illustrate the tension between science and religion in the Renaissance

How do the following quotations illustrate the tension between science and religion in the Renaissance? How did new cosmological discoveries contribute to the establishment of the Church?

“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” – Galileo Galilei

“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” – Galileo Galilei

* How do the following quotations illustrate the tension between science and religion in the Renaissance?   

   It was not a simple conflict between science and religion, as usually portrayed. Rather it was a conflict between Copernican science and Aristotelian science which had become Church tradition (Henderson, T. H., 1999). The old science (Ptolemaic astronomy) believes that the Earth is in the middle of the universe and fixed while the new science (Copernican astronomy) believes that the Sun is in the center of the universe and the Earth is rotating around the Sun. 

“The Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” – Galileo Galilei 

   Through Galileo’s observation with his telescope, he concluded that the Earth orbited the Sun; thus, matching with the Copernican astronomy that was developed by Nicolaus Copernicus. He believed in God and being a Catholic, Galileo thought deeply about how his findings and ideas fitted with Scripture’s descriptions of Heaven and Earth. He was well aware that the Bible refers a number of times to the notion of a fixed Earth, for example: 1 Chronicles 16:30: “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable” and Psalm 93:1: “Thou hast fixed the earth immovable and firm … (Galileo and how he understood the Bible., n.d.).” He couldn’t just ignore the scientific facts that he found and that is why he said, “the Bible shows the way to go to heaven, not the way the heavens go.” He reasoned that the Bible should not be the “BE ALL – END ALL” answers when it comes to science because God gave us the ability to think and the Bible is open to interpretation depending on who reads it. 

“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” – Galileo Galilei  

    In 1632, Galileo published “Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems” that compared both Copernican and Ptolemaic that caught the attention of the church. In 1633, he went to trial under the Inquisition, which is a court system developed to prosecute people that were accused of a crime towards religion. He was found guilty to be “vehemently suspect of heresy” based on the book, which was then placed on the Index of Forbidden Books (Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems., 2017). This quote illustrated that he doesn’t care about whatever the people with the authority say about his reasoning because he believes that his discovery was worth fighting for.

* How did new cosmological discoveries contribute to the establishment of the Church?

   The new cosmological discoveries contributed for the Church to be able to forcefully inject their beliefs with the formation of the Inquisition. The church became powerful and limited the amount of beliefs that are related to religion that were made available to the public and punish people that defy the church. For Galileo, his book was banned and he was put on house arrest until his death in 1642. The Inquisition had several cases to include: Giordano Bruno that was executed because of his belief. On Ash Wednesday, 17 February 1600, in the Campo de’ Fiori (a central Roman market square), with his “tongue imprisoned because of his wicked words”. He was hung upside down naked before he was finally burned at the stake (Giordano Bruno., 2017). 

References:

Henderson, T. H. (1999). What were Galileo’s scientific and biblical conflicts with the Church? Retrieved September 05, 2017, from http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/galileo.html

Galileo and how he understood the Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved September 05, 2017, from http://www.faradayschools.com/re-topics/re-year-12-13/galileo-and-how-he-understood-the-bible/

Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. (2017, August 30). Retrieved September 05, 2017, fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialogue_Concerning_the_Two_Chief_World_Systems

Giordano Bruno. (2017, September 06). Retrieved September 06, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno#A_martyr_of_sciencehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno#A_martyr_of_science