Aviva Rothman – The Copernican Conversation
Wednesday, March 10, 2021Seminar
7:30 pm CET
In this Science and Religion Project seminar Aviva Rothman will be exploring the following questions:
- What kind of discipline was astronomy understood to be in the sixteenth century? What was it for, and on what principles did it depend
- Why do Rheticus and Copernicus consider heliocentric theory persuasive? Why should a sixteenth-century reader prefer it over the geocentric alternative? (And why might they not?)
- What is the relationship between these authors' understanding of the cosmos and their understanding of its Creator?
Dr. Aviva Rothman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Case Western Reserve University. Her first book, The Pursuit of Harmony: Kepler on Cosmos, Confession, and Community (University of Chicago Press, 2017) focused on German astronomer Johannes Kepler and the connections he saw between the harmony of the heavens and the harmony of church and state. She has two book manuscripts in progress: an anthology of texts on the Copernican Revolution for the Penguin Classics series, and a monograph on the relationship between science and myth in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
This Seminar is open to BCB Students only, participants will be required to read an assigned text in advance. If you are interested in taking part please contact Dr. Aaron Tugendhaft.
Email: [email protected]