The theme of this reading is that of the conviction of Galileo for his beliefs. He was tried twice for crimes against the beliefs of the church. The Catholic church brought him in because he did not believe that the earth was at the center of the universe and unable to be moved. Galileo discovered that the sun actually the center of our solar system and that the earth revolves around it instead of the idea that the sun is circling the earth.The Church officials accused Galileo of heresy and wanted him to go back on his believes and turn to the "correct" beliefs.
Several things that came to my mind when I read this was that most of western civilization had believed and taught the Ptolemaic system. This system told how the earth stays still while everything else revolves around it. Copernicus was the first to challenge this idea. He felt that it was the sun that stayed still while everything else moved around it. Everyone seemed to believe the Ptolemaic System until Galileo's idea proved to make much more sense than any of the others. After writing his book, "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems-Ptolemaic and Copernican" in 1632, many people switched beliefs to support his view. This caused the Roman Inquisition to step in and end this "heresy".
After reading this i noticed how the officials stated, "for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many...also, for having pupils whom you instructed in the same opinions; also, for maintaining a correspondence on the same with some German mathematicians; also for publishing certain letters on the sun-spots, in which you developed the same doctrine as true; also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures according to your own meaning; and whereas thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures." These reasons actually seemed very convincing to me. It shows just how stubborn the Roman Catholic Church was and how almost contradicting they were. Through their stubbornness they felt they were actually doing what was "right" which i found ironic.
Reading this makes me think about how Galileo had so much courage. He was very determined in uncovering the truth and stood for what he believed. He even "stood" when everyone was against him. I thought it was really cool how he still had the courage to put his findings in writings so that everyone could see what he discovered and how he truly felt. I see a connection here with ourselves and how our walks with Christ should be. We should feel the need to "stand" and be courageous and determined in our beliefs for the whole world to see even when the world may be against us God gives us the strength to persevere.
This reading relates to the text because in class we talked about Galileo and read about all of these people: Ptolemaic, Copernicus, and stuff and read in the text information about this same topic but just in greater depth. As well as, discussing how Galileo ended up in from the Roman inquisition because of these new discoveries.
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