The Galileo Controversy

     The debate between Science and Religion is probably the most ancient, most complex, and the most capable of changing the thought pattern as well as the moral guidelines that, a vast majority of the earth’s population practice (Biema D.V. ,2006). Arguably, the earliest debate related to the issue that proved to be controversial and significant to the overall greater debate is the one between the Catholic Church in the 15th century and one of the most prominent scientific figures of all time, Galileo. The controversy was rooted from the Copernican Theory that argued that the sun was at the center of the universe, which Galileo strongly supported and in defiance of the ruling Catholic Church, taught and openly expressed his support for the Heliocentric Theory. The opposite argument, that of the Church’s, was the Ptolemaic Theory in which argued that the earth was the center of the Universe. Majority of the Catholic Leaders of that time also argued that the Theory that Galileo was advertising to the public was declared “formally heretical” by a group of “Qualifiers” made up of a group of handpicked theologians by the Catholic Church (Linder, D. 2002.)
 

     The origin of the Geocentric Theory was set forth by Claudius Ptolemy. He felt that the earth was to be the true center of the universe due to the fact that, from an observers view, it appeared as though that the earth never moved. The theory claimed that the sun, moon, other celestial orbs orbited around the earth. The Catholic Church welcomed the geocentric view because of biblical passages that suggests similar views to Ptolemaic View.
The idea of the heliocentric view was first introduced by Nicolaus Copernicus. As a devout Christian, Copernicus declared that the Earth was indeed a planet and orbited around the sun, as did the other planets. His work was expanded on by Johannes Kepler. Kepler more precisely measured the orbits of all the planets, including Earths. Kepler, too, was a devout Christian. According to Catholics, unlike Galileo, both these men and their theories accepted among the Jesuit community (“The Galileo Controversy”, 2004.)
Obviously Galileo was a devout catholic and received much support on other scientific notations from the Papal. As stated earlier the status quo in the modern world at the time was that the earth was indeed at the center of the universe. Galileo however had his own doubts. He took Copernicus’ and Kepler’s views and researched deeply into the Heliocentric theory.
 

     Galileo, at first a discrete supporter of Copernicus, gained evidence of making the heliocentric a physical reality by discovering and making observances in space, by using his telescope. He made many world changing discoveries, through the world’s first telescope. He was the first to study Saturn, Jupiter and their satellites as well as sunspots. It is observation of Venus that further made it plausible for the heliocentric theory to become truth (O’Conner & Robertson, n.d.). He noted that Venus went through phases just as the moon did. This plus other observations of the other planets allowed him to build up the evidence to make a Copernicus’ theory a reality.

     With this evidence, Galileo first mde his argument known to a friend and a student of his named Castelli in the form of a letter (Linder, D. 2002). In this letter he argued that when it came to the geocentric view, the bible was misinterpreted and ought not to be taken as a literal sense. This gained the attention of the Papal Government and a cardinal by the name of Cardinal Bellarmine requested this letter for review. Galileo had many opponents in the Church that wanted to immediately see him punished for the comments of the letter to Castelli, but after further review by Ballarmine, Galileo’s argument for the Heliocentric theory was regarded a mere mathematical theory that posed no threat to the Holy scriptures.
In personal opinion, the light tone in Ballarmine’s conclusion on the Letter to Castelli frustrated Galileo. He went to work on a letter, this time to the Grand Duchess Christina of Lorraine. In this letter he motivated himself to make Copernicus’ theory a biblical scripture defying, world changing, and reality. In this letter he openly and directly attacked the Ptolemaic view, the teachings of Aristotle and more detrimentally the biblical scriptures. In the Letter to the Grand Duchess, Galileo say’s of his view

     “Moreover…I confirm this view not only by refuting Ptolemy’s and Aristotle’s arguments, but also by producing many for the other side, especially some pertaining to physical effects whose causes perhaps cannot be determined in any other way, and other astronomical discoveries; these discoveries clearly confute the Ptolemaic system, and they agree admirably with this other position and confirm it.” (Linder, D. 2002)

     Once again gaining the less honorable attention of the Pope and his papal government, Galileo’s letter was again demanded to go to an inquisition for review.
In this particular review, it was concluded that the heliocentric view was to be condemned by the papal government and Galileo was restricted from teaching, writing and verbally supporting the view. This incident made it the first time for any of Copernicus’ work was to be condemned, a little amusing, in personal opinion, given the fact that Copernicus had died almost three decades before Galileo’s incident occurred.

     Galileo submitted and obeyed the church in their decision.

      The issue then subsided for some time, until Galileo’s long time friend was appointed to the position of Pope. Galileo believed with Pope Urban in power that he could then continue to publish works and promote his Copernican views. He requested that Pope Urban allow him to write and publish, what is now is Galileo’s most prestigious work, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems – Ptolemaic and Copernican. Pope Urban granted him permission on the condition that he provided an unbiased look at both theories. This did not happen; instead Pope Urban took it as a disrespectful mockery. Urban believed that Galileo used the characters within to mock the Pope and the Catholic Church’s view on the geocentric view. Soon after publishing, the Church banned sale on the book.

     Galileo was then summoned to trial in 1633 as a result of the incident. He was accused of violating the terms of the last judgment against him from the Letter to the Grand Duchess. Many believed that the original transcript of the 1616 judgment was not the one presented at the trial of 1633. The church claimed that there was a clause in the 1616 hearing that stated that he could not support Copernicus’s view “in no whatsoever.” Galileo challenged this by claiming that it was no so (Butler, C. 2006). To no avail Galileo, for the last time, submitted and was found Guilty. The Papal Government sentenced Galileo to house arrest under the supervision of Archbishop of Siena for life. He was later allowed to return to his home in Arcetri, Italy to live out the rest of his life.
 

     Today the Catholic Church acknowledges error in the trial of Galileo, but hold that it was not the Copernican view that caused all the strife (“The Galileo Controversy,” 2004) , rather it was the method in which Galileo went about in presenting the validity for Copernicus’ theory (“Who Said the Earth Is Flat?” 1998). In personal opinion it can be argued that if it were not for the aggressive and revolutionary actions of Galileo, the world (at least for some time) would have still been under the assumption that the earth was indeed the center of the universe. Today the debate continues not, on this issue of course, but on the issue between science and religion and the quest for truth (Biema D.V., 2006). It can be argued that Galileo’s controversy is the foundation of the great debate.

Galileo Controversy
The Bibliography

1. Butler, Christopher. (2006, April 17) Invisible Things: the valid and invalid conclusions from the Galileo Controversy. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://cristopherbutler.wordpress.com /2006/04/17/valid-and-invalid-conclcusions-from-the-galileo-controversy/

2. Linder, Doug. (2002) The Trial of Galileo. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/galileo/galileoaccount.html

3. The Galileo Controversy. (2004, August 10) Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://www.catholic.com/library/galileo_controversy.asp

4. O’Connor, J.J. & Robertson, E.F. (n.d.) Galileo Galilei. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Biographies/Galileo.html

5. Who Said the Earth Is Flat? (1998) Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://www.aquinas-multimedia.com/stjoseph/galileo.html

6. Knight, K.(2006) Galileo Galilei. Retrieved November 1, 2006 from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06432b.html

7. Biema D.V.(2006) God vs. Science. Time Magazine, Vol. 168, No. 20, 48-55.