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Explore the shift from a geocentric universe to the heliocentric model with insights into the Church's stance, Galileo's discoveries, and the interplay between religion and science in history.
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Early Greek Model : A Geocentric Universe Around 400 BC, Greeks generally believed that the earth was standing still and that the stars, sun moon and planets orbited around the earth. Sky motions at night are nicely explained by this model. Geo refers to earth.
Aristotle in 360s BC and Ptolemy in 90 AD Aristotle in the 360s BC and Ptolemy around 100 AD taught and further developed the geocentric model of the universe. Ptolemaic System
Aristotle’s god : The Prime Mover Aristotle believed in a god who started the motions of the stars and planets from the outside so that one sphere moved the next and so on. Aristotle’s god was called the prime mover. Aristotle’s god existed outside of the universe, having little contact with it. The Earth at the center of the universe was in the realm of corruption and imperfection while the heavens moving in circles were the realm of perfection.
The Medieval Church (800 – 1300 AD) Adopted A Geocentric Universe For Medieval Christians, Aristotle’s ideas seemed to fit in with their beliefs. The Geocentric Universe became the official Church teaching. Each of the spheres was thought to be the realm of saints, angels and archangels. 1 Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10 had the phrase, “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved”. Psalm 104:5 reads “He set the earth on its foundations, it can never be moved.” So the earth is still.
Nicolaus Copernicus (1543) : Heliocentric Model The Polish Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543 suggested that the Heliocentric (Sun-centered) model could be used to better explain and calculate the motions of sky objects. His book about the Sun-centered universe caused much controversy from the Roman Catholic Church.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) : Aristotle is Wrong The Italian scientist, Galileo Galilei, was convinced that Aristotle was wrong about many things, especially his ideas of motion (Heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects) and his Geocentric universe. Galileo supported the new Copernican System.
The Catholic Church’s Teaching at Galileo’s Time The Catholic Church at Galileo’s time taught that the earth was the realm of imperfection and sin. The heavens (moon and orbiting objects beyond the moon) were the realm of perfection where object moved in perfect eternal circles without a beginning or an end.
Galileo’s Observations Through His Telescope Galileo read about the new instrument, the telescope which greatly magnified objects and was used on ships and in battles to better view things. He improved the telescope and was the first person to use it to view sky objects. He noticed that the moon seemed to have dark areas (He called them Mares or seas) and rugged regions that looked like mountains. The moon seemed to have similarities to Earth, strange for an object in the supposedly perfect heavens.
Galileo’s Observations Through His Telescope As he continued viewing the heavens, Galileo noticed more “imperfections” in the heavenly spheres. The planet Jupiter even had four moons orbiting it, like the Earth’s moon orbiting the Earth!
Galileo on Trial Galileo published a book promoting the Copernican System. He belittled the geocentric universe and wrote in Italian rather than Latin (The language of scholars and the Church), thumbing his nose at the establishment.
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems Galileo’s book was written as a conversation between three persons, one defending the Copernican system, one defending the Ptolemaic system and a supposedly unbiased third person who gave his opinion. Simplicio (close to the word, simpleton) was the name Galileo gave to the defender of the Earth-centered system.
Galileo Brought Before the Inquisition Church officials were angry with Galileo’s book. In 1663 he was charged with heresy (promoting teachings against Christianity). Galileo was brought before the Inquisition and was forced to repent for writing the book. Galileo was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life, forbidden to write any more books and his book was placed on the Index of books forbidden to be read.
Church Arguments for an Earth-centered System Some of the arguments the Church used against Galileo were the Bible verses, 1 Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10 which all have the phrase, “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved”. Psalm 104:5 reads “He set the earth on its foundations, it can never be moved.” Ecclesiastes 1 :5 reads “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries to where it rises.” In all these texts the Church demanded that they should be read or interpreted literally, not metaphorically.
How Should We Handle Apparent Conflicts Between The Bible and Science? We need to realize that the apparent conflicts are conflicts of human interpretations of the Bible (theology) and of God’s Creation (science). When we find conflicts we must re-examine both our scripture interpretations and also carefully review the science interpretations.
God Word (Bible) World Bible Interpretation (Human Interpretation)) Science (Human Interpretation) Church Tradition Theology (Influences) Worldview Politics (Influences) No Conflict in God’s Word and His World Since God originated both the Word and the World there can be no inherent conflict in these. Our interpretations of these, however, can and at times do conflict.
God’s Two Revelations of Himself Both the Bible and Nature reveal God’s character. Saint Augustine said “ It is the divine page that you must listen to; it is the book of the universe that you must observe. The pages of Scripture can only be read by those who know how to read and write, while everyone, even the illiterate, can read the book of the universe.”
