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His work passed into the hands of the less courageous. His editor inserted an anonymous preface indicating that the work was a mathematical construct to better explain the motions of the planets, not a description of how the solar system actually worked.

Copernicus's ideas (though anticipated by some ancient astronomers, he discovered in his studies) were too much for contemporaries; even a revolutionary like Martin Luther found it impossible to believe the sun, not the earth, anchored the solar system.

It wasn't until Galileo (1564–1642) that Copernicus's ideas were seen for what they were—a revolution in how humankind conceived of itself. For some this implied that de-centered earth was an insignificant speck to a distant God; others, though, marveled that the creator of a now infinite universe would lavish such attention on a planet that seemed to stand at the periphery of all creation.

Recommended Resources Buy the book containing this and many other profiles of Christians you should know.

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