Position Paper.
“Concerning the Use of Biblical Quotations in Matter of Science”
1) Is Galileo right that Joshua passage cannot be taken literally, and that some interpretation is necessary no matter which system of the world is being considered?
Yes. Literal reading of Joshua will bring us to unpleasant consequences. If only Sun’s and Moon’s spheres will be stopped, laws of Ptolemy will be broken (f.ex. relationship between planets and Sun-Earth line).
In Copernican Universe, with modern discoveries of Galileo’s, sudden stop of Earth will be at least as destructive as the Deluge. But as there’s no doubt that the event took place, and there are no records about something strange that happened on that day. We need some interpretation.
2) Is the literal reading of Joshua incompatible with either system of world?
Yes. Ptolemy: If just Sun’s and Moon’s spheres were isolated from the rest and stopped, spheres of planets and star ball will continue to rotate (and they should as they weren’t asked to stop and it’s their nature to rotate) Heavens perfection will be either disturbed (centers of epicycles of inferior planets will no longer lie on Sun-Earth line, Sun may appear in other constellation of zodiac), or planets and starball will violate principle of uniform motion (moving in a special way to compensate for Sun’s behavior).
Copernicus: Sudden stop of Earth will probably destroy entire civilization as everything including waters of oceans, buildings and, finally, people will attempt to continue to move in the same direction with the same speed.
3) Must Joshua passage be interpreted?
Yes. Literal reading leads us to nowhere. That means that Holy Scripture provided us with false information what is a critical hit on the most sacred values of mankind. This is a catastrophe. But interpretation may save the situation.
4) If the passage must be interpreted, then can it be interpreted to fit the Copernican system as well as the Ptolemaic system?
Ptolemy: Joshua just didn’t say the whole thing. Considering position, reputation and experience of the Executant of the pray, concerns about side effects must be rejected. Due to God’s authority mortals may trust God on doing the most important things, asking just for the final result, assuming that God will do all necessary actions so the result will have divine quality. So, most likely, all spheres were stopped.
Copernicus: If something is staying still it simply means that location of the object with respect to us stays the same.
First of all, what Copernicus was trying to say about Orbit and the Earth that
Clarke, Leonard W.‘Greek Astronomy and Its Debt to the Babylonians' The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 1, No. (Cambridge University Press. 1962)
In his Letter to The Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo challenged the widely accepted religious beliefs of the time, claiming that the conflict lies in their interpretation, not the context. In Galileo’s eyes science was an extremely useful tool that could and should have been used in interpreting the Scriptures. He argued that “the intention of the Holy Ghost is to teach us how one goes to heaven not how heaven goes” (Grand Duchess). The purpose of science was not to counter what the bible teaches; rather its purpose was to help explain the teachings of the scriptures. Furthermore, it was “prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth-whenever its true meaning is understood” (Grand Duchess). However, because of the terminology in which the bible was presented the perception of what the Scripture defined as truth was skewed. The Bible was written so that the common man could understand it and follow its commandments. The people also showed a greater inte...
One excerpt is from the previously mentioned Dialogue of the Two Chief World Systems (1632) in which Galileo debates the arguments of Aristotle and Potelmy against those of Copernicus through three characters, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio. On day three of the arguments, Salviati, Sagredo and Simplicio debate heliocentrism. Simplicio applies to Ptolemy’s zodiacal philosophy in claiming that the earth is the center of the universe: “…if the terrestrial globe should move in the course of a year along the circumference of a circle, namely, along the zodiac, it would be impossible for it to be simultaneously at the center of the zodiac” (Finnochiaro 2008, 234). In retaliation, Salviati appeals to observation. He says that all the planets are sometimes different distances from the earth. Salviati states that Aristotle was wrong in his thinking that all the planets are an equal distance from earth (Finnochiaro 2008, 236). To explain his point in more detail, Salviati has Simplicio draw a diagram according to the observation of the heavenly bodies. “… the heavenly bodies have been arranged just as in the Copernican system, and you have done this yourself” (Finnochiaro 2008, 240). In the Dialogue, Galileo has Salviati use observation to explain to Simplicio that recent discoveries are more in line with the Copernican view and that in turn, heliocentrism should be seen as more credible and valid in the scientific
Even though humans wrote the text, translating it and passing it down from generations to generations, God’s truth is unchanging. Debates of the inerrancy of the bible cannot usurp God as the King of grace. Instead of focusing on the inerrancy of the Bible, individuals who wish to seek a life of faith should focus on the inspiration God is showing them in his word. These revelations should move them into applicable, daily life changing implications from what they have learned. God shows revelations of himself through the Bible, and his character is revealed time and time again throughout scripture. Any faulty facts or discrepancies in grammar or data, should not take away from the value that scripture holds. When we read scripture we bring new meaning of interpretations of the truths God shows us, since new eras and environmental factors will be influential on how we process information. The bible is not just a fact book, telling humans stories of the past, but instead the bible is inspired instructions for how we can deal with spiritual and ethical encounters we
In _____date_______, Galileo wrote a letter to the church addressing the church for throwing out evidence that the solar system is heliocentric. They did this because it contradicts the bible. He then counters with the fact that the bible often uses metaphors and symbolism to convey its message; therefore, it should not always be taken so literally. Then he goes on to explain that based on this, we should not use the bible to find scientific fact, but we should experiment and base our knowledge on that which we find through the senses. He stresses, however, the importance that the bible still has, and says that the bible should be appreciated for its messages rather than its statements.
In Cardinal Bellarmine’s letter to Foscarini (1615) Bellarmine explains to Reverend Father Paolo Antonio Foscarini about how to approach Copernicasism and why it should not be accepted as concept of reality. Instead he suggests that Copernicasism should only be acknowledged as a working hypothesis. In this letter Bellarmine’s explains why Copernicasism can be valued however there a sense of demonstration is needed in order to accept Copernicasism. He also expresses that it is dangerous to accept Copernicasism outright.
