Bellarmine "Attack on the Copernican Theory"

Noah Fardon
MEHAP
Perry: Bellarmine “Attack on the Copernican Theory”
Thesis: In his letter to Paolo Antonio Foscarini, Cardinal Bellarmine presents the religious case that if the solar system is viewed as heliocentric, then it will be a denial of the religious truth of Scripture and require explanation against Scripture.

I. Denial of truths of Scripture
a. Heliocentric theory directly “rendering Holy Scripture false.”
b. “Council of Trent prohibits interpreting Scripture against the common consensus of the Holy Fathers
i. The literal interpretation of Genesis, the Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Joshua is that the sun is and heaven and moves around earth with great speed, and that the earth is far from heaven and remains motionless.
c. Church cannot tolerate giving Scripture a meaning contrary to the Holy Fathers
d. Belief in a heliocentric solar system is a lack of faith in “the speaker,” (aka: The Holy Spirit).
i. Comparable to denying that Abraham had two children and Jacob twelve, or denying that Christ was born of a virgin.
1. All of these things were word of the Holy Spirit.
II. Explanations Against Scripture
a. If Foscarini finds the heliocentric theory to be true, then he would have to explain his reasoning against the word of Scripture (a nearly impossible requirement to any and every firm religious believer).
b. Bellarmine’s final thought: If God gave us the knowledge and ability to learn of the Universe, then why would the word of Scripture and the truth of the solar system be any different? (aka: The word of Scripture is the word of God and its description of the Universe shouldn’t be any different from what we ultimately discover through science/knowledge/etc.)