Copernicus’ Secret by Jack Repcheck

Repcheck, Jack. Copernicus’ Secret. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007.

Copernicus is famous for kicking off the scientific revolution by proclaiming his heliocentric (sun-centered) theory of the universe. Someone who reads much about the scientific revolution that came about in the 15th and 16th centuries will come across his name. Even so, there are many misconceptions regarding the astronomer.


The main misconception is that Copernicus was prosecuted for his heliocentric theory. Though his book on the subject was eventually banned by the Roman Catholic Church for about two centuries, he was an official of the church who had taken first orders and he was mostly well received in both the scientific and religious communities of his day. His primary book on the subject wasn’t even published until the very end of his life.

Copernicus had his share of troubles. One he brought on himself by keeping a mistress. His ordination included a vow of celibacy. The other came from being an official of Catholic government in a territory surrounded by recently converted Lutheran countries.

Oddly enough, it was Lutheran mathematics professor who helped the Catholic astronomer prepare is book for publication. Joachim Rheticus was educated at Wittenberg where he taught astronomy and astrology (astrology was widely accepted at the time and practiced by almost all astronomers). He was given a leave of absence, which he stretched out for three years before returning to his duties, and took it upon himself to find Copernicus and become his student.

This was a dangerous situation for Rheticus, Lutherans were banned from Copernicus’ home territory of Warmia, and doubly so for Copernicus because of his role as a church and civil official. That he housed a Lutheran seemed to have been tolerated better than his long affair with a woman.

Copernicus’ Secret is an interesting look at the astronomer’s professional life and its development. It touches on his personal life, especially his long-term relationship with the mistress who lived with him until he was forced to break off the relationship, but this part is much weaker. This may be because Copernicus was a private person. Even so, Repcheck show’s that trouble Copernicus faced had more to do with his personal life and the political tensions of the day than with his proposal of a heliocentric universe.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Descarte’s Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel
The Invention of Air by Steven Johnson
The Science of Leonardo by Fritjof Capra

General Epistles

The General Epistles are so called because most are addressed to the entire church. This is in contrast to the Pauline Letters, which are typically addressed to particular people or congregation. They are sometimes referred to as the Catholic Letters, catholic in this case referring to universal or for everyone.

These letters were written by different people at different times with somewhat different intentions. Even so, some common themes can be found in these books. Some themes that I observed are

-the importance of the Gospel taught by the apostles, and a defense against false teachers,

-that Christians should imitate the love and character of Christ,

-that helping others is a particularly important way to of practically emulating Christ, and

-encouragement for Christians, especially those who are suffering or persecuted.

The Gospel

The Gospel was central to the teaching of the apostles, as it is central to the church today. The writings of the apostles particularly emphasized the deity of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross for the atonement of our sins, and His bodily resurrection from the grave as proof of who He was and the authority of His teachings. Even in that first generation, the church was beset with people who tried to alter, twist, or reimagine God’s Word, putting aside the truth to suit themselves and their own agendas. These authors defend the Gospel against false teachers.

Character

Salvation involves an amazing transformation. It is also just the beginning of a life walking with God. God’s Word works in our minds, and the Holy Spirit works in our heart, to change us so we are increasingly more like Christ. The authors of these letters encourage believers to embrace this process and actively imitate Christ. If a person belongs to God, their character will show it, and it will show more as they mature.

Helping Others

One of the most practical ways to show what Christ is like, and to imitate him, is to help other. The authors of these letters encourage Christians to help the widowed, orphaned, hungry, imprisoned and oppressed, especially if there is a fellow Christian in need.

Encouragement

People suffered in the First Century, even as they do today. Christians in those days sometimes faced active persecution. Even where they were tolerated, their new beliefs and behaviors sometimes brought them into painful conflict with family and friends. The writers of these letters encouraged them to stick with the truth. God is with them and will help them overcome. Often it is the character of believers, especially the way they behave in suffering, that is the testimony that touches the heart of a love-one or even a stranger in a way that eventually brings them to Christ.

The General Epistles are

-James,

-First and Second Peter,

-First, Second and Third John, and

-Jude.

