Important Issues and Themes to Know:
1. How Galileo deals with the claim in the Bible that the earth does not move.
Western Christian biblical references Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include
(depending on translation) text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be
moved." In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, "the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it
can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And the sun rises and sets and
returns to its place" etc.
Galileo defended heliocentrism, and claimed it was not contrary to those Scripture passages. He
took Augustine's position on Scripture: not to take every passage literally, particularly when the
scripture in question is a book of poetry and songs, not a book of instructions or history. The
writers of the Scripture wrote from the perspective of the terrestrial world, and from that
vantage point the sun does rise and set.
Galileo declared that scriptural literalism had no place in scientific inquiry. "Inasmuch as the
Bible calls for an interpretation differing from the immediate sense of the words," he wrote, "it
seems to me that as an authority in mathematical controversy it has very little standing... I
believe that natural processes which we perceive by careful observation or deduce by cogent
demonstration cannot be refuted by passages from the Bible." Had he halted there, all might
have been well, but he went on to offer his own positions on matters of theology: "The primary
purpose of the Holy Writ is to worship God and save souls," he argued; his imperious, lecturing
tone ruffled feathers and, in its apparent contempt for the teaching authority of the Church,
smacked of Protestantism. The issue for Galileo was: how is sacred Scripture to be interpreted
when it speaks of natural phenomena?
He wrote to Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, hoping for support from the Medici, and
declaring that "nothing physical which sense-experience sets before out eyes, or which
necessary demonstrations prove to us, ought to be called into question (much less condemned)
upon the testimony of Biblical passages which may have some different meaning beneath their
words."
God’s primary purpose in giving us the bible is to lead humans to salvation, but he has given us
reason and our senses to gain knowledge of nature. Since both reason and revelation come
from God, they cannot conflict when rightly used and understood. Galileo appeals, with some
justification, to Aquinas, who held the same views at an earlier stage of scientific knowledge.
The inspired writers of the bible, including the author for the Book of Joshua, adapted their
language to the understanding of ordinary people of their tie when they were referencing to
nature. To our ordinary observation the sun does rise and set and move across the heavens.
