Where Have All the Heavens Gone? Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
Ebook
Overview
Twenty years before his famous trial, Galileo Galilei had spent two years carefully considering how the results of his own telescopic observations of the heavens as well as his convictions about the truth of the Copernican theory could be aligned with the Catholic Church’s position on biblical interpretation and the authority of the magisterium. The product of these two years was an unpublished letter to the Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany, the mother of his patron, Cosimo II de’ Medici. Much has changed since this letter was written in 1615, but much has remained the same. This collection of articles by renowned international scholars provides the historical context of the letter as well as a description of the scientific world of Galileo. It also explores those issues that make this 1615 letter a document for our time: the public role of religious authority, the truth of the Bible, and the relationship of scientific inquiry to social justice. Galileo’s letter to Christina has become a classic text in the history of the relationship between science and religion in the West for good reason; this volume explores why the letter has earned its rightful place as a classic even for today.
”This singular book, at once instructive and delightful to read,
returns readers to Galileo’s famous letter to Grand Duchess
Christina. Here Galileo shines forth not only as the iconic figure
of modern science he has become, but more surprisingly as, on
balance, a modern interpreter of Scripture. A very fine book
indeed."
--David Tracy, Professor of Theology and the Philosophy of
Religions in the Divinity School of The University of Chicago
“This remarkable interdisciplinary study of Galileo’s wide-ranging
work includes chapters from the perspectives of philosophy and
history, theology, physics, and mathematics. His achievements
stand out in such scientific thought-experiments as those on time
and mechanics and in his reflections on how science and religion
are related, as recorded in his fascinating letter to the Grand
Duchess Christina. The authors expertly convey and distill the
contemporary significance of Galileo’s experiments, inventions, and
understandings."
--Mary Gerhart, Professor Emerita of Religious Studies, Hobart
& William Smith Colleges; co-author of New Maps for
Old: Explorations in Science and Religion
Product Details
- Title : Where Have All the Heavens Gone?: Galileo’s Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina
- Authors:
- McCarthy, John P.
- Lupieri, Edmondo F.
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9781498295994
John P. McCarthy is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology,
the former chair of the Theology Department at Loyola University
Chicago, and a Research Fellow at the Center for Theological
Inquiry, Princeton, New Jersey.
Edmondo F. Lupieri holds the John Cardinal Cody Endowed Chair in
Theology and is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity
at Loyola University Chicago and President of ItalCultura. He is
the author of In nome di Dio (2014).