Galileo Letter To The Catholic Church Summary

ANALYSIS The sixteenth and seventeen centuries were dominated by the ideas and rulings of the Catholic Church. All philosophical, scientific and mathematical ideas conformed to the Church’s perceptions, and if they didn’t, the Church would criticize or suppress the publication. Currently having their authority challenged by the Lutherans and Protestants of that time, the Church viewed any scientific publications very cautiously and in a time where the Bible was the ultimate authority on all matters, any ideas that said otherwise, went against the Bible. Be it erroneous or correct, the Church’s authority on a matter was absolute and many publishers simply agreed with the Church even when they knew it was wrong. Copernicus however, challenged

In a letter to the Grand Duchess Christina, Galileo carefully argued why he believed the work done by Copernicus should be considered and not simply referred to as untruths. Galileo’s letter to the Grand Duchess Christina was an attempt to persuade her to reconsider her position by challenging the existing interpretations of the Bible without undermining its athourity. Much of Galileo’s published ideas were built off the work previously done by Nicolaus Copernicus. With Copernicus’ work being discredited by the Catholic Church, Galileo’s work was suffering the same fate. To circumvent this issue, Galileo decided to draft a letter explaining his position to the Grand Duchess Christina. In his letter, his main argument was to discredit the interpretations of the Bible upon which the laws governing the physical and spiritual world were built. This was a cautious and important strategy to employ. Outright denial of the authority of the scriptures would have immediately closed the minds of