The Astronomer

This is Vermeer's The Astronomer (1668). This painting was done in the waning years of what historians now refer to as the "Scientific Revolution." This grand era of progress in scientific knowledge has been grossly misrepresented by modern scholars. Beginning with Copernicus and perhaps ending with Newton, this period (c. 1453-1700) witnessed a new understanding of the structure and motion of the universe and the creation of much-improved tools with which to observe the heavens. All of the men involved, Copernicus, Brahe, Kepler, Galileo and Newton, were Christians who saw nothing in the skies which challenged their faith in the Creator of all things.Unfortunately, psuedo-scientists of the "Enlightenment" era took these great steps forward in scientific knowledge and used them as a spurious basis to separate science and faith. Ignoring the reality that these scientists were men of profound faith in Christ, they cast religion in a role as a stumbling block to intellectualism. Today, our culture retains this mentality that to be a person of faith is to reject science.Science is a gift of God. He is the Creator. I hope that He delights in those that study His Creation and who credit Him for all its beauty and wonder.