Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love

When my husband reads a book he thinks I should read, he leaves the book on my computer chair. It is his not so subtle way of saying, "You ought to read this book!" I found Dava Sobel's Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love on my chair one day. History should be told just like a story with an interesting plot, characters who aren't one dimensional -- very good or just plain evil and a setting in which the culture (and its impact on the story) are well defined. Galileo's Daughter is a good story from history. 

Suor Maria Celeste Galilei's (Galileo's oldest daughter) story survives in letters she wrote to her father. Their relationship serves as a background to tell the story of Galileo's pursuit of science and the inquisition that determined he was a heretic for supporting Nicolai Copernicus' theory of a sun-centered universe.

"As to the first general question of Madama Cristina, it seems to me that it was most prudently propounded to you by her, and conceded and established by you, that Holy Scripture cannot err and the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable. I should only have added that, though Scriptures cannot err, its expounders and interpreters are liable to err in many ways... when they would base themselves always on the literal meaning of the words. For in this wise not only many contradictions would be apparent, but even grave heresies and blasphemies, since then it would be necesary to give God hands and fee and eyes and human and bodily emotions such as anger, regret, hatred, and sometimes forgetfulness of things past and ignorance of the future." (page 63) ~ Galileo in a letter to Benedetto Castelli discussing the subject of science and religion

After I finished the book, I added Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, the book that got Galileo into so much trouble to my Amazon wishlist. According to Christopher Morley, "The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking." Galileo's Daughter served that purpose; it ignited a desire to learn more.

The Covenanted Self

I like to read with book darts! Before even beginning the first chapter, I line up twenty or so book darts at the back of the book where they will be handy when I want to mark a quote, highlight a main point or identify a section of text that I want to re-read. As a rule of thumb, the more book darts that I use while reading, the more I enjoyed the book. That wasn't the case with Walter Brueggemann's The Covenanted Self. The pages of this highly quotable book are simply littered with book darts. I didn't like it.

First the foundational understanding of God as other and our "othering" relationship is described using psychological theories based upon a relationship between a child and a mother -- essentially attachment theory. I am sure I have preconceived biases in this area; I am the parent of an anxiously attached adult. I have parented her through some very difficult relationship dynamics. I understand what it means to be too self-centered and too other-centered. I know the struggle of trying to create balance in a relationship. I believe I understood the author's intended message. The family dynamics explored by Brueggemann in this text was based upon research on interactions between mothers (primary caretakers) and young children. I would buy his argument if he was describing the relationship between the church and an individual. Yet, Kodesh Avinu, Holy Father, neither the Torah nor the writings of the Apostles ever teaches in a parable that describes God in a feminine role. Research on Father-Child bonding is relatively new. The relationship dynamics are not the same.

As I write this review, the Christian church is celebrating Lent. While today, the season is used to cleanse oneself in preparation of remembering Christ's Resurrection, even the Greek work Pascha hint to the truth that the Ancient Church remembered the Crucifixion of the Lamb. The Exodus imagery led me to study slavery during Lent last year. The books I read are reviewed on this blog.

Into such a context came the burning bush, Moses, and the possibility of rescue from slavery (Exod. 3:1-6). The break in the imperial command of bricks came from a God whose name they had not known (Exod. 3:13-15). Pharaoh did not know this challenging God (Exod. 5:2), nor did Israel, nor did even Moses. Yahweh (the best version of the name now give for God ) did not lie to this bondaged people. Yahweh never promised or even suggested autonomy as the outcome of the Exodus. From the beginning, Yahweh intended that Israel should be in "bondage" to the commands of Yahweh. From the first utterance, Yahweh had consistently said, "Let them go, and serve me" (5:1). Consistently, the governing verb is "serve" (abad), "enter into my service." Yahweh never said, "Let my people go that they may be autonomous," or "Let my people go that they may enjoy unmitigated freedom." "That they may serve me" means to come under a sovereign command. Thus the "freed slaves" have a freedom that is new servitude, under new commands and new demands.  (Page 24)

The church in America, with their emphasis on simple salvation and fear of legalism has failed to teach this truth.We aren't freed from our bondage to sin that we can have unmitigated freedom. The Hebrew word abad is the word behind slave and servant. After salvation we are called to work and serve God as our master.

