Galileo's Mistake: a New Look at the Epic Confrontation between Galileo and the Church.WADE ROWLAND Wade Rowland is a Canadian science, technology, and travel writer. Biography Rowland was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1944. He was married in 1978 to Christine Collie, with whom he has two children, Hilary and Simon. In a defining moment in modern Western culture, the inquisition Inquisition (ĭn'kwĭzĭsh`ən), tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church established for the investigation of heresy. The Medieval Inquisition In the early Middle Ages investigation of heresy was a duty of the bishops. convicted Galileo Galilei of heresy in 1633 Rowland argues that the trial centered less on Galileo's defense of the Copernican view of the solar system solar system, the sun and the surrounding planets, natural satellites, dwarf planets, asteroids, meteoroids, and comets that are bound by its gravity. The sun is by far the most massive part of the solar system, containing almost 99.9% of the system's total mass. than on his argument about what truth is and how we know it. Galileo made a critical mistake, Rowland believes, not by contending that Earth revolves around the sun but by insisting that science and only science provides the truth about reality. In fact, Rowland asserts that many leaders of the Church believed Copernicus' theory to be true. It was Galileo's relentless assault on religion that did him in. Rowland recreates Galileo's trial according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. information the author gathered on journeys to Italy. He gives weight to the Church's position in the 17th century and makes a case for the Church's role in the pursuit of truth today. Originally published in Canada in 2001. Arcade, 2003, 298 p., b&w plates, hardcover, $26.95. |
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