Galileo and His Condemnation

Ernest R. Hull, S.J., in Galileo and His Condemnation, examines one of the most frequently misunderstood episodes in Church history. Rather than accepting the modern tale of "science versus religion," Father Hull returns to the historical record and the original documents. He seeks to distinguish the facts of the Galileo affair from the exaggerated accounts so often used against the Catholic Church.

The controversy centered upon the Copernican theory that the Earth moves around the Sun. Galileo became its foremost defender, and his observations furnished important evidence for the new astronomy. The question, however, soon touched upon the interpretation of Sacred Scripture. Father Hull explains the Catholic principle that God is the Author both of Divine Revelation and of nature, and therefore truth in one cannot contradict truth in the other.

The proceedings of 1616 are essential to understanding Galileo's later condemnation. Ecclesiastical authorities examined the Copernican propositions and placed restrictions upon their defense. When Galileo subsequently published his Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, these earlier decisions became an important part of the case brought against him.

Father Hull carefully examines the trial of 1633 and the sentence imposed upon Galileo. He shows that the matter cannot properly be reduced to the claim that the Church condemned scientific truth simply because it was scientific. The controversy involved questions of Scripture, theological judgment, ecclesiastical authority, natural philosophy, and Galileo's conduct following the earlier injunctions.

Galileo and His Condemnation is therefore both a historical study and a work of Catholic apologetics. Father Hull endeavors to vindicate the Church's historical record by returning to the evidence itself. For the Catholic reader, the book provides a useful consideration of the harmony of Faith and reason, the authority of the Church, and the proper relationship between Sacred Scripture and the study of God's created order.

139 pages.

Author: Ernest R. Hull, S.J.

Year: 1923