Obedience is the daily voice of faith because on all days, days of plenty and want, of richness and poverty, in sickness and in health, faith shows up as obedience. (page 29)

Early in the book, I had hoped that the author would clearly define what this looked like. But, he didn't. There is very little about personal holiness. Instead the author's political agenda is presented as the very heart of the gospel message. The Ten Commandments and the 613 mitzvot are Moses' attempt to set up a system to ensure compliance to a liberal socialist agenda. Israel failed but America doesn't have to. We just need to get on the vain train to create a better tomorrow, today.

In the end, I found nuggets of gold, real wisdom in this book; however, they were deeply buried and hard to mine.

The Star That Astonished the World

Ancient philosophers studied the earth, water, air, fire and the heavens to help them make sense of their world. The first four elements were mutable, corrupt. They were a part of this world. The stars were something completely different. The fixed and "wandering" stars were predictable. They were made out of something unchangeable, something from the realms of the gods. In his book The Star That Astonished the World, Ernest L. Martin uses ancient astronomical events to pinpoint not only the Star of Bethlehem, but to ascertain the exact date of Christ's birth. He postulates that Christ's star was Jupiter, the King's Planet as it danced through the night sky from 3 to 2 BC forming conjunctions first with Venus and then with Regulus, the little king -- the brightest star in the constellation Leo. He supports his theory with historical research that touches on the Herod's death, Quirinius' census and Josephus' chronology. I found the presented history fascinating! For that reason alone, I think the book is worth reading.

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. ~ Revelations 12:1

Using this verse and ancient astrological charts, Martin theorizes that Christ, the Lion of Judah, was born on September 11, 3 BC. On that day, the sun was in position to "clothe" the constellation Virgo and the moon was positioned under her feet. In 3 BC, September 11 corresponded with Tishri 1, the Feast of Trumpet. Yom Teruah (the Day of Shouting), better known as Rosh Hashana (the head of the year), is the first month in the Hebrew secular calendar and the 7th month of the religious calendar. Do the shofar blasts herald the birth of the king? Traditionally, the first Adam is said to have been created, or born, on this day. Was the second Adam born on this day too? It was interesting to ponder. There was order that seem predestined and almost too coincidental to brush aside.

Our family attends a church which follows a traditional, Western calendar. We celebrate Christ's birth on December 25th. Because I also believe that Christ gave universal meaning to the feasts described in Leviticus 23, we celebrate those in our home too. Because our family "liturgy" includes these biblical feasts and I blog, I have met a lot people online who identify themselves as Torah observant, Messianic Christians or even Hebraic/Judeo-Christians. Some have become dear blog friends. Others, I wouldn't necessarily consider friendly. I have been accused of participating in pagan festivals for celebrating Christmas in December.

After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. ~ Matthew 2:9

Because our planets travel at different speeds the Earth "laps" Jupiter. During that time, it appears as if Jupiter stops and then travels backwards for a time. Because of this retrograde motion, Jupiter does appear to stop in the sky. "And precisely on December 25, 2 BC, Jupiter 'stopped' in the abdomen of Virgo, the Virgin (in the middle of the constellation)." The toddler Jesus was no longer in a stable; he was in a home. According to Martin, the Magi, who like me were non-Jews, recognized the King of the Jews on December 25th. In 2 BC, Hanukkah began on December 23rd and continued eight days, ending on December 30. If he was born on September 11th, he was conceived in December. I believe life starts at conception. I think I will continue to celebrate with my church and family.

