The contradiction of the Church and its anthropocentric worldview was a significant facet of the Renaissance period. Nicolaus Copernicus contributed to this with his model of the universe, which placed the sun at the centre of a revolving solar system. This angered the Church, who at the time believed and taught that the earth was at the centre of the macrocosm, with all the other planets revolving around it, Nicholaus believed that the stars were fixed further away. Although Nicholaus wasn't punished for his theories contradicting the church, the book he wrote on his findings was not formally published until his death in May 24, 1543. Nicholaus’s discoveries have contributed significantly to the way we think today, from the way we build bridges, rockets, cars, and aeroplanes, to showing us the gravitational pull the sun has to keep us on a axis orbiting the sun. The system that Copernicus made was deemed as heretical, contradicting this passage from the church; "The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to its place where it ariseth again." (Ecclesiastes I,5) The Bible was littered with anthropocentric quotes like the one above. The church prevented Copernicus from publishing his book for numerous years, due to the fear of the repercussions it would have on the church and its proposed worldview. …show more content…
Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy had the idea that everything revolved around the earth, which was the conclusion that the church believed in. Ptolemy’s theory was based on epicycles, which were a series of circles that a planet orbiting the earth would take. This model of the universe had several inconsistencies, that clashed with experimental observations at the time. When Nicholaus was looking over Ptolemy’s charts he placed the sun in the centre of the universe. He realised that many of the current questions of the universe were successfully answered when a heliocentric worldview was