If you’re interested in reading these books, you may also be interested in reading

Deuteronomy

Exodus

Genesis

The Gospels

Gospel of John

Hebrews

Leviticus

The Most Effective Organization in the U.S. by Robert A. Watson & Ben Brown

Pauline Letters

Proverbs

Intersting Stuff June 29, 2010

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Interesting Stuff May 12, 2010
Little Orphan Annie comic strip canceled after 85 years
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Robert Crumb Genesis museum exhibit
Scott Pilgrim vs the World evil exes movie posters
Vatican beatifies Blues Brothers…well almost
Vatican newspaper: Blues Brothers is a Catholic classic

Descarte’s Secret Notebook by Amir D. Aczel

Aczel, Amir D. Descartes’ Secret Notebook. New York: Broadway, 2005.

A famous mathematician with suspected ties to a secretive cabal of global reformers dies from possible poisoning at the hand of a doctor employed by a European power. A French official surveys his papers, including a coded notebook, and has them quietly sent to the safekeeping of a relative. Years later, another brilliant mathematician, suffering from attacks on his reputation, seeks out the notebook to uncover its secrets.

It sounds like the plot of a thriller. Amir Aczel uses it to frame his biography of philosopher and mathematician René Descartes.

Descartes’ greatest hit as a philosopher was, “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am). He was a leader in rationalism, a philosophy that emphasizes the discovery of truth by use of reason. His method focused on methodical doubt by which he aimed to find truth (to him, all knowledge was connected, not discreet, unrelated truths) by reasoning out those things that could not be doubted. Thusly he reasoned his existence because he couldn’t very well doubt it when he was sitting there thinking about it. His method set him against the prevailing philosophy of the day, scholasticism, which focused on learning from authoritative figures and sources, particularly Aristotle.

High school algebra students will immediately recognize Descartes’ contribution to math. From today’s perspective, it may be hard to understand why it was such a big deal in the 17th Century. Descartes created analytic geometry, which uses algebraic equations to describe and understand geometric shapes. Before this, geometry and algebra were distinct fields, not parts of a unified mathematics. As part of this, he gave us Cartesian coordinates, the familiar x,y graph that has makes so many high school kids cross-eyed. Despite complaints that they’ll never use it, behind the scenes Cartesian coordinates are ubiquitous.


Descartes was not part of a secret society. He was a devout Catholic and was careful not to publish anything that would put him in direct conflict with the church. Even so, the writings of the Rosicrucians, a group of philosophers who sought political and religious reform and the advancement of science, influenced him. He even knew one of the brotherhood, though he may have been unaware of it. Despite his efforts to distance himself from the Rosy Cross, his books used terms that made some believe he was a Rosicrucian and his notebook included alchemical symbols that the group used.

Gottfried Leibniz, co-creator of calculus, was under attack from proponents of Isaac Newton, who independently created calculus contemporaneously with Leibniz. Other accused Leibniz of deriving his work from Descartes, which is why he diligently tracked down the Frenchman’s papers.

What did Descartes’ secret notebook contain? Leibniz handily decoded it. Descartes discovered Euler’s theorem. For polyhedrons, the sum of the number of faces (F) and the number of vertices (V) minus the number of edges (E) is 2 (F + V – E = 2). Descartes kept his discovery secret because some may have construed it as supporting a theory of Johann Kepler that used regular polyhedrons to describe planetary orbits in a Copernican model of the solar system. This was contrary to the teaching of the church, which Descartes wanted to avoid because of his personal devotion and because conflict with the Inquisition could be a career-ending (and life-ending) move.

Amir D. Aczel also wrote Chance.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
1089 and All That by David Acheson
Fortune’s Formula by William Poundstone
The Numbers behind NUMB3RS by Keith Devlin & Gary Lorden
The Unfinished Game by Keith Devlin

Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore

 Psychotherapist Thomas Moore, a former Catholic monk, expressed some unusual ideas about depression in his book Dark Nights of the Soul. I feel I should preface my comments with a caveat. If you have clinical depression, or think you might, please seek help from an appropriate professional in psychology, counseling or medicine. If you need medication, take it. I think you can undertake the kind exploration that Moore suggests without abandoning traditional therapies, especially if you need them to mitigate extreme symptoms that threaten your life and health.

 Moore isn’t necessarily talking about clinical depression, though he doesn’t exclude it. He finds the term depression limiting. If someone is depressed, they have a disease and there is a treatment for it. It is a matter of curing and dealing with symptoms.

As an alternative to this approach, Moore focuses on the opportunities in depression, persistent dark moods and hard times—dark nights may take any of these forms—as opportunities to mature, grow and heal the soul. Instead of rushing to get by depression and get better, sit with it, explore it and learn from it.  It could be a calling from your truest self to examine your life and become deeper, more engaged person. Instead of a curse, the dark night may turn out to be a gift.

