The myth that Christianity and the church persecuted and held back science is still alive and well. In the first episode of the new Cosmos series, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson ignores actual history and takes great lengths to teach that Christianity hindered scientific thought. The same tired fiction is recycled in the introduction to Dr. John Gribbin’s 2009 book, In Search of the Multiverse. Both Dr. Gribbin and Dr. Tyson state that Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake by the Catholic Church for exposing heretical scientific ideas “that the stars are other suns, and that there must be other earths, and life elsewhere in the universe.”[1] Dr. Gribbin at least admits that this was not the main reason for Bruno’s conviction, but nonetheless leaves the impression that Christianity persecuted science. Dr. Tyson opens his new Cosmos series with the statement that he will “follow the evidence wherever it leads.” Surprisingly, neither Dr. Tyson nor Dr. Gribbin bothered to check the actual historical evidence regarding Giordano Bruno.
The Church did not silence Bruno for his scientific beliefs. Even though Bruno did a little speculative astronomy, he was far from a scientist. He was a renegade monk, a Hermetic sorcerer, and a philosopher; his interests were theological and when he did write on astronomy his work was amateurish and confused. He got his ideas solely through imagination, speculation, and faith with absolutely no evidence or data. The troubles he had with the Church were due to his theological beliefs, namely his polytheism and antiorthodox teachings. His beliefs happened to include the idea that the universe was infinite and that it contained large numbers of worlds, but these propositions were not a problem to the church.
Bruno’s scientific position of an unbounded universe with many worlds was not at all unique. There were many others in the same time period who held similar scientific views and were never persecuted by the church. Nicolaus Cusanus (Nicholas of Cusa), in the first half of the 15th century, wrote of an unbounded universe with many worlds and all of its parts in motion. The Church made him Papal legate to Germany in 1446, he was appointed cardinal for his merits by Pope Nicholas V in 1448, and he became vicar general in the Papal States in 1459. The Church obviously did not care if Nicolaus Cusanus thought the universe was infinite! Marsilio Ficino thought the sun was at the center of the universe because it was created first. In 1489 he was accused of magic before Pope Innocent VIII, but escaped punishment; he wasn’t persecuted for his heliocentric science.
Thomas Digges, a leading 16th century English mathematician and astronomer, taught that the Copernican model (heliocentric) of the solar system was physically real. Digges wanted to make the ideas of Copernicus accessible to everyone, so in 1576, he published the first English translation of Copernicus’ On The Revolutions. His work included the idea of infinite space needing to be a part of the Copernican system; that the stars must extend infinitely up. He never had any trouble from the church. The church also had no problem with another 16th century scientist William Gilbert, who openly rejected Aristotle and also understood the universe to be infinite. There is a long list of intellectual thinkers who were never persecuted, even though they had scientific ideas contrary to the Church.
For Giordano Bruno and others persecuted by the Church, the dispute was not with science, but in almost every case when blood was shed, the disputes were over theology, not a dispute between theology and science. Bruno, in addition to his polytheistic belief that all animals and even the Earth contained a soul, also practiced magic, suggested that Satan was destined to be saved and redeemed by God, didn't think Jesus divine but rather instead was “an unusually skilled magician.” He also publicly disputed Mary's virginity and the doctrine of the trinity. In addition, he constantly ranted about how idiotic his fellow friars were, calling themnames and lamenting their adherence to Catholic doctrine. For years, he'd set up shop in some city, find new patrons, and promptly make enemies of them with his combative sarcasm and relentless arguments. Even fellow Copernican pioneers, Galileo and Kepler, scientists who actually used evidence, had no love for Bruno.[2] He, of course, did not deserve to be killed for his beliefs and could rightly be considered a martyr for the freedom of religion; but in no way should he be considered a martyr for science.
Along with Giordano Bruno, Galileo has also become a tale of combat between the voices of scientific freedom and the forces of theological intolerance; a view which is also seriously deficient as history. Just like Bruno, the Galileo affair was not a battle between science and Christianity; every one of the participants on both sides of the argument was Christian! The conflict was within the church, between opposing theories of biblical interpretation and within science between alternative cosmologies. Two main points seem to be forgotten or ignored: the Galileo affair based its scientific decision on the current scientific evidence and the theological decision was powerfully shaped by local circumstances and personal interests.
Western cosmologies had been geocentric since at least the fourth century, following the ancient Greek scientific views of Aristotle and then Ptolemy. Heliocentric (sun centered) systems were merely curiosities until Copernicus in 1543. Copernicus’ book, On The Revolutions, was highly technical and written for a very small audience of mathematically proficient astronomers; as a result, it was little known and less read. This is why Thomas Digges translated it in 1546. There was almost no reaction from the Catholic church, and nobody judged Copernicus as dangerous or a threat. In other words, scientists writing about and publishing books on heliocentrism were not the issue.
