With
Bellarmine I spoke at length of the things you had written….And he said
that as
to Copernicus, there is no question of his book being prohibited; the
worst
that might happen, according to him, would be the addition of some
material in
the margins of that book to the effect that Copernicus had introduced
his
theory in order to save the appearances, or some such thing-just as
others had
introduced epicycles without thereafter believing in their existence. And with
a similar precaution you may at any time deal with these matters. If things are fixed according to the
Copernican system, it does not appear presently that they would have
any greater obstacle in the Bible than the passage ‘[the sun] exults as
a
strong man to run his course,’ etc., which all expositors up to now
have
understood by attributions motion to the sun.
And although I replied that this also could be explained as a
concession
or our ordinary forms of expression, I was told in answer that this was
not a
thing to be done in haste, just a s the condemnation of any of these
opinions
was not to be passionately hurried….I can only rejoice for you…
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