Moore draws heavily on religion and mythology. He also discusses dreams. In the mode of Carl Jung, he sees value in symbols to illuminate what is going on in your life, as well as the value of symbolic and ritual action.

For instance, he draws a model from myth for the experience of depression. It begins with a separation or departure. One feels cut off, alone or isolated, especially from normal life. In a myth, this leaving of normal life is the beginning of an adventure. The mythic adventurer enters a new world, often and underworld, where he is challenged and gains a new perspective. These challenges help him discover who he really is. It is helpful to be able to move back and forth between the underworld and night to the upper world and day, to be able to benefit from the darkness without being consumed by it. In the end, the adventurer returns to his normal life, but it is not always easy because he is changed by his experiences in the underworld. Hopefully the lessons of his dark night well help him integrate his new life with the best of his old home.

Perspective seems to be one of the big benefits of a dark night. Everything looks different in the dark. You can reevaluate what things mean to you, the seeming trash that is truly a treasure and the seeming treasure that is truly worthless. It's a chance to clear out the clutter. It pushes you to accept that the darkness is real and part of you. Because the underworld is essentially your inner life, you can find by exploring it those places that are abandoned, ignored, neglected or run over roughshod by your outer life.

Each chapter takes on the exploration of various aspects of life that may bring about a dark night. These include love, sex, marriage, family, art, beauty, anger, disease and aging.

These journeys into darkness need not be undertaken alone. Sometimes you need professional help. The honesty and vulnerability needed to properly explore the dark parts of yourself could help you be a more open person and deepen your relationship with others. To succeed in the journey, it helps to have the attitude toward yourself of a graceful healer participating in your own life, and that attitude can make you receptive to the healing grace of others and your role as a helper of others.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

The Beethoven Factor by Paul Pearsall

The Last Self-Help Book You'll Ever Need by Paul Pearsall

The Road Less Traveled by M. Scott Peck

Moore, Thomas. Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way through Life’s Ordeals. New York: Gotham Books, 2004.

The Faith of JFK edited by T. S. Settel

Settel, T. S., ed. The Faith of JFK. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1965.

The Faith of JFK is a compilation of segments of John F. Kennedy’s speeches and writings and related material, mostly from the time of his presidency. One might hope for an analysis of his faith and its influence on his public life, but perhaps it was too early for such considerations in 1965.


The segments of Kennedy’s speeches and proclamations gives one a sense of his espoused views on the subjects of his religion, American government and foreign affairs, which he sometimes presented forcefully. On a few occasions, the quotes are so short as to have almost no context except to show that he quoted some source. Generally, the edited segments strike a nice balance between being representative and brief.

The largest segment of the book juxtaposes parts of Kennedy’s speeches in which he quoted scripture with the verses from the Bible. Sometimes they show a thoughtful reflection on how biblical ideas applied to the issues at hand (probably this was something of the intent of the collection, to demonstrate the president’s adherence to both Catholic and American ideals). Often, the biblical quotations are selected to support a point in the speech, but when one reads the passage from which it is taken it appears to be at best tangentially related or actually related to another subject altogether. This is far too common even today. Even in this second case, this chapter is illuminating, because seeing the sometimes tenuous connection between the Bible and the speech that quotes it can help one more clearly see what each is really addressing.

The best parts of the book are those that don’t relate to Kennedy’s quotations of the Bible, poems or other literature. Kennedy seemed to express his ideals and policies most eloquently when he was not leaning on other sources. In those times, he might have most clearly expressed his true views, without obscuring them with quotes that carry their own weight and meaning.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
God and Ronald Reagan by Paul Kengor
His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization by Anthony Esolen

First Peter

Peter was the most prominent apostle.  We find in the Gospels and other New Testament references to him that he is typically listed first, indicating his position.  The apostles and the early church looked to him as a leader.  In the Roman Catholic, the office of Pope originated with him.

Peter was not a perfect person.  Though he had received a vision showing that Gentiles would be part of the church, he did not move to proselytize them.  That is probably why we see the shift in attention in Acts from Peter to Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.  Peter fell in with the Judaizers until Paul confronted him.

Though he had weaknesses like the rest of us, he was a bold and passionate man.  He was the first to say aloud that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.  He stepped out of a boat to walk on the water with Jesus.

This letter is from a mature Peter.  To the passion of his youth he added gentleness and love.  Love is woven throughout the three themes of this letter to persecuted and scattered Jewish Christians: living before God, living before the world, and suffering.