In the 16th century, there was little evidence in support of a heliocentric model being physically true. Putting the earth in motion represented a massive violation of common sense. Removal of the earth from the center of the cosmos represented a destructive attack on Aristotle’s physics – the only comprehensive system of physics in existence. To put the earth in motion was to put it in the heavens, thereby destroying the dichotomy between the heavens and the earth, which had served as a fundamental cosmological premise wherever Aristotelian philosophy prevailed for the previous 2000 years. There also wasn’t any conclusive evidence that the Earth was moving. The absence of stellar parallax also offered powerful empirical evidence against heliocentrism. Astronomers and natural philosophers who rejected heliocentrism did so not because of blind conservatism or religious intolerance, but because of their commitment to widely held scientific principles and theories. The church in the Galileo affair was following the science!
In the 1614 book Mathematical Disquisitions Concerning Astronomical Controversies and Novelties, Johann Georg Locher challenged Galileo on scientific grounds. Locher used arguments about the size and distances of stars which were supported by the leading astronomer of the day, Tycho Brahe and a leading Polish mathematician, Peter Cruger. Locher thought the data supported Ptolemy’s epicycles. Tycho Brahe favored a hybrid geocentric model of a stationary Earth around which the Sun, Moon, and Stars orbited, with the planets all orbiting the sun. In 1616, Monsignor Francesco Ingoli published an essay that essentially used Brahe’s arguments for the hybrid geocentric model; presenting five physical arguments using Aristotle’s physics, and thirteen mathematical arguments using current astronomical data. All of these scientificarguments were against the Copernican system.
Galileo believed Ingoli’s essay to have been influential in the infamous condemnation of the Copernicus hypothesis by a committee of consultants for the Roman Inquisition in February 1616. Thus, Ingoli’s emphasis on weighty mathematical and physical arguments (that is, “scientific” arguments) rather than on the theological arguments, his reliance on the work of Tycho, and even his inclusion of theological arguments, which he then deemphasizes, all suggest an overlooked aspect of the Inquisition’s opposition to Copernicus. Unsurprisingly, among those arguments of Tycho that Ingoli cites are the cannon at the equator and poles argument, and of course, the star size objection.[3]
In 1651 Giovanni Battista Riccioli published The New Almagest, the most current and complete astronomy textbook of the time. It included every new discovery that had been made with the telescope. By 1651, the Ptolemaic system was no longer in consideration for a reasonable model of the universe, so The New Almagest weighed the Copernican system against Tycho Brahe’s hybrid geocentric system. According to historian Edward Grant, Riccioli’s work was the most complete and most authoritative astronomy text of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Riccioli had 126 arguments in his book; 49 of the arguments favored heliocentrism while 77 favored geocentricism but Riccioli himself stated that his book was not just a “counting of arguments” and considered many of the 126 arguments on both sides to be unconvincing. Riccioli found two of the arguments against heliocentrism to be the most convincing: detection of the earth’s motion and the size and distance of stars. At the time, there wasn’t any way to detect the motion of the Earth. Experiments involving falling bodies were inconclusive. Brahe’s argument about what we see when we fire cannon balls was still valid and concluded that the Earth was not moving. Telescope evidence also showed that for the Copernican hypothesis to be correct, the stars would have to be incredibly huge. According to the data of the time, one single star in the Copernican system could conceivably be larger than the entire universe in the hybrid geocentric system. The data supported reasonably sized stars for the hybrid geocentric system. According to the scientific evidence we had at the time – even data taken with a telescope – the necessary sizes of stars would have made the Copernican system absurd.
An array of arguments and many scientists supported geocentrism. Simon Marius of Ansbach Germany claimed that the appearance of stars through a telescope supported the Tychonic, not the Copernican hypothesis. Peter Cruger of Gdansk wrote in 1631 that a star of even the smallest size poses a challenge to Copernicus. The Copernican system’s moving Earth was contrary to the accepted physics; it was in conflict with Aristotle – the accepted description of motion at the time had no mechanism by which the Earth could easily move! The Earth’s motion should have been detectable through physical experiments and at the time it wasn’t.