Introducing a New Favorite

I have read two books, but I am overwhelmed by the idea of sitting down and reviewing them. I am beginning the process of tough love. So far, it has been toughest on me, the parent. But, I found a neat little, no longer active blog that I thought was still worthy of sharing on my book blog.

Your Home Library

... because I am always in need of book storage ideas!

The Unknown Sanctuary

I have finished a book! It is hard to read when you find no joy in doing so. Life has been overwhelming. Reading, for a time, became obligation. Thinking deeply on any one topic became work. Life is more settled now. I hope that I can update this blog more frequently.

The Unknown Sanctuary: A Pilgrimage from Rome to Israel

Perhaps many people will find my choice of book odd -- an out of print autobiography by Aimé Pallière, a 19th century Frenchman who ideologically left Catholicism and became a Noahide. He continued to take the Eucharist and participate in the life of the Catholic church despite the fact that:

"Do you believe in the real Presence, in the Sacrament , as the Church teaches it to you? I asked myself, and with implacable clearness I was forced to answer: No, I do not believe it. Do you believe in the incarnation, in the divinity of of Christ? No, I no longer believe it. I had at that moment an absolute emptiness. I felt with a sudden and amazing clarity that nothing of my Christian faith remained. "

I have struggled with the concept of the Trinity. I heard a sermon recently in which the man sharing the gospel emphatically stated that Christianity only has one God, the Father. Then, there was confusing and convoluted logic about deity and divinity. I wondered how his explanation fit with the idea of the Theotokos, God-bearer. I wondered if this man like Aimé Pallière and myself has struggled to fit the trinity into their understanding of Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad - Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is One!

I had hoped in this autobiography to find a way to balance my own understanding of God with the teaching of the church. I didn't find it in this book. In a church where the members believe and confess the real presence of Christ in communion, there is no way I could sit by and dishonor their beliefs by participating in their church in that way. I have attended a Protestant Church all my life, most recently, my family and I have been attending a Baptist church. Our church's communion is open to everyone who confesses Jesus and the elements are considered symbolic. I do take communion. I teach Sunday school to preschoolers. There isn't much of a chance that I will need to discuss abstract concepts like the Trinity to my class of 4 to 6-year-olds. I am most comfortable describing God as one God who has acted in three ways in history -- as Creator/Father, the Spirit who enlightens the world and in his incarnation as Christ. I found myself standing silent as the rest of the church sang, "God in three persons, blessed Trinity." I am not at home. 

One of Aimé Pallière's contemporaries and confidantes was Père Hyacinthe. I suspect I would agree most with him when he said of Jesus:

The chief reason why the Jews do not accept Christianity is that the latter departed from its origins in creating a God of secondary importance, as Justin Martyr said. And little by little, after having made Jesus equal to the Heavenly Father, have we not practically substituted him for the Heavenly Father? As to Jesus, there is still a difference between us concerning him. If I mistake not, he occupies a minor place for you, and even in this place is subject to much criticism. For me, Jesus remains a mystery which I cannot explain to myself, but he also remains an object of admiration and of love. I know him by the footprints, incomplete though they may be, that he has left on history, and also by the poetic radiance of his person, in the legends of his birth and of his death. I know him again by the profound effect that this enigmatic being has exercised over me, throughout the course of my life, and above all, since my priesthood. In order to detach myself from him I must renounce my very self, and have torn from me a large part, not only of my feelings, but of my mind, I was almost about to say my very flesh and blood. This is why I am a Christian despite the many reservations that I make, not only regarding Catholicism, but regarding Christianity itself. If I am mistaken God will come to the help of my weakness and my integrity. If Loetmol [Aimé Pallière wrote under the pen name Loetmol] is right on the subjects on which we differ, though they do not divide us, he will obtain for me a ray of the Shekinah. The gods, said the ancients, give to men only the light as they need for each day.

For me, Jesus remains a mystery which I cannot explain to myself ~