early scientists in this regard. They almost all allowed one questionable theory to dictate the search for and even the presentation of the truth as they saw it. While Frances Bacon was proud of the accomplishments he and others had made, and even looked dimly on Greek philosophy because it was “most adverse to the inquisition of truth” (23), he saw things differently in his faith in God. Newton, still a believer, even though he chose to believe that ancient scriptures had once contained the truths he believed lay in mathematics, and that others in the church had hidden the knowledge regarding these truths (48). Galileo himself thought that science should be used as an instrument to interpret the Bible (344), even though this didn’t shield him from the repercussions all these scientists must have, if not feared, at least taken pause at the possibilities. Families and friends must have tried to persuade these brilliant men to think before they spoke, no matter the beliefs they held.