Living Before God

As Christians, we have been bought out of the world and sin by the blood of Christ, who suffered and died to atone for our sins.  Because of this, we should be thoughtful imitators of Christ, seeking to be pure and love as He was pure and loving.  Instead of being dragged back into the sinful ways we practiced before, we should rely on the grace of God, exhibited in Christ, and do our best to do what is right, knowing we have help from above.

Living Before the World

Our relationship to God in Christ does not negate the importance of other relationships.  They are more important because God want to display uprightness, mercy and love through us.  Paul especially addresses relationships of authority and submission.  He reminds his readers to submit to authorities in government, work, and family.  The implication is that authorities should conduct themselves with similar uprightness, though we should do our best even if the authorities don’t.  Husbands are especially called out to treat their wives with understanding and honor.  In general, we should relate to others with compassion and courtesy.

Suffering

The people Peter wrote to were suffering.  They fled their homes because they were persecuted for their beliefs.  Peter says that if you must suffer, suffer for doing the right thing.  In fact, if you do the right thing you probably will suffer, because worldly people are more interested in satisfying there lusts and they will come against anyone who doesn’t go along.  In this, too, we can look to Christ as a model.  Christ endured suffering for a purpose, to save us and to glorify His Father.  Our suffering can also glorify God and purify us if we trust Him, continue to follow Him, and remember His faithfulness, for our suffering is temporary but our new life in Christ is forever.

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Proverbs

First Peter.  The Holy Bible.  New King James Version.  Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.

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Pascal's Wager by James A. Connor

Blaise Pascal had a great impact on mathematics. He laid the foundations of our mathematical understanding of probability. A computer programming language was named for him.

Pascal was also a deeply religious man and philosopher. His book Pensées is read as a devotional by many Christians. His argument that the belief in God is rational is widely known.

James A. Connor takes the name of that argument for the name of his biography of the man, Pascal’s Wager. Connor considers both Pascal’s life in science and math and his religious convictions.

For many, there is no conflict in scientific study and religious devotion, but there was for Pascal. He was a Jansenist, though somewhat at odds with the leaders of the movement because of his interests in science and philosophy. The Jansenists were deeply concerned with sin and living a life of penitence; to pursue anything else was to embrace worldliness. Pascal loved the discoveries he made by reason and experiment, but he also longed for a life of purity and closeness to God.

Pascal was seen as a bit of a mathematical prodigy, especially in his youth when his father led a secular life by the standards of the day. He published a pamphlet on conic sections when he was 16 years old. He invented a calculating machine, the Pascaline, when he was 19. He was still fairly young by modern standards when he developed a theory of probability in a series of letter he exchanged with Pierre Fermat.

He had a mystical experience in 1654 that changed his focus in life. He told know one about it, but wrote a note about it that he kept pinned in his coat to carry with him the rest of his life. The note was discovered by his nephew shortly after his death.

After his experience, he devoted more of his time to supporting Jansenism, which his entire family had come to follow, especially his sister, Jacqueline, a nun. Jansenists were in conflict with other Catholics over their views on original sin and election, especially with the Jesuits. Pascal became an apologist for Jansenism, and especially mocked the Jesuits in The Provincial Letters.

Politics and religion were deeply linked in 17^th Century France, and the conflict between Pascal’s sect and the wider French Catholic church became a conflict with Louis XIV. He felt that the Jansenist leaders capitulated to the king and the Jesuits, which brought him into conflict with them as well.

Though religious debates had been part of his entire life, this heating up of the conflict to such a level occurred toward the end of his life. He expressed his devotion to God in self-imposed poverty and care for the poor; which in one case took the form of establishing the first public transportation system. He did not abandon math, though, and published a paper on the cycloid as well. He had been sick most of his life and passed away in 1662 at the age of 39.

Connor’s book is approachable for most readers. Though Pascal’s fame today probably rests more on his accomplishments as a mathematician, Connor shows how his life was shaped by his religion and both the religious and secular traditions of his time (Connor is a former Jesuit priest).

If you’re interested in this book, you may also be interested in

Chance by Amir Aczel

The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow

How Not to Be Wrong by Jordan Ellenberg

The Language of God by Francis S. Collins

On a Grander Scale by Lisa Jardine

The Unfinished Game by Keith Devlin

Connor, James A. Pascal’s Wager: The Man Who Played Dice with God. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.