Episode 108. Now that we've outlined Galileo's foundational principle in his approach to the relationship between science and religion, let's look more specifically at his understanding of nature, The Book of God's Works. According to Galileo, God created faithful laws of nature. In quote 13, he writes; Nature is the most obedient executrix of God's orders. Nature is inexorable and immutable and never violates the terms of the laws imposed on her by God. There are some significant implications regarding this quotation. First, God is faithful and not deceptive. Therefore, we can trust nature and the study of nature through science. Second, quote 13 implies, that nature is not a God of the Gaps world. Instead, God has set up faithful laws of nature. In one of his most amazing statements, Galileo crushes the science versus religion dichotomy. He claims that science is a gift from God. In quote 14; I do not think one has to believe the same God who has given us our senses, language and intellect. Wouldn't want us to set aside the use of these. Indeed, who wants to put the human mind to death. When one is in possession of this, that is scientific information, it too is a gift from God. Galileo believed that human epistemology and knowledge were rooted in God and therefore, science is ultimately rooted in God. In light of Galileo's belief that science is a gift from God, we can ask another thought provoking question, Is evolutionary biology also a gift from God? What do you think? Galileo even suggested that the practice of science was implicitly affirmed in Scripture. In quote 15, he writes; to prohibit the entire science, that is astronomy, would be no different than to reject hundreds of statements from the Holy Writ which teach us how the glory and the greatness of the supreme God are marvelously seen in all his works and by divine grace, are read in the open Book of the Heavens. We see clearly that Galileo employed the two divine books metaphor, with his reference to the Book of the Heavens. As well, we see again Galileo's strong view of natural revelation and intelligent design. Psalm 19 can be rewritten using his terminology; The open book of the heavens declare the glory and greatness of God. In further describing the character of the world, Galileo firmly believed that nature is intelligible and written in the language of mathematics. Quote 16 comes from his book The Assayer, Galileo states philosophy, that is natural philosophy or science, is written in this grand book, the universe which stands continually open to our gaze. But the book cannot be understood, unless one first learns to comprehend the language and to read the letters in which it is composed. It is written in the language of mathematics, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it. Without these, one wanders about in a dark labyrinth. According to Galileo, nature is rational and understandable. And this again points to his strong view of natural revelation and intelligent design. Earlier in the course, on page 15 of the notes, I introduced Albert Einstein and his well-known statement, "The eternal mystery of the world is it's comprehensibility." But this is no mystery for Galileo because he believed that God wrote mathematics into the very fabric of nature. Quote 16 inspires me to ask the question, what do we need to first learn before understanding origins? Perhaps geology, paleontology, genetics and comparative anatomy. Otherwise, will we wander about in a dark labyrinth? End of episode.