An important connection historically between religion and science, especially astronomy, was the development of reliable calendars that could be used to schedule religious holidays. This eventually led to the Vatican’s support of astronomy in general, now found for instance in the Vatican Observatory. The history is fascinating in its own right (if sometimes mathematically technical), and it demonstrates the cooperation between religion and science at its best.
Astronomy, Calendars and Religion
An explanation of how our religious and civil calendar has changed over time, from the lunisolar Hebrew calendar to the Gregorian calendar, and comments on proposed future reforms.
Continue reading →Fixing a Date for Easter? A discussion about time
A post by Fr. James Kurzinski on the Catholic Astronomer website. “To fix the date of Easter would help establish a more predictable rhythm to the liturgical year for parishes [and also] may assist in the reconciliation process between the East and West.”
Continue reading →From the Tablet: Why is Easter So Early This Year?
A post by Br. Guy Consolmagno on the Catholic Astronomer website, reprinting a Tablet article about calendars and determining the date of Easter. “Whats significant is the underlying principle behind this arbitrary formula. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath: our religious feasts are not controlled by the Moon. And so future colonists on Mars or beyond can set Easter for whatever date best suits them.”
Continue reading →Gregorian Reform of the Calendar
Book (PDF) 324 pages Level: university Proceedings of the Vatican Conference to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Gregorian Calendar, published by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Click here for the book from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences web site. [Click here to download PDF] … Continue reading →
Holy Week and Easter: The Collision Point of Measured Time!
A post by Fr. James Kurzinski on the Catholic Astronomer website. “In short, the interplay between sacred time and mechanical time helps us appreciate the reason why we measure time in the first place: to reflect on lifes meaning and purpose.”
Continue reading →Misplaced Obsessions: Understanding Why Christmas Is On December 25th.
Article (blog post) 1500 words Level: all audiences Fr. James Kurzynski writes on the subject of the date of Jesus’s birth in this post on The Catholic Astronomer blog. Know “the date” is complicated, as Fr. Kurzynski explains: So, can we find December 25th referenced as the date of Jesus’ birth in the writings of the early Church Fathers? Yes, we can… with some presumptions that are VERY important to take into account. A basic Google search on when we find the first reference to December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth will bring you to Hyppolytus of Rome (170AD – 235AD). Most online citations will boldly affirm that Hyppolytus wrote that Jesus was born on December 25th. The problem is, that’s not what Hyppolytus said. He actually said that Jesus was born on the 25th day of the ninth month. What Hyppolytus is referencing is the Jewish month of Kislev. Of particular interest, the 25th of Kislev in Jewish culture is the … Continue reading →
The Leap Second Debate: Rational Arguments vs. Unspoken Unease
Article (book chapter) 9 pages Level: high school and above A brief, somewhat “tongue-in-cheek” essay by Fr. Paul Gabor, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory. Gabor provides a brief historical overview on the subject of time, standards, power, and societies. This essay was published in The Science of Time 2016: Time in Astronomy & Society, Past, Present and Future, of which Fr. Gabor is a co-author. Gabor writes: The ancient and sacred task of timekeeping, linking the eternal with the everyday, is one of the oldest missions of astronomy, originating long before the dawn of written history. The succession of timekeeping schemes throughout millennia has been a search for a balance between the practical and the symbolic. In the current Leap Second Debate, there are rational arguments, focused on practical considerations, and there is a certain unspoken unease, emerging from the symbolic substrata of the issues involved…. [T]his paper will examine the presuppositions and perceptions overshadowing the debate: … Continue reading →
The Mystery That Keeps Neil deGrasse Tyson Up At Night
Video 9 minutes Level: all audiences This January 2018 clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert features Colbert and Tyson discussing a number of things, among which is a diversion into Pope Gregory XIII and the Gregorian calendar, Jesuit astronomers, the Vatican Observatory, and Fr. Georges Lemaître (who first developed the Big Bang theory), and “Team RC” (RC being “Roman Catholic”). … Continue reading →
These Are Not Your Mother’s Sundials: Or, Time and Astronomy’s Authority
Article 26 pages Level: university A discussion by Sara Schechner of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, regarding sundials in the collection of the Adler Planetarium. This essay was published in The Science of Time 2016: Time in Astronomy & Society, Past, Present and Future, of which Fr. Pavel Gabor, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, is a co-author. Schechner writes: Drawing upon the exquisite collection of sundials and time-finding instruments at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago—currently being catalogued by the author—this essay offers examples of sundials made of silver, gilt brass, ivory, wood, and stone between 1500 and 1900. They were designed to be portable or fixed, pocket-sized, or monumental, but all did more than tell the time. By critically examining them, we can see the influence of the cultures in which they were made and used. These material objects tell stories of race, empire, labor, religion, fashion, and politics. And by so … Continue reading →
Astronomy, Calendars and Religion
An explanation of how our religious and civil calendar has changed over time, from the lunisolar Hebrew calendar to the Gregorian calendar, and comments on proposed future reforms.