In Seven Days That Divide the World, John C. Lennox, Lennox explains creation based off of the book of Genesis and science. In the first chapter, Lennox explains the theories as to whether or not the earth moves. He also references people such as, astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, philosopher Aristotle, Martin Luther, Galileo, and John Calvin. Throughout history, it has been argued as to whether or not the earth moves, or if it is fixed in space and the sun, moon, and other planets orbit around the earth. Lennox explains the theories of the different people mentioned earlier and why they thought what they thought. Scientist tended to believe the earth moved and everything else stood still. However, many Christians believed that the earth stood
Galileo was born in 1564 in a time where society was very conforming to the teachings of the church. Despite his discoveries, Galileo was very religious though he tied religion and science into his life. Galileo’s great contribution to science was the telescope, however his greater contribution was the gift of awareness and knowledge. Before Galileo, it was generally accepted that the earth was the center of the universe. This was not based upon data or facts, but merely because the church said so. Prior to the seventeenth century, Europe was stuck in the med-evil era of church teachings. With Galileo’s telescope, however, he was able to show that the sun rather than the earth was the center of the universe. Although this new discovery had a large scientific value, it had a larger impact to society on a religious level.
Yet, while Raphael is warning Adam not to think of these things, he himself speculates on the nature of the universe, planting ideas in Adam’s mind he did not have before. These ideas concern the theories of Ptolemy, Copernicus, and Galileo, much in dispute in Milton’s time. Though Milton seems to advance the Ptolemaic theory of the universe in Paradise Lost , the debate over which system Milton truly believed in is not the most important aspect of Raphael and Adam’s discussion in Book VIII. Knowledge is the true topic. What and how much can humans know?
Cardinal Bellarmine’s first point is if the earth is the third planet out from the sun, and the sun is the center of the universe, it will irritate philosophers, and pose a great danger to the holy scripture. Bellarmine says “But to want to affirm that the sun really is fixed in the center of the heavens and only revolves around itself (i.e. turns on an axis) without traveling from east to west, and that the earth is situated in the third sphere and revolves with great speed around the sun, is a very dangerous thing, not only by irritating all the philosophers and scholastic theologians, but also by injuring our holy faith and rendering the Holy Scriptures false,”(Cardinal Bellarmine, as quoted in Spielvogel 485). The second point that Bellarmine makes is that in the bible it says the the sun goes around the earth, and that the council of trent affirms that, and you cannot doubt them. He says that “If your reverence would read not only the fathers but also the commentaries of modern writers on Genesis, psalms, ecclesiastes and josue, you would find that all agree in explaining literally that the sun is in the heavens and moves swiftly around the earth,” (Cardinal Bellarmine, as quoted in Spielvogel 485). He is also saying that Galileo is ignoring important knowledge that is well known and circulated by the church. The third point Bellarmine makes is because he hasn’t had it demonstrated to him how the
As Copernicus began to study astronomy more, he came to strongly disagree with the Ptolemaic system of astronomy. This system was based on the idea that the earth was fixed in the center and all the other heavenly bodies moved around it. Astronomers believed that the earth was in the center because it was heavy. Copernicus saw many problems associated with this system of astronomy. For example, sometimes the planets appeared to be going in the opposite direction and the brightness of the planets would tend to change as well.
Much to the dismay of the Church, two astronomers Galileo and Kepler had the audacity to challenge the authorities by suggesting that the sun-not the earth-was at the center of the universe. The church had a stronghold on the way the spiritual and physical world worked, so these discoveries only added to the Church’s resistance to their aims. Their discoveries came only after Kepler and Galileo began to question ancient theories about how the world functioned. These ancient truths were widely held but were inconsistent with the new observations that they had made. Kepler had discovered the laws of planetary motion which suggested that the planet would move in elliptical orbits, while Galileo followed with his discovery of the principle of inertia. Galileo concluded his finding b...
.... Throughout the book Ptolemy compared his own observations with those of Hipparchus, regarding the motion of the sun; Ptolemy found the lengths of the seasons and introduced a simple model for the sun which was a circular motion of uniform angular velocity however the earth would be displaced from the center referred to as eccentricity. He also used his own observations and those of Hipparchus to show that the fixed stars always maintain the same position relative to each other. Concerning his planetary theory, according to his model the path of a planet consisted of a circular motion on an epicycle while the center of the epicycle moving around a circle whose was offset from the earth. It is important to mention that the planetary theory introduces by Ptolemy was considered to be a noticeable achievement, since it predicted the motion of the planets fairly well.
Next, he saw four moons of Jupiter revolving around the Jupiter. Although, these discoveries did not prove the Copernicus’s theory, they gave framework for thinking universe in the new terms. He thought perhaps earth’s moon also revolves around the planet while the earth orbits around the sun. His another observation was that the Venus itself had phases like the moon had, even though the planet always appeared as a bright spot from the earth. (Strano 23-9). Moreover, in “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems,” the astronomer Galileo Galilei did not prove that earth revolves around the sun or rotates in its axis, but he did prove Ptolemy was wrong about the arrangement of the planets (Gingerich 141). Thereafter, Galileo wanted to Earth was moving, not the sun, and he got his answer by observing ocean tides. “Galileo explains how the observed motion of the sea is a direct consequence of the two absolute motions of the earth in space: its axial rotation and its orbital motion about the sun” (Naylor 11-5). In short, he argues that the motion of earth cause tidal waves to move. The book was popular in its time before Roman Catholic church banned it. The church had an issue with Galileo supporting