lew (03/10/83)
Galileo had a fascinating way of subverting ecclesiastical authority by turning church doctrine back on itself, practicing a sort of rhetorical jiu-jitsu. For example, in his "Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina", he asserts that since the bible is infallible, it obviously cannot contradict the evidence of our senses, so that any apparent contradictions must be due to faulty interpretations. In his "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems", Salviati (his fictional mouthpiece) responds to the citation of physical evidence in support of biblical correctness by saying, "Oh, that is worst of all, for he is pretending to have things which are more effective and convincing than the authority of Holy Writ. But let us, for our part, revere it, and pass on to physical and human arguments." (Creationists take note.) I take this to mean that since the bible is perfect and unchallengeable, nothing more need be said about it, so we will just ignore it. Lew Mammel, Jr. ihuxr!lew