Galileo's confrontation with the Church
WE
to June 22, 1633. A frail old man is kneeling before the tribunal of the Roman Inquisition. He is a man of science, one of the best known of the time. Their scientific findings are the result of long years of study and research. However, if you want to save your life, you deny what he knows to be true.
His name was Galileo Galilei. The "Galileo affair" as many call it, has resulted in doubts, questions, and a controversy whose echoes reach today, three hundred seventy years later. It has certainly left an indelible mark on the history of religion and science. But why has it caused such a stir? And why has become news again today? Perhaps because it symbolizes a divide between science and religion, "as an author? Many people
Galileo, who excelled as a mathematician, astronomer and physicist, the "father of modern science." He was one of the first men who searched the heavens with a telescope, and used their observations to support a theory that was the subject of heated debate in his day: that the earth revolves around Sun and, therefore, is not the center of the universe. This explains why sometimes it is seen as the creator of modern experimental method.
What were some of his discoveries and inventions? In his role as astronomer discovered, inter alia, that Jupiter has satellites, the Milky Way is made up of stars, there are mountains on the Moon and Venus undergoes phases like the Moon. As a physicist, studied the laws governing the motion of pendulums and falling objects. He also invented instruments such as the proportional compass, a kind of slide rule. And based on data from Holland, built the telescope made the universe at your eyes.
Its long standoff with the church hierarchy, however, transformed the career of this eminent scientist in a drama: the Galileo case. How did and why? Conflict with Rome
By the end of the sixteenth century, Galileo had adopted the Copernican theory. According to this, the Earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa, which is known as the heliocentric system. In 1610 with his telescope discovered heavenly bodies that have never before been observed, and was convinced he had found confirmation of that theory. According to the Grande Dizionario
Encyclopedic UTET, the purpose of Galileo was not simply make these discoveries. He wanted to persuade "the most senior figures of the time (princes and cardinals)" the truth of the Copernican theory. He hoped to overcome the objections of the Church, and even win their support, with the help of influential friends.
In 1611, Galileo traveled to Rome to meet with church leaders. But, even used a telescope to show his astronomical discoveries, things were not as hoped. For 1616, Galileo was officially under investigation.
theologians of the Roman Inquisition described the heliocentric theory of "foolish and absurd philosophically and formally heretical, because in many respects expressly contradicts the prayers of Scripture in its literal meaning, their common understanding and the opinion of the Fathers and doctors of theology."
Galileo met with Cardinal Robert Bellarmine, considered the greatest Catholic theologian of his day and nicknamed "the hammer of heretics." This will formally warned Galileo to stop spreading their ideas about a heliocentric system.
Face to face with the Inquisition, Galileo
tried to act with prudence, but while defending the Copernican theory. Seventeen years later, in 1633, appeared before the Inquisition tribunal. Although Cardinal Bellarmine had died, at that time his main opponent was Pope Urban VIII, who in the past had favored. Some authors have considered this process one of the most famous and unfair to the old, comparable to those of Socrates and Jesus.
What led to the trial? Galileo had written a book entitled Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which, as expected, defended the heliocentric. In 1632 he was summoned to court, but I was sick and had nearly 70 years, was delayed. To avoid being arrested and carry chains, eventually traveled to Rome the following year. By Pope, Galileo was interrogated and even threatened with being subjected to torture.
The question of whether the elderly person was tortured or not is sparking controversy. In accordance with the sentence, he underwent a "thorough review" technical term which referred to the torture in those days, as Italo Mereu, a historian of Italian law. Other scholars agree with this interpretation.
In any event, Galileo was sentenced on June 22, 1633 in an austere room before the Inquisition tribunal members. He was found guilty of having "defended and believed false doctrine, contrary to the Holy and Divine Scriptures, that the Sun [...] it moves from east to west, and that the Earth moves and is not the center of the world. "
Because Galileo did not want to become a martyr, had to withdraw. After reading his statement, the old scientist, kneeling and dressed as a penitent, said solemnly: "I abjure, curse and detest the aforesaid errors and heresies [the Copernican theory], and in general any other error, heresy and sect contrary to the Holy Church. "
According to popular tradition, no compelling evidence to confirm it, "after being retracted, Galileo stamped his foot and protested: "And yet it moves!". Commentators say that the humiliation of having abjured his scientific discoveries mortified to death. His prison sentence was commuted to house arrest for life. And as the eye could see, it became virtually isolated.
"conflict between religion and science?
Many people have come to the conclusion that Galileo's experience shows that science and religion are hopelessly incompatible. In fact, over the centuries his case has not only alienated people from religion, but has convinced many that this is by nature a threat to scientific progress. But is this true?
Pope Urban VIII and the theologians of the Roman Inquisition condemned the Copernican theory claiming that it was contrary to the Bible. Galileo's detractors cited the words of Joshua Sun, TENTE still ", which they claimed had to be understood literally (Joshua 10:12). But does the Bible really contradict the theory of Copernicus? No way.
What was at odds with science was an obvious misinterpretation of Scripture. Galileo saw it. In a letter to his disciple wrote: "Although Scripture can not err, yet may sometimes err in several ways, some of its performers and exhibitors. One of these very serious and frequent, would be to always want to interpret it in the most literal sense. " No serious student of the Bible would deny this assertion.
Galileo went further. Said that two books by the same author, the Bible and the book of nature could not contradict one another. But he added that no one could "say with certainty that all the performers speak by divine inspiration." It is likely that this implicit criticism of the official interpretation the Church is taken as a provocation and was the cause of the Roman Inquisition condemned the scientist. After all, how dare a mere layman criticize the prerogatives of the Church?
Based on the case of Galileo, several scholars have raised doubts about the infallibility of the Church and the Pope. Catholic theologian Hans Küng notes that "the mistakes of the Magisterium of the Church are many and serious" and that some of these, as "the condemnation of Galileo" have led to mistrust of the dogma of infallibility.
rehabilitate "Galileo?
In November 1979, a year after his election, Juan Pablo II hoped to revise the status of Galileo, who, as the pope himself admitted, "suffered a lot [...] by the action of men and bodies of the Church." Thirteen years later, in 1992, a commission appointed by the Pope himself acknowledged: "Some contemporary theologians of Galileo failed to interpret the deeper meaning, not literally, of scripture, when they describe the physical structure of the created universe."
However, the heliocentric theory was criticized not only by theologians. Pope Urban VIII, who played an important role in the process of Galileo, he insisted so adamant that this would refrain from undermining the doctrine of centuries-old church that the Earth is the center of the universe. But such teaching did not come from the Bible, but the Greek philosopher Aristotle.
After this modern commission make a painstaking review of the case, the Pope said that the condemnation of Galileo was "hasty and unfortunate decision." Now, the scientist was rehabilitated? "To speak, as some do, the rehabilitation of Galileo's absurd," said one author, "because the story does not condemn Galileo, but the ecclesiastical court." Historian Luigi Firpo added: "It is not for the persecutors to rehabilitate its victims."
The Bible is "a lamp shining in a dark place" (2 Peter 1:19). Galileo wanted to protect her from a misunderstanding. But the Church, to support a human tradition that discredited the Bible, did the opposite.
[Note]
Any honest reader will agree that the statement that the sun stood still in the sky did not occur as a result of scientific analysis, but was a simple statement of what happened from the perspective of a human eye-witness . Similarly, astronomers often speak of sunrise and sunset, the planets and stars, and thus are not saying that these celestial bodies revolve around the Earth literally, they appear to cross the sky
0 comments:
Post a Comment