Episode 101. I need to make a few comments regarding Martin Luther's views in Quote 5. First, it is very clear that Luther accepted scientific concordism, because he used the Bible like a book of science. As he states but as holy writ declares, it was the sun that God commanded to be still. Therefore, Luther's geocentrism is based on a literalist and concordist reading of the Bible. Second, Luther's approach is a classic example that scientific concordism fails, and why the Bible should not be used as a book of science. We do not live in geocentric world with an immovable earth and a spherical heaven overhead that moves around us with the sun, moon and stars. Let's draw a few conclusions regarding this brief history of astronomy. First, all astronomers accepted the Earth is spherical in 1600s. The Galileo Affair is not about a flat earth. Second, there was a scientific knowledge gap growing between the academics and the common people. And this is a problem with science, it deals with complicated concepts that most people do not know. Finally, hermeneutical debates were beginning to emerge because of heliocentricism and this is a common occurrence. New scientific ideas often challenge what religious people read in their scriptures. Let's now direct our attention specifically to Galileo. Here is a brief history of Galileo Galilei. As a preamble, we can summarize the Galileo affair in this way. It was a volatile time and he was a volatile personality. Together, this is a formula for disaster. There were social factors that contributed to this affair. Roman Catholicism was on the defensive and fresh off the Protestant Reformation. A feature of the Reformation was that it encouraged everyone, not just priests and the church, to read the Bible. As we'll see, this Protestant activity is exactly what Galileo did. The works of Aristotle were discovered in the 12th and 13th centuries. Aristotle's ideas became the science of the day. And they were integrated, in fact, conflated into Roman Catholic theology. With this being the case, Galileo's attack of Aristotle's science was perceived to be an attack against the church. The invention of printing led to the wide distribution of books and their ideas after 1500 and public accessibility. In an attempt to control what people were reading, in 1559, the Roman Catholic church established the Roman Index. Which listed the prohibited books that Catholics were not to read. As we'll see, Copernicus's most famous book will be put on the Index. There were also personal factors that contributed to the Galileo affair. Galileo was arrogant, sarcastic, and quick to anger, and as a result he had many enemies. As well, Galileo wrote his books in Italian instead of academic Latin. Consequently, the common people became a factor in this controversy. Finally, Galileo used the dialogue style. This writing technique was done to protect the author. But foolishly, Galileo would put the words of opponent professors in the mouths of peasants and this only angered his enemies. Here is a brief chronology of Galileo's life. He was born in 1564 on February 15th in Pisa, Italy. Galileo was raised a Roman Catholic. His father Vincenzo was a music theorist and an experimentalist. Notably, he was in many contentious debates, and this undoubtedly contributed to Galileo's argumentative personality. In 1581, Galileo studied medicine at the University of Pisa but did not complete the program. While there, he was nicknamed the Wrangler for his argumentative style. In 1585, Galileo moved to Florence and studied physics and math with a tutor. It's interesting to note that important scientific advances in 16th century Italy were made outside the universities. End of episode.