Reasoning and intrinsic arguments alone considered, and every authority set aside; the hypothesis supposing the immobility or quiet of the Earth absolutely must be asserted as true; and the hypothesis that bestows to the Earth motion … absolutely must be asserted as false and disagreeing with physical and indeed physico-mathematical demonstrations.[4]
Galileo did have data and arguments for geocentrism. Using a telescope, Galileo observed that the moon was similar in structure to the earth; arguing that since the moon was rocky like the earth and moved through space, this meant that it could be made of the same elements as Earth and if the moon cold move through space, then so could the Earth. He saw Venus passing through a complete set of phases, just like the moon does. These observations were in contradiction with Aristotle and Ptolemy but could be explained – and actually had been predicted - by the geocentric model of Tycho Brahe. Galileo observed that Jupiter and Saturn had “satellites”; arguing that the moon could therefore be a satellite of the moving earth. His observation of sunspots struck at the Aristotelian idea of the heavens being made of an incorruptible fifth element, and therefore “perfect.” Galileo’s evidence showed that Ptolemy’s universe wasn’t correct and went against some of Aristotle’s ideas, but did not show that Copernicus was superior to Brahe. Almost 20 years after Galileo’s second trial, Riccioli thought that the telescope evidence and data from falling objects still supported a hybrid geocentric universe – not a heliocentric one.
It is tempting from a modern perspective to propose that the leading theologians of the church ought to have modified their interpretation of the relevant biblical texts in order to get into step with the scientific opinion. But we must keep in mind that the position adopted by the inquisition was in step with the majority, if not the latest, scientific opinion. Cardinal Robert Bellarmine echoed the historical position of the church fathers Augustine and Aquinas, “that if solid evidence for the Copernican system were found, then the literal sense of scripture would have to give way to a different interpretation.”[5] It would have been a most remarkable event had its members taken elaborate measures to abandon their own deeply held principles of biblical interpretation, as well as traditional cosmological opinions of the church fathers, while simultaneously rejecting the majority opinion of qualified astronomers.
Or, to put it more correctly, just as science supported the Copernican hypothesis over the Ptolemaic with discoveries such as the phases of Venus, so science supported the Tychonic hypothesis over the Copernican with discoveries such as adventitious rays and the telescopic disks of stars. Likewise, just as religion was used to support geocentrism, by citing scriptural backing for a fixed Earth, so also religion was used to support heliocentrism, by providing a supernatural explanation (also supportable by scripture) for a dramatic absurdity in the Copernican system. The story of the “Copernican Revolution” does not look so much like a morality play about brave reason and villainous superstition, about “science vs. religion,” as it looks like a battle between two scientific theories, about “science vs. science,” with a little “religion vs. religion” thrown in as well. It is remarkable that the story of this science vs. science battle has been so thoroughly forgotten.[6]
Galileo’s trial must also be judged by the standards, behavior, and culture of the early seventeenth century. The freedom to express dangerous ideas was as unlikely to be defended in Protestant Geneva as in Catholic Rome. The idea that a stable society could be built on general principles of free speech was defended by nobody at the time. Examined in 17th century terms, the outcome of the Galileo trial was a product not of dogmatism or intolerance beyond the norm, but a combination of standard bureaucratic procedure, plausible political judgement, and a familiar array of human foibles and failings. The recent reformation also played a large part in the Galileo event. The church had just lost half of Europe as a result of what could be construed as a relaxed policy toward dissent and controversy. The church bureaucracy since the Council of Trent was more worried about controversy than the medieval church had been. It took a much stricter view of biblical interpretation, moving toward literalism, and refused to embrace any interpretation not sanctioned by church tradition or the church fathers. Ironic, since the church fathers, Augustine and Aquinas, encouraged an interplay between science and scripture.
The reformation and counter-reformation did serve to entrench Aristotle’s physics and cosmology more deeply and inflexibly than ever before. The fascinating and significant anti-Aristotelian alternatives so enthusiastically discussed in the fourteenth century were now ignored and often forgotten. Protestants and Catholics alike clung tenaciously to Aristotle’s cosmology while vigorously denouncing Copernicus. Only in the 17th century did heliocentric supplant Aristotle’s cosmology and only then did the physical consequences derived from the assumed daily and annual motion of the earth destroy Aristotle’s physics as well.[7]
Galileo was at first accused of adopting rash and heretical principles of exegesis. In other words, the Church was at first upset with Galileo interpreting scripture. When the inquisition formally censured heliocentrism in 1616, Galileo faced no personal danger and was not punished nor declared a heretic. He was simply ordered to not teach or defend the Copernican system as real; it was still okay to present it as a useful mathematical model, just not as the way the universe actually was. Galileo actually argued for the same thing as Augustine and Aquinas; stating that the literal biblical text is necessary for salvation and those things that surpass human reason, but when matters are addressed that are within the reach of sensory experience and rational knowledge, God does not expect us to abandon these abilities of observation and rational thought. Pope Benedict agreed with this; demonstrating that the scientific evidence did not support heliocentrism. Ironically, the Copernican answer to the star size problem was to invoke the power of God! It was the Copernicus supporters who were using God as an explanation against the geocentrists. The church used the actual science of the day, which still supported a stationary Earth.
