New Heavens and a New Earth: The Jewish Reception of Copernican Thought - Hardcover

Brown, Jeremy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199754799 ISBN 13: 9780199754793

Publisher: OUP USA, 2013

Synopsis

Jeremy Brown offers the first major study of the Jewish reception of the Copernican revolution, examining four hundred years of Jewish writings on the Copernican model. Brown shows the ways in which Jews ignored, rejected, or accepted the Copernican model, and the theological and societal underpinnings of their choices.

Throughout New Heavens and a New Earth are deft historical studies of such colorful figures as Joseph Delmedigo, the first Jewish Copernican and a student of Galileo's; Tuviah Cohen, who called Copernicus the "Son of Satan; " Zelig Slonimski, author of a famed collection of essays on Halley's Comet and other astronomical phenomena; and the modern neo-goecentrists who use Einstein's Theory of Relativity to argue that the Earth does not actually revolve around the sun. Brown also provides insightful comparisons of concurrent Jewish and Christian writings on Copernicus, demonstrating that the Jewish reception of Copernicus was largely dependent on local factors and response.

The book concludes by noting the important lessons that may be learned from the history of the Jewish reception of Copernican thought and showing how religions make room for new scientific descriptions of reality while upholding most cherished beliefs.

About this title

About the Author

Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Research Director for the Development of Emergency Medicine, George Washington University

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199754799
• ISBN 13: 9780199754793
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 416