Wednesday, September 28, 2011
The Galileo Affair
As no one signed up to moderate and it is now quite late, I am opening up the discussion. The question will be loose and open: What in this reading most struck you and why? Did anything challenge what you already knew (or thought you knew) about the conflict between Galileo and the Church?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I knew there was an obvious conflict between Galileo and the Church, but I did not realize it was to such an extent. Galileo was so adamant on proving his point, and fighting against the Church. The Church really saw Galileo as a threat. What struck me the most was Galileo's point of Scripture being written for people to understand. I think that could definitely be true, for people needed to clearly understand what the Scripture was to be telling them to do. The Church tried so hard to stop Galileo, when personally I do not see how it created such a conflict. I think Galileo was trying to explain the how, not the why. I guess it was problematic when it came down to whether or not God was still intervening in earthly matters. Galileo spoke very out very strongly for what he thought to be true, which was a very brave thing to do.
ReplyDeleteThe whole reading was interesting to me because of the way he carried his argument. Its very interesting studying a letter of someone venting out their frustrations, but with the ample amount of information within it.
ReplyDeleteIt almost seemed like he was more bothered with the fact that they are overlooking all the work and labor he put into his findings. Or the fact that they would not even read the contents of the findings. He was not just making up theories from his head, he had concrete observational data; that whoever decided to look and see what he was looking at, would find the same thing.
He made quite an interesting comparison with the Turtulian quote.
The first St. Augustine excerpt was kind of confusing to me though. It starts with:
"It is likewise commonly asked what we may believe about the form and shape of the heavens...."
It is not quite clear to me where this was directed in the argument, does any one have any thoughts on this?
What struck me the most was Galileo's seemingly hate and disgust in the church. Unlike what our class focuses on he is purely on the side of science and thinks the church is crushing truth. If I were Galileo I would be really frustrated too if someone was trying to crush all my ideas down bases on something more allegorically.
ReplyDeleteI found that I sympathized for Galileo here because today we accept many of the things he says as simple known truths about our world. I knew that he had his problems with the church but I didnt realize they were to this extent, It was an interesting read.
What most struck me was how reasonable and open Galileo was in his discussion with the Church. His argument that the Church and science can coincide by each staying with what they do best was, I thought, very strong. I was surprised to see that interpretation of Scripture was a big isssue in both of the letters we read, although in retrospect, it makes a lot of sense. While I think that Galileo is probably correct in saying that some parts of Scripture should be interpreted allegorically, Church officials were right to be concerned about where we then draw the line. Overall, I found the dialogue to be surprising and more intellectual than I had expected.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me most about the reading is what 26murphy said, the fact that he was so set on making his point, despite being a threat to the church. In the past we said that their was no way NOT to include the church in the way things were taught as it was the center of civic life. Thus, how could he even begin to think that the bible, the sacred scripture of the church and the center of many people's lives, could be taken in any way but literally. I think it's interesting how radical he is in such a writing and how dangerous his beliefs would be to the church of the time.
ReplyDeleteWhat I thought was really brave from him was actually speaking up about the scriptures and not agreeing with the church was a thread before, but Galileo’s defense was that scriptures were not wrong, only the theologian’s interpretations of the scriptures were wrong, and he knew that the truth was going to come out. He was brave and defended his beliefs, he spoke his mind not only verbally but he also wrote books, I see him as an amazing and greatest scients i have studied. I give him points and atonished me how he thought that he could convince the Church to change its view on their scriptures,'as truth surely will win over superstition... '
ReplyDelete