>I am wondering if there are some historians out there who can
>comment on this. From what I heard, Galileo, when he first published
>his theories about the Solar System, the Church largly ignored him.
>It was some secular philosophers/scientists who were upset about
>the theory and activily enlisted the aide of Rome to come down on
>Galileo. I have not read historical sources on this so I don't know
>if this is urban legend. Has someone studied the historical details
>of the history of the conflict and could comment on this?
There is a nice and accessible discussion of this in Charles Hummel's
book _The Galileo Connection_ (InterVarsity Press, 1986). Hummel's book
is also IMO the best introductory book around for developing a mature
Christian view of science/faith issues. I wrote a review of the book for
another list which can be found at:
http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~s-schim/scichr/reviews/hummel.html
Allan
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| Dr. Allan H. Harvey | aharvey@boulder.nist.gov |
| Physical and Chemical Properties Division | "Don't blame the |
| National Institute of Standards & Technology | government for what I |
| 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80303 | say, or vice versa." |
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