Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei discussed the problem of interpreting biblical passages with regard to scientific discoveries In a Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. What motivated him to write this letter was the issue of science against physical proof in the Bible. Galileo’s opposers valued opinions and past beliefs more than truth, because of this view he believed arguments against him were focused on incompatibility with the Bible rather than oppositions to the validity of his science.

In the letter he writes “I think in the first place that it is very pious to say and prudent to affirm that the holy Bible can never speak untruth- whenever it’s true meaning is understood. But I believe nobody will deny that it is often very abstruse, and may say things which are quite different from what it’s bare words signify” (p77). This is saying that he isn’t saying that the Bible is wrong in anyway, but it would be foolish to say that its interpretations should be exact from the basic words used in the Bible. Galileo had read the Bible with an open mind, and because of that he made his views clear to other people, even going as far as saying he was in fact helping the Church with his claims and interpretations. He continues his argument by stating “These propositions uttered by the Holy Ghost were set down in that manner by the sacred scribes in order to accommodate them to the capacities of the common people, who are rude and unlearned” (p77). In a frustrating manner he is trying to get his point across in showing that the Bible was writing in this manner to get to the common man. This also shows that Galileo’s audience was well directed to Church officials and the public in general.