The Galileo Affair
Galileo and the Church
In the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo argued that the purpose of Scripture is to tell us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go. Thus, Scripture never errs, but its interpreters do; read rightly, Scripture and science will never conflict as there is a unity of truth. That which is obscure figurative language) should be explained by that which is clear (mathematical demonstrations). Nevertheless, Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World overstepped the expected boundaries for a mathematician by arguing that Copernicanism was more than merely a hypothesis, leading to Galileo being called to trial in 1633
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Church of Santa Croce, Florence After his trial, Galileo remained under house arrest until his death on Jan 8, 1642. His will directed that his remains should be placed beside those of his father Vincenzo in the Church of Santa Croce. |
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The Ancient and Modern Doctrines of the Holy Fathers Galileo, (1636) In response to gathering criticism, Galileo in 1615 wrote a reconciliation of Scripture and Copernicanism which circulated in manuscript as the Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. This is the first printed edition, which appeared in 1636. |
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The Ancient and Modern Doctrine of Holy Fathers Galileo, (1661) This volume contains the first English translations of any of Galileo’s works, including Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World, the book for which he was put on trial. |
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Letter to Madame Christina of Lorraine Galileo, (1967) Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina provides a modern example of the book arts. The outer case opens to show a smaller case, the size of a miniature version published a century ago. The 1967 edition fits entirely within the circumference of a nickel. |
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An Abstract of the Learned Treatise... the Introduction upon Mars Kepler, Johann (1661) In the New Astronomy (Astronomia nova 1609), Kepler demonstrated with respect to Mars what we now call his first two laws of planetary motion. In the preface to that work, translated here, Kepler answered objections to Copernicus based upon Scripture. |
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Defense of Galileo Campanella, Tommaso (1622) Campanella, a Dominican theologian, wrote this defense of the compatibility of Scripture and Copernicanism from his cell in Naples, where he was serving a life sentence for opposition to Spanish rule of southern Italy. |
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Letter on the Pythagorean and Copernican Opinion on the Motion of the Earth and Stability of the Sun Foscarini, Paolo (1635) The Carmelite theologian Foscarini defended Copernicanism as compatible with Scripture in this open letter, originally printed in Naples in 1615. Foscarini employed arguments similar to Galileo’s own Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, penned in the same year. |
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Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World Galileo, (1632) Featuring Galileo's Handwriting. This is Galileo’s witty and entertaining dialogue in defense of Copernicus. In the frontispiece, Aristotle and Ptolemy hold an Earth-centered armillary sphere (left). Copernicus holds a Sun-centered model of the universe (right). |
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A Geometrical Reconstruction of On Conic Sections by Aristaeus Viviani, Vincenzo (1701) In this work, Viviani reconstructed an ancient study of conic sections by Aristaeus the Elder (4th century B.C.E.). Viviani became Galileo’s student and assistant in 1639. |