A Christian’s View of the Cosmos Christians confess (the Belgic Confession 1566) that God made the cosmos and that the cosmos reveals God to us through “…the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20.” “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1:20
The Reliability of Scientific Interpretations When two or more scientific models (theories) are presented that conflict with each other, scientists from around the world use the following procedures to check the validity (truthfulness) of the conflicting theories.
Peer Review Before publishing their work, scientists submit their articles with their experiments and theories to peers (fellow scientists in the same area of expertise) who read the articles to verify that correct methods were used and that the conclusions are well supported by the data and arguments. If a scientist’s work and reasoning are judged to be sub-standard, the article is returned to the scientist for revision or it is rejected for publication.
After Peer Review, Publication Articles that have met the standards of peer review are published worldwide. Other scientists often repeat published experiments to verify the results and then report confirmations or any different results. By working as a community, scientists try to catch each other’s errors. If published experiments or theories are confirmed, they are tentatively accepted and new experiments with new technology are devised to further tests the results or theory.
Publishing Outside of the Process of Peer Review Persons publishing scientific papers outside of the peer review process are generally viewed with suspicion and not taken seriously by the scientific community. If a person avoids peer review, it generally means that their data are unreliable or that their theories are not capable of explaining data accepted by the scientific community. Some Christians have decided to avoid the peer review process and have set up their own Christian science journals.
Creation Science Publications Christian scientists who believe that the earth is young either ignore the peer process or encounter rejection in the peer process. They quite often choose to have their work published by the Creation Science group. These publications are not taken seriously by mainstream scientists because they have ignored the peer process.
God Inspired Bible Authors God did not write the Bible Himself (except for the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments-no longer in existence). Rather, He inspired human authors to write the books of the Bible. Thus Bible books reflect both a divine message and human cultural and stylistic elements.
Bible Writers Wrote in Their Own Style Bible authors in their writings reflected their personalities their knowledge, their language, and culture. They used a variety of forms such as letters, parables, proverbs, poems, and narratives. They even used some styles or forms that we do not have today, forms common two or three thousand years ago. Bible authors were writing for audiences of their time which had a culture foreign to our own today.
Principles Leading to Reliable Biblical Interpretation Each passage should be interpreted in light of the rest of the Bible. This involves careful linguistic studies. The best understanding of a text involves understanding how the author and his intended audience would have understood it. This involves using archaeological and historical findings to determine how the Hebrew culture thought and what they believed.
Using the 2 Principles: Example One Amos 4:4 reads “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more”.So were the Israelites (and us today) commanded to sin? This literal interpretation violates principle 1 because the rest of the Bible teaches not to sin. Examining the context reveals that Amos was using sarcasm to scorn the Israelites into shame for their actions (worshipping idols at these locations).
In Genesis 15, Abram had a vision in which God told him that He (God) was making a covenant (promise) with Abram to prosper and give his descendants the land of Canaan while they were to worship and serve Him alone. God told Abram to cut in half a heifer, goat, ram, dove and pigeon and arrange the halves opposite each other. In a deep sleep, Abram saw a smoking firepot passing between the pieces. What is the importance of this? How can we understand this? Using the 2 Principles: Example Two
An archaeological study of the culture of Abram’s time (2500 BC) shows that when persons made major, important covenants, they divided animal carcasses and each person walked between the carcasses to indicate that if they failed to keep the covenant, then they should be dismembered as the animals. In Abram’s dream, the flaming pot represented God. God was the active person in the covenant with Abram. He walked between the divided animals. He guaranteed His promise. Abram was just the gracious recipient of God’s promise. Neither Abram nor his descendants could keep the covenant, but God could and did keep His promise. Principle 2 Helps Interpret This Passage
Literal Interpretations of Scripture: Many Times, No At times, literal interpretations are not followed, but the spirit of the text. In Romans 16:16, Apostle Paul writes,”Greet one another with a holy kiss.” Most Christians today greet each other with a handshake. In some situations, literal interpretations lead to false conclusions. 1 Chronicles 16:30, Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10 which all have the phrase, “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved”. Psalm 104:5 reads “He set the earth on its foundations, it can never be moved.” Do we conclude from this that the Earth is the centre of the universe and that the Sun revolves around the Earth?
Christians Are Not Always United in Their Interpretations Confessing the same Lord and Saviour, Christians have differing interpretations on baptism, eucharist celebration and style of worship. When conflicting interpretations relate to nature, a careful study of nature will help to decide which interpretation is most faithful to the facts of nature, most faithful to God’s World.
