Heliocentrism Model of the Universe Essay

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Heliocentrism offered a different model of the universe that contradicted the traditional Christian worldview and this was a why the model is confrontational. It was propagated by a series of astronomers such as Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo.

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Every single individual holds an opinion on how the universe works and how several natural phenomena work together. The worldview that has been accepted by most as distinctly Christian was that the sun revolves around the earth. In other words, Christians asserted that the moon, the stars, the sun and other planets revolved around the earth. This was derived from the Bible which held that man and the earth were created by God and put at the centre of the universe while crystal spheres of planets and stars revolved around it. Heaven existed at the end of the last sphere. (Heolbron, 1999)

The Heliocentric model opposed all this because it held that that the sun is at the centre of the universe and that the earth, other planets and stars revolved around it. The latter ideas had cropped up earlier in history but they gained a lot of support in the sixteenth century because it is as this time when a mathematical relationship had been established.

Heliocentrism as a worldview model became a confrontational model because it opposed conventional views on the universe as held by the church. For example, in the book of Chronicles chapter sixteen and verse thirteen, the Bible states that the world was stationary while heliocentrism held that the earth moved. The latter view is further supported by the book of psalms chapter one hundred and five verse five which says that the world was to remain in its place forever. Also, in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter one and verse five, it is stated that the sun moves as it comes up and goes down. Heliocentrism directly opposed this view by claiming that other universal bodies moved except the sun.

In the early sixteenth century, some religious leaders demonstrated this opposition to heliocentrism through their disapproval. For example, it had often been stated that a Protestant such as Martin Luther was very skeptical of the view because he believed that it was about to turn astronomy upside down. He likened Heliocentrism to a passenger who was travelling in a ship and then claimed that he was sitting still while his surrounding was moving. He ended this by citing the book of Joshua which stated that the sun was stationary. This worldview indeed shows that the heliocentric model was quite confrontational to the prevailing religious position.

As the sixteenth century progressed, the church began taking a more aggressive stance against heliocentrism. In part, this was brought about by the differences between the most important religious leaders at that time and chief heliocentric proponent i.e. the Pope and Galileo. This stance was seen by the fact that all heliocentric adherents were prohibited from advancing their arguments and Galileo spent the last of his days in house arrest. When church officials passed his judgment, they accused him of holding and propagating a false doctrine. In line with the latter matter, the church claimed that the heliocentric views were nothing more than a mathematical hypothesis and that there was no proof to show that humans should believe such a contrary worldview. They held that unless one could counter numerous passages stated in Holy Scriptures, then there was no point in teaching them new things. (Rosen, 1995)

All in all, one can argue that Galileo, Copernicus and Kepler adhered to a confrontational model because it opposed existing worldviews especially those advanced by the church. This confrontation was observed through remarks by religious leaders, religious bans and evidence from Holy Scriptures.

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References

Heolbron, J. (1999). The Sun in the Church. Cambridge: Harvard University Press

Rosen, E. (1995). Copernicus and his successors. New York: Hambledon Press

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Heliocentrism Model of the Universe." November 23, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/heliocentrism-model-of-the-universe/.

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