Urban VIII became pope in 1621. He was a friend of Galileo and was considered to be an intellectual, a man of vision, and a moderate on the topic of heliocentrism. From his discussions with the pope, Galileo came to understand that he was now free to write about heliocentrism, so long as he treated it as mere hypothesis. Galileo’s Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems came out in 1632. It was a discussion between Salviati, who gave the arguments in favor of heliocentrism, and Simplicio, who argued for geocentrism. Galileo’s mistake was in making Simplicio seem to be a slow-witted, Aristotelian laughingstock that resembled Pope Urban; such flagrant insubordination could not go unpunished. Similarly, to Bruno, Galileo hurt himself by lying to, betraying, and insulting the Pope. As the second trial unfolded, it proved to be only indirectly about biblical interpretation and cosmological theories and more about disobedience and flagrant insubordination.
But, insofar as the suppression of science is concerned, the bloodiest incidents have been recent and have had nothing to do with religion. It was the Nazi Party, not the German Evangelical Church, that tried to eradicate “Jewish” physics, and it was the Communist Party, not the Russian Orthodox Church, that destroyed the “bourgeois” genetics and left many other fields of Soviet science in disarray.[8]
Persecution of beliefs did, sadly, occur because heretical theologies threaten the authority of those in control in a way that science doesn’t. All powerful institutions and organizations suppress dissent and nonconformity and abuse their power. Autocrats do not tolerate disagreement. This is why Christians should never want to live in a theocracy. However, Galileo was never put on the list of forbidden books and his harassment was over Church authority and who had the right to interpret scripture. The Pope himself actually thwarted efforts to impose more serious penalties on Galileo. Church leaders usually allowed scientists to sidestep theological conflict.
In this spirit the pope reassured Galileo that he had nothing to fear as long as he made it clear that he spoke as a mathematician, not a theologian. Specifically, Pope Urban instructed Galileo to acknowledge in his publications that “definitive conclusions could not be reached in the natural sciences. God in his omnipotence could produce a natural phenomenon in any number of ways and it was therefore presumptuous for any philosopher to claim that he had a unique solution.”[9]
Galileo’s punishment was simply house arrest which allowed Galileo to turn to other scientific problems. Galileo’s mechanics as described in Discourse on Two New Sciences served to overturn the Aristotelian view of the world. We needed an entire new system of physics before we could get rid of Aristotle and geocentrism; one could argue that the punishment imposed by the Catholic Church actually advanced science and heliocentrism more than if they had left Galileo unpunished!
David C Lindberg’s conclusions regarding Galileo from his 2003 book When Science & Christianity Meet are as follows:
1. Personal interest and political ambition are as important as ideology and observation. If Galileo had paid more attention to diplomacy, the outcome may have been different.
2. The Galileo affair was powerfully influenced by local circumstances: the Reformation, the Thirty Years’ War, the power of the papacy being threatened by the Spanish, and the criticism of Pope Urban for favoring Protestant King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden all played a part in how Galileo was dealt with.
3. This was not a battle between science and Christianity. Every one of the combatants – including Galileo - was Christian. The conflict was within the church, between opposing theories of biblical interpretation and within science between alternative cosmologies.[10]
The two most cited examples of Christianity persecuting science are Giordano Bruno and Galileo. This narrative is simply false. The scientific evidence in Galileo’s time did not support the Copernican view of the universe; the church held to a geocentric position because of the current scientific data! A clear demonstration of the motion of the earth and a complete answer to the star problem would not come for two more centuries! Science and Christianity are not in opposition. The Giordano Bruno story is one of theology only, the Galileo story is one of science vs. science and theology vs. theology. Neither story should be used to illustrate a war between science and Christianity.
[1] John Gribbin, In Search of the Multiverse, Wiley, 2009, page 1
[3] Christopher M. Graney, Setting Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science against Copernicus in the Age of Galileo, University of Notre Dame Press, 2015, page 68
[4] Riccioli 1651
[5] Christopher M. Graney, Setting Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science against Copernicus in the Age of Galileo, University of Notre Dame Press, 2015, page 74
[6] Christopher M. Graney, Setting Aside All Authority: Giovanni Battista Riccioli and the Science against Copernicus in the Age of Galileo, University of Notre Dame Press, 2015, page 145
[8] ibid
[9] Rodney Stark, For the Glory of God, 2003, Princeton University Press
[10] David C. Linberg, When Science and Christianity Meet, University of Chicago Press, 2003
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