Blessed is the Kingdom

Seeking The Kingdom In All Things

Book Review: The Heavens Proclaim, Astronomy and the Vatican

1006007

The heavens proclaim His righteousness; and all the peoples behold His glory. –Psalm 97:6

It took Fr. David’s farewell to get me back on track for reviewing my current selection from The Catholic Company. As we presented Fr. David with a brand new telescope engraved with the words of Psalm 97, I remembered the need to finish reading The Heavens Proclaim.  

The first thing I should say about this book, and the main reason I was interested in reading it, is that it is full of breathtaking photography from the Jesuits who keep the Vatican Observatory up and running. 

The Heavens Proclaim is a collection of articles and photographs collected by members of the Vatican Observatory on the occasion of the international year of astronomy. The book begins with a series of biblical quotes which are paired with some truly amazing photography. I especially liked the quotes from the Book of Job.  There are many articles by Jesuit authors that include subjects such as the Big Bang theory, a history of the Vatican Observatory, the formation of the Gregorian calendar, and as one might expect, an article on Galileo. 

I can easily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about how science and religion can support one another, or simply for those who appreciate excellent photography. It is a fascinating book.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on The Heavens Proclaim.

Related Posts:

Tags: , , , , ,


This entry was posted by on Monday, August 10th, 2009 at 12:27 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

About The Author

Fr. Christian is the pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Lenoir City, TN.

Comments

  • Mark G.

    Hi Father,

    I’m reading this same book to a review. I think the section on calendars & their importance in human religious history in general & Christianity in particular is really interesting. As we know, last year we had Easter on the 2nd earliest possible date; I was really surprised to find this shown in the book in a photo of an old table of feast days.

    Do you know if Fr. David ever got his scope assembled alright? Has he tried it out?

    Too bad that the Persied meteor shower was a bust last night. St. Lawrences’ tears, they’re called.

  • http://www.conversiondiary.com Jennifer (Conversion Diary)

    This book looks soooo good — thanks for letting us know about it!

  • Fr. Christian Mathis

    He went up to Clingman’s Dome this past Saturday to check it out but was interrupted by the sound of bears rustling around nearby and decided to leave.

    He says he is still trying to learn the complexities of it, but did get it properly assembled.

«     »