Continue reading →Fixing a Date for Easter? A discussion about time
A post by Fr. James Kurzinski on the Catholic Astronomer website. “To fix the date of Easter would help establish a more predictable rhythm to the liturgical year for parishes [and also] may assist in the reconciliation process between the East and West.”
Continue reading →From the Tablet: Why is Easter So Early This Year?
A post by Br. Guy Consolmagno on the Catholic Astronomer website, reprinting a Tablet article about calendars and determining the date of Easter. “Whats significant is the underlying principle behind this arbitrary formula. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath: our religious feasts are not controlled by the Moon. And so future colonists on Mars or beyond can set Easter for whatever date best suits them.”
Continue reading →Holy Week and Easter: The Collision Point of Measured Time!
A post by Fr. James Kurzinski on the Catholic Astronomer website. “In short, the interplay between sacred time and mechanical time helps us appreciate the reason why we measure time in the first place: to reflect on lifes meaning and purpose.”
Continue reading →Misplaced Obsessions: Understanding Why Christmas Is On December 25th.
Article (blog post) 1500 words Level: all audiences Fr. James Kurzynski writes on the subject of the date of Jesus’s birth in this post on The Catholic Astronomer blog. Know “the date” is complicated, as Fr. Kurzynski explains: So, can we find December 25th referenced as the date of Jesus’ birth in the writings of the early Church Fathers? Yes, we can… with some presumptions that are VERY important to take into account. A basic Google search on when we find the first reference to December 25th as the date of Jesus’ birth will bring you to Hyppolytus of Rome (170AD – 235AD). Most online citations will boldly affirm that Hyppolytus wrote that Jesus was born on December 25th. The problem is, that’s not what Hyppolytus said. He actually said that Jesus was born on the 25th day of the ninth month. What Hyppolytus is referencing is the Jewish month of Kislev. Of particular interest, the 25th of Kislev in Jewish culture is the … Continue reading →
The Leap Second Debate: Rational Arguments vs. Unspoken Unease
Article (book chapter) 9 pages Level: high school and above A brief, somewhat “tongue-in-cheek” essay by Fr. Paul Gabor, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory. Gabor provides a brief historical overview on the subject of time, standards, power, and societies. This essay was published in The Science of Time 2016: Time in Astronomy & Society, Past, Present and Future, of which Fr. Gabor is a co-author. Gabor writes: The ancient and sacred task of timekeeping, linking the eternal with the everyday, is one of the oldest missions of astronomy, originating long before the dawn of written history. The succession of timekeeping schemes throughout millennia has been a search for a balance between the practical and the symbolic. In the current Leap Second Debate, there are rational arguments, focused on practical considerations, and there is a certain unspoken unease, emerging from the symbolic substrata of the issues involved…. [T]his paper will examine the presuppositions and perceptions overshadowing the debate: … Continue reading →
These Are Not Your Mother’s Sundials: Or, Time and Astronomy’s Authority
Article 26 pages Level: university A discussion by Sara Schechner of the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Department of the History of Science, Harvard University, regarding sundials in the collection of the Adler Planetarium. This essay was published in The Science of Time 2016: Time in Astronomy & Society, Past, Present and Future, of which Fr. Pavel Gabor, S. J., an astronomer with the Vatican Observatory, is a co-author. Schechner writes: Drawing upon the exquisite collection of sundials and time-finding instruments at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago—currently being catalogued by the author—this essay offers examples of sundials made of silver, gilt brass, ivory, wood, and stone between 1500 and 1900. They were designed to be portable or fixed, pocket-sized, or monumental, but all did more than tell the time. By critically examining them, we can see the influence of the cultures in which they were made and used. These material objects tell stories of race, empire, labor, religion, fashion, and politics. And by so … Continue reading →
The Mystery That Keeps Neil deGrasse Tyson Up At Night
Video 9 minutes Level: all audiences This January 2018 clip from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert features Colbert and Tyson discussing a number of things, among which is a diversion into Pope Gregory XIII and the Gregorian calendar, Jesuit astronomers, the Vatican Observatory, and Fr. Georges Lemaître (who first developed the Big Bang theory), and “Team RC” (RC being “Roman Catholic”). … Continue reading →
Gregorian Reform of the Calendar
Book (PDF) 324 pages Level: university Proceedings of the Vatican Conference to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Gregorian Calendar, published by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Click here for the book from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences web site. [Click here to download PDF] … Continue reading →
Gregorian Reform of the Calendar
Book (PDF) 324 pages Level: university Proceedings of the Vatican Conference to Commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the Gregorian Calendar, published by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Click here for the book from the Pontifical Academy of Sciences web site. [Click here to download PDF] … Continue reading →