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Galileo Heretic Essay

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Galileo Heretic Essay
Galileo would be considered a heretic because of how he disagrees with the church and how he disagrees with the Bible. In Galileo’s letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615 Galileo states that “... [Professors against Galileo] made a grave mistake of sprinkling [Galileo’s work] with passages taken from the places in the Bible, which they failed to understand properly.” Galileo thinks that the professors are cherry picking the Bible to disprove his work. The passages that the professors used from the Bible were backed by the Church and the Church had a specific interpretation of the bible that Galileo didn’t agree with. Galileo also postulates in his letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615 that “But I believe that nobody will deny …show more content…
In Cardinal Bellarmine’s letter to Foscarini, he claims that “ We would rather have to say that we did not understand the Scripture than to say that something was false which has been demonstrated.”. The Cardinal states that if what the Church was wrong then, the Church would claim that they interpreted the Bible wrong rather than say that the Bible was wrong. Although it is possible that the Church is wrong about how they interpreted the Bible, Galileo still went against the Church’s specific belief which then causes him to be a heretic. Galileo also admits that he would be a heretic if he relied on the Church’s interpretation. In the letter to Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615 by Galileo “...it follows that anyone who claims that the sun is motionless and the earth movable takes and erroneous and heretical position”. Although Galileo does try to disprove the statement by claiming that the Bible is complex and hard to understand, the Church has already determined their specific stance that anybody who disagrees with their interpretation is heretic. In the letter to Foscarini by Cardinal Bellarmine, he declares “..., the Council [of Trent] prohibits interpreting the Scriptures contrary to the common agreement of the holy Fathers.”. Both Galileo and the Cardinal know that it is prohibited to interpret the Bible other than what the Church
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