May 2, 2010

  • Question 240 – How should we interpret 1 Chron 16:30? Part 2

    Dear Robert,

     

    I respectfully disagree with the translations you use and your interpretation of Holy Scriptures and will confirm this with a solid Traditional priest. From my understanding, Galileo was not condemned for his particular scientific findings, but that he was attempting to prove that science had higher precedence over Holy Scriptures.  That was the heresy.

     

    Sincerely in +JMJ,

    Roger

     

    R. Sungenis: Roger, you can respectfully disagree as you wish, but in order to have any substance behind your disagreement you will need to prove your contentions, not just assert them. And you will need to do so by examining the words, the grammar, and the context. To interpret "founded" in 1 Chron 16:30 as referring to God "finding" something on earth is not an interpretation that any Father, medieval or modern theologian has ever held to. If you want to assert such a novel interpretation of the passage, you need to back it up with a thorough exegesis. As to your assertion that "Galileo was not condemned for his particular scientific findings," I suggest you study the issue a bit more. If you do you will find that Pope Urban VIII condemned Galileo precisely for his scientific belief that the earth moved around the sun. Here are the two proposition that Pope Urban VIII approved:

     

    “Che il sole sia centro del mondo et immobile di moto locale, è propositione assurda e falsa in filosofia, e formalmente heretica, per essere espressamente contraria alla Sacra Scrittura.”

     

    (Translation: “The proposition that the sun is the center of the world and does not move from its place is absurd and false philosophically and formally heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scripture”)

     

    “Che la terra non sia centro del mondo nè imobile, ma che si muova etiandio di moto diurno, è parimente propositione assurda e falsa nella filosofia, e considerate in teologia ad minus erronea in Fide.”

     

    (Translation: “The proposition that the Earth is not the center of the world and immovable but that it moves, and also with a diurnal motion, is equally absurd and false philosophically and theologically considered at least erroneous in faith”)

     

    The decrees against heliocentrism included in the formal sentence against Galileo Galileo, approved and facilitated by Pope Urban VIII, June 22, 1633[1]

     

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    [1] Original Italian of the decrees, as cited in Galileo E L’Inquisizione, Antonio Favaro, 1907, p. 143.