In Defense of the Truth:
Galileo Speaks Out Against the Teachings of the Church
Depiction of Galileo defending himself in front
of the Inquisition
By Unknown painter in 19th century
After this lesson, you should know:
1. what living under church rule was like
2. how world views were changing and the sacrifices people
went through to challenge those views.
3. How the Scientific Revolution set the basis for the
Enlightenment, the American Revolution and the French
Revolution.
…and be able to:
1. Identify Galileo and Copernicus
2. Distinguish between the Heliocentric and the geocentric
theories
3. Restate the view points of the Church and Galileo
4. Explain why Galileo spoke out against church doctrine and
later recanted
5. Argue for or against both the church or Galileo
6. Judge for yourself whether or not an idea should be denied
even though you know it to be true.
Imagine you know for a
fact that something is true
but no one believes you;
you are even arrested for
believing it. To get out of
trouble do you deny what
you know to be true?
•Ptolemy and
Aristotle backed
the Geocentric
view of the
universe.
•Catholic Church
taught this theory
since it could be
backed up by
passages from the
Bible.
Joshua 10 (Verse
13): And the sun
stood still, and
the moon stayed,
until the people
had avenged
themselves upon
their enemies. Is
not this written
in the book of
Jasher? So the
sun stood still in
the midst of
heaven, and
hasted not to go
down about a
whole day.
Psalm 19 (Verse
1) The heavens
declare the glory
of God;and the
firmament
sheweth his
handywork.
Psalm 104 (Verse
5) Who laid the
foundations of the
earth, that it
should not be
removed for ever.
Isaiah 40 (Verse 22):
It is he that sitteth
upon the circle of
the earth, and the
inhabitants thereof
are as grasshoppers;
that stretcheth out
the heavens as a
curtain, and
spreadeth them out
as a tent to dwell in:
• Copernicus—first one to challenge medieval
system
– On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres (1543)
– Destroyed idea of spheres, put stars at rest, imagined a
huge universe
– Where was heaven? God?
– Criticized by Protestants
• Kepler—Proved Copernicus right with his three
laws of motion (1619)
– Elliptical orbits
– Planets change speed
– Time to orbit sun related to distance
Galileo's telescope
•Using the telescope Galileo saw
the moons’ surface was rough
not smooth, he saw spots on the
sun, and through observations of
the planets he concluded that
Copernicus’ Heliocentric view
was the correct view of the
universe.
•Galileo wrote a book discussing
the arguments for and against
both the Geocentric and
Heliocentric theories.
Galileo’s Drawing of Moon
Real photo of Moon
Can you pick out the similarities?
Which one would you think the church
would dislike?
•The Church forced Galileo to recant his belief in the Heliocentric
Theory.
•Church felt Galileo was supporting Copernicus’ theory in his book
Dialogue Concerning Two Chief Systems & was imprisoned for
heresy.
Dialogue from the Trial of Galileo by the Inquisition
Please use what you know of the trial of Galileo to add sentences that describe what is
going on in the picture. Please make sure your sentences are relevant to the event.
Dialogue from the Trial of Galileo by the Inquisition
Please use what you know of the trial of Galileo to add sentences that describe what is
going on in the picture. Please make sure your sentences are relevant to the event.
Wake me
up when
this guy is
in jail.
Hasn’t this guy
ever read the
Bible?
I was just trying to
make reasonable
arguments for both
theories.
What are
looking
at, you
want a
piece of
this.
Oh-oh-oh,
Galileo
will be
easy to
convict.