The historical prelude to, the historical facts and the aftermath of the galileo affair

Part 2

​Often overlooked today are the mutually productive
enlightening discussions going on between them for a millennium and a
half since Augustine. The fundamental question between them has

been that of causation. Is it natural, supernatural or both??
Supernaturalism and Naturalism are both based on notions of primary
and secondary causation. God is everywhere the primary cause but is
he the immediate cause of all effects. Naïve supernaturalism says yes
but has never been given much weight. Nor has Occasionalism which
holds that the link between cause and effect is an artifact of our
perception Traditional Christianity says both but holds a position
more on the side of naturalism. God is omnipotent but made things to
operate within a Communis Cursus Naturae, a common natural
causation that guarantees the validity of investigation in an (almost
always) constant world. The crucial test lies in events that occur outside
of or by the suspension of the natural order. We call them miracles
when they show a disproportion between cause and effect inexplicable
by every resource that the study of the Communis Cursus Naturae can
muster. The idea originating in the reformation that the age of miracles
is over unintentionally supported more extreme views on naturalism.
The most extreme is Philosophical Naturalism that says nothing exists

beyond the material thus denying anything supernatural. It forms the
basis of current Atheism. Less strident is Methodological Naturalism
holds that divine explanations are not to be used for things not
understood but makes no claims for or against the existence of God.

The Age of Science beginning in the 17 th century was ushered
in by men of Faith. They espoused Natural Theology the belief that the
order in the natural world can be used as a source of information about
God and his attributes. Men like Copernicus, Kepler, Newton, Leibnitz,
Boyle and Galileo. But a Faith that over the next 4 centuries would be
eroded by Deism and then Scientism. The Galileo Affair brought forth
Realism; the view that scientific explanations only are literally true
descriptions of the way things really are. Ever since the Affair is the
most-often cited incident in the history of science-religion interactions
most often to show the obstructive nature of the religious position.