Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Bilimname: Düşünce Platformu, cilt.33, sa.1, ss.67-88, 2017 (ESCI)
Communication and interaction between religion and science is as old as the human history. This communication and interaction has occurred at times in the form of settlement and dialog and at other times in the form of clash and integration. Over the course of the history, there were times when religion affected science and vice versa. After the Renaissance, when the interest in scientific classics of the ancient world re-emerged in Europe, a rebirth was experienced in theology, thought and natural sciences. One of the scientific areas that saw development was, obviously, astronomy. Astronomy was not a field of science that the church was ignorant of. As an intellectual activity, astronomy was taught in the church and monastery. Astronomy education in churches and monasteries was based solely on repetition. The most original works done were translations of astronomy books from Arabic, which were then presented as new theories. However, there was still scarce information about planetary astronomy. Maybe the most original additions to astronomy were theological interpretations about it. The church direly needed astronomy especially in calendar calculations. The church became acquainted with Aristotle's On the Heavens and Ptolemy's Almagest. In spite of developments in Europe such as religious reforms and geographical explorations, the church, under the influence of leaders of the church, defended the geocentric universe theory revealed in Aristotle's work titled On the Heavens and developed in Ptolemy's Almagest and turned this into a religious dogma.