Does The Sun Circle The Earth?

Does The Sun Circle The Earth?

Five hundred years ago being ahead of the curve in science could put you on a collision course with the church.

GALILEO GALILEI was born in Pisa, Italy, the day Michelangelo died (February 18, 1564) and the same year that Shakespeare was born. He became the leading astronomer of his day and was given lifetime tenure as a professor at the University of Padua. In 1610, using his newly invented telescope that could magnify one thousand times, Galileo discovered four moons revolving around Jupiter. By analogy he reasoned that the planets revolved around the sun, agreeing with the view set forth by Copernicus a century earlier. The other professors at Padua refused to even look through his telescope. Galileo took this as his signal that he should leave Padua and go to Florence instead.

Galileo’s conclusions brought to public attention the question of whether the earth circled the sun or the sun circled the earth. Soon Galileo was accused of contradicting the Bible. In 1615 a formal protest was lodged against Galileo before the Inquisition, a special tribunal set up in the medieval church to combat heresy. To answer his critics, Galileo went to Rome, hoping to convert the leaders of the church to his point of view. Galileo promoted his ideas so extensively in Rome that soon everyone in the city was discussing astronomy. However, the Inquisition directed Galileo to abandon his opinions and not discuss them further. In February 1616 the Inquisition published its edict: “The view that the sun stands motionless at the center of the universe is foolish, philosophically false, and utterly heretical.” To avoid the threatened imprisonment, Galileo declared his submission to the decree.

Galileo was able to keep out of the public eye until 1632 when he published his major book on astronomy, which explained his understanding of the relationship between the earth and the sun. The book was widely acclaimed throughout the academic world, but the Inquisition immediately demanded that Galileo appear before it once again, accusing him of breaking his promise to obey the edict of 1616. Threatened with torture on June 21, 1632, Galileo agreed with the position of the church and declared the earth to be motionless with the sun moving around it. The next day, in spite of this denial of his convictions, the Inquisition found Galileo guilty of heresy and sentenced him to prison for an indefinite length of time. As penance, he was to recite seven penitential psalms daily for three years.

Fortunately for Galileo, after he had spent just three days in prison the pope allowed him to be kept as prisoner in his own villa. There he was free to pursue his studies, while his daughter, a nun, recited the penitential psalms for him.

Reflection

Since God is the author of both nature and the Bible, from his perspective there are no contradictions between the two. Christians need to study both science and the Bible to see how they fit together. We don’t need to be afraid of what we will find, for the Bible is an absolute standard of truth. We just need to trust God to show us what the real facts are—even if the answer may be slow in coming!

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 1:7