Author bio: Born February 15, 1564 in Pisa, Italy. He wanted to test the ideas posed by Copernicus, but lacked the proper instruments. One trip to Venice, he found that instrument, the telescope. He concluded many things including the texture of the moon and the phases of Venus. He also concluded that these ideas could not be supported by the accepted ethnocentric ideals of the day. The Catholic Church Inquisition tried him and found him guilty of believing false doctrine and put him under house arrest in 1632. He remained in partial isolation until his death on January 8 1642.
Date/Context: In the 17th century the Church found itself embedded in events that threatened it’s authority. The Catholic Church was in question for their doctrine concerning the astronomical position of Earth. .
Summary: He begins his letter by attacking the Church saying they have a greater fondness for our own opinions than for facts. Then, he continues to explain his findings and his dislike for the ethnocentric ideal. Next, he introduces the Church’s argument of the Bible against his ideas. He finally asserts his belief in the bible and Concludes with his proclamation of the belief in God and his creation.
Key Quotations: “But I do feel obliged to believe that the same God who had endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect had intended to forgo their use” (45).
Galileo rejected the GEOCENTRIC theory. Another quote to consider: "These men have resolve to fabricate a shield for their fallacies out of the mantle of pretended religion and the authority of the Bible. These they apply, with little judgement, to the refutation of arguments that they do not understand and have not even listened to."
ReplyDeleteYour context and summary were easy to understand and made reading the relatively long document a bit easier :) I like your quote a lot but another good one would be "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.
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