Galileo's Mistake: A New Look at the Epic Confrontation Between Galileo and the Church

A provocative examination of the 1633 trial of Galileo by the Inquisition contends that the Galileo incited the opinions of his prosecutors by arguing against spirituality and that the disagreement was more about the nature of truth than about religious differences. 15,000 first printing.

Rowland seeks to dispel what he calls "the myth of Galileo": that he was attacked by an ignorant, closed-minded Church for having discovered the truth, which contradicted Church belief. Rowland (Ockham's Razor) argues that this traditional perspective on Galileo's 1633 trial is both simplistic and wide of the mark. Instead, he builds a compelling case that Galileo and the Church differed over something far more important than whether the earth revolved around the sun-they differed on the very nature of truth and how mortals can come to know it. Modeling the structure used by Galileo in his own book about Copernican theory, Rowland makes use of fictionalized dialogues to explore issues of epistemology and concludes that Galileo, by promoting the idea that scientific experiments alone can lead to a meaningful understanding of the natural world, was a very real threat to the coherence of the Church. Rowland does an impressive job of bringing the 17th century to life. It's important to note that, as he makes clear throughout, he believes that religion can allow for a comprehension of reality in ways that science cannot, and that many of the world's present ills are due to "the transition from the Age of Faith to the Age of Reason," which Galileo helped accomplish and the wisdom of which Rowland seriously questions. Still, his book will appeal to most readers interested in the current debate about the relation between science and religion, and particularly to those who, like him, posit limits to the reach of science. 8 pages of b&w illus. not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In a revisionist look at the seventeenth-century battle between ecclesiastical authorities and Galileo Galilei, Rowland provocatively challenges the prevailing view of the episode. The central issue for the inquisitors investigating Galileo's orthodoxy, insists Rowland, was never the sun-centered astronomy of Copernicus. No, much broader philosophical issues were at stake. And on these issues, Rowland argues, the church stood closer to the truth than did Galileo. The astronomer erred--in Rowland's judgment--not in his advocacy of Copernican theory but rather in his endorsement of a thoroughgoing mathematical empiricism. And while everyone now agrees with Galileo in accepting Copernicus, the doctrinaire empiricism Galileo deployed to advance Copernicanism looks as shallow and misleading to today's quantum physicists as it once did to the Renaissance theologians who forced Galileo to recant. Rowland won't convince everyone that in retracting his Copernican beliefs, Galileo was affirming sincere faith in Catholic doctrine. But his lucid historical narrative--embedded in a three-voice dialogue of contemporary commentators--does open up long-hidden ironies and paradoxes surrounding a pivotal event in the evolution of Western culture. Bryce Christensen
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