Galileo the Theologian

Galileo was first and foremost a scientist, intent on discovering more about the natural world. Like everyone else at that time, he accepted the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology of a stationary earth at the center of the world with the sun, planets, and stars revolving around it. This cosmology was naturally accepted by contemporary theologians as the best available, and formed the implicit background to their theological work. Thus, for example, heaven was situated beyond the outermost stellar sphere. Furthermore, it is in full accord with many passages in the Bible, such as the one in Joshua where the sun is commanded to stand still, implying that normally it is moving.1 As a result of his studies of the work of Copernicus, followed by his own astronomical discoveries, Galileo became convinced that the Aristotelian cosmology is false, and the heliocentric cosmology of Copernicus is correct. He realized that the theologians would see this as a serious threat to Aristotelian philosophy in general and would raise difficulties for biblical interpretation and indeed for the