Galileo Essay, Research Paper

1. Is Galileo’s argument based on science or theology?

Galileo’s argument is based on theology because that was what was mostly

mentioned and that the science and the Bible were not contradicting each other. He

always seems to compare science to the Bible and its Words because they were

compatible. Galileo said, “ But I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who

had endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use and by

some other means to give us knowledge which we can attain by them.” This means

Galileo believed that God had blessed us with the senses to gain knowledge of such

science. God in a way opened some of His doors to His “secrets”, but those knowledge of

the “secrets” are meant to use to help the people in a good intentional manner.

He never went against the Word of God. He more likely have supported it in a different

view. He did “affirm that the holy Bible can never speak the untruth, whenever the true

meaning is understood.” He believed that the Bible holds agreements with science only it

had to be perceived in a different way because “the testimony of the biblical passages

which may have some different meaning beneath their words.”

3. As Galileo describes them, which is the surer revelation of God, nature or the Bible?

The surer revelation of God is probably nature. As have read from Genesis,

everything in nature was created in God’s image. Humans usually see before they believe.

Believing takes more time to build than seeing. The Bible is a source of belief and faith.

As we humans believe, the better we understand and feel the power of the Word of God

form the Bible, we feel safer and closer to God. “Nature…is inexorable and immutable,”

and never cares a whit whether her abstruse reasons and methods of operation are

understandable to men.” Nature is really unpredictable. They are more frustrating than

the words of the Bible. Nature has unexplainable reasons for her events. Galileo said that

the Earth moves around the sun. But the Bible said the Sun moved around the Earth.

During Galileo’s time, the people were heavily influenced in their religion and did not want

to be denounced for disagreeing with the Bible or the refuse to believe the Bible was

different.

4. Why might the pope reject Galileo’s arguments?

The pope might reject Galileo’s arguments because since the pope is the mediator,

he should be the one getting most of this “endowed…senses” when it came to the

opportunity to the knowledge of the science endowed by God. Secondly, Galileo’s

knowledge was conceived in a way seems so different from the way the pope would have

wanted. The pope might believe that there were other ways to science than gaining

knowledge. The pope probably thought it was sinful to just explore and find reasoning

with God than just believe and have faith. The pope only believed the Word of God and

not a guy (Galileo) who seemed to be contradicting the Bible.