Jacques Courtois, detto il Borgognone, The miracle of Joshua suspending the motion of the Sun

INTRODUCTION
- Man and the stars
SECTION I
- The dawn of astronomy: Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Biblical Cosmos
SECTION II
- The cosmos becomes a sphere
SECTION III
- The geometry of the cosmos
SECTION IV
- The skies of Islam
SECTION V
- Evangelisation of the cosmos
SECTION VI
- The Renaissance of Astronomy
SECTION VII
- Galileo: the cosmos through the telescope
SECTION VIII
- From Galileo to Newton

The Catholic Church against the Copernican system

Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo

The miracle of Joshua suspending the motion of the Sun

Jacques Courtois, detto il Borgognone, The miracle of Joshua suspending the motion of the Sun

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Jacques Courtois, known as "Il Borgognone" (1621-1665)
The miracle of Joshua suspending the motion of the Sun, ca. 1650
Rome, Galleria Spada

Here we see an episode from the Book of Joshua, when Joshua orders the Sun to suspend its motion in order to draw out the day and to allow his people to defeat their enemies. The episode was often evoked in the denunciation of Galileo to the Church authorities because it appeared to confirm that Holy Scripture states that the Earth is motionless in the centre of the universe.