Our recent visit to IONA saw an interesting completion of a project that has been shaping itself in my mind for some time. I felt I wanted to write a song about Galileo whose insights and relationship with the church of the time are widely misunderstood. The song turned out to have dimensions I hadn’t expected and the scientific concepts needed to be checked by ‘real’ scientists who could ensure I was reflecting the best views of the moment, particularly in the area of quantum physics.
Quite extraordinarily, I have been brought into contact with three notable scientists of faith, all of whom are astrophysicists. They are Prof. David Wilkinson, former Principal of St John’s College, Durham (who generously invited me to be a visiting scholar at St John’s in 2018), The Revd Dr Rodney Holder (who is Trustee of the Faraday Institute for Science and Religion, among many other responsibilities in the Faith and Science Arena) and Bro Guy Consolmagno, Director of The Vatican Observatory, who I encountered on a retreat he ran at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire.
All pointed out a potential misunderstanding of the very issue I was trying to address, at the opening of the song and it was Bro Guy, who suggested a way round it, thereby leading to the splendid title of this song.
My thanks are due to all three of these ‘advisors’: here’s the song
The Myth of Galileo
Tune: Ellacombe/The Day of Resurrection
The Myth of Galileo, should please, no longer stand
He knew that faith and sciences can all walk hand in hand,
to show the glory God has sown throughout the universe.
So let’s give thanks and praises to show the Maker’s worth.
There’s glory in the stars of night, there’s wonder in the sun;
there’s beauty everywhere you look, Yes! great things he has done!
And neuroscience now reveals how connectomes combine,
to organise God’s gift to us, the brain and human mind.
In every creature of the earth there lie great mysteries,
which are revealed in greater depth by deft biology.
And botanists who seek for truth will maybe understand,
that as they probe each complex cell, they glimpse the Maker’s hand.
The ups and downs and charm of quarks can test the human mind:
as particles collide at speed, to seek what lies behind
the quantum concepts that defy perceived reality.
So maybe physics illustrates God’s cosmic mystery
So let’s give thanks that sciences of many disciplines,
show us the wonders and the grace, revealed from deep within
ourselves, and Gods great universe, the cosmos all around. Sing praise, sing joy, sing thankfully ‘We stand on holy ground!’