during the middle ages what part of the ancient catholic church served as a center of learning

In the early Middle Ages, Cathedral schools developed as centers of education, evolving into the medieval universities which were the springboard of many of Western Europe's later achievements.[25] During the High Middle Ages, Chartres Cathedral operated the famous and influential Chartres Cathedral School. Among the great early Catholic universities were Bologna University (1088);[26] Paris University (c 1150); Oxford University (1167);[27] Salerno University (1173); University of Vicenza (1204);[disputed â€“ discuss] Cambridge University (1209); Salamanca University (1218-1219); Padua University (1222); Naples University (1224); and Vercelli University (1228).[28]

Science and the Catholic Church

The relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and science is a widely debated subject. Historically, the Church has often been a patron of sciences. It has been prolific in the foundation of schools, universities and hospitals, and many clergy have been active in the sciences. Historians of science such as Pierre Duhem credit medieval Catholic mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme, and Roger Bacon as the founders of modern science.[1] Duhem found "the mechanics and physics, of which modern times are justifiably proud, to proceed by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools."[2] Yet, the conflict thesis and other critiques emphasize historical or contemporary conflict between the Catholic Church and science, citing in particular the trial of Galileo as evidence. For its part, the Catholic Church teaches that science and the Christian faith are complementary, as can be seen from the Catechism of the Catholic Church which states in regards to faith and science:

Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.... Consequently, methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.[3]

Catholic scientists, both religious and lay, have led scientific discovery in many fields.[4] From ancient times, Christian emphasis on practical charity gave rise to the development of systematic nursing and hospitals and the Church remains the single largest private provider of medical care and research facilities in the world.[5] Following the Fall of Rome, monasteries and convents remained bastions of scholarship in Western Europe and clergymen were the leading scholars of the age â€“ studying nature, mathematics, and the motion of the stars (largely for religious purposes).[6] During the Middle Ages, the Church founded Europe's first universities, producing scholars like Robert Grosseteste, Albert the Great, Roger Bacon, and Thomas Aquinas, who helped establish the scientific method.[7] During this period, the Church was also a great patron of engineering for the construction of elaborate cathedrals. Since the Renaissance, Catholic scientists have been credited as fathers of a diverse range of scientific fields: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) prefigured the theory of evolution with Lamarckism, Friar Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) pioneered genetics, and Fr Georges Lemaitre (1894-1966) proposed the Big Bang cosmological model.[8] The Jesuits have been particularly active, notably in astronomy. Church patronage of sciences continues through elite institutions like the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and Vatican Observatory.[9]

This view of the Church as a patron of sciences is contested by some, who speak either of an historically varied relationship which has shifted, from active and even singular support, to bitter clashes (with accusations of heresy) – or of an enduring intellectual conflict between religion and science.[10] Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire were famously dismissive of the achievements of the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, the "conflict thesis" emerged to propose an intrinsic conflict or conflicts between the Church and science. The original historical usage of the term asserted that the Church has been in perpetual opposition to science. Later uses of the term denote the Church's epistemological opposition to science. The thesis interprets the relationship between the Church and science as inevitably leading to public hostility, when religion aggressively challenges new scientific ideas as in the Galileo Affair.[11] An alternative criticism is that the Church opposed particular scientific discoveries that it felt challenged its authority and power – particularly through the Reformation and on through the Enlightenment. This thesis shifts the emphasis away from the perception of the fundamental incompatibility of religion per se and science-in-general to a critique of the structural reasons for the resistance of the Church as a political organisation.[12]

The Church itself rejects the notion of innate conflict. The Vatican Council (1869/70) declared that "Faith and reason are of mutual help to each other."[13] The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912 proffers that "The conflicts between science and the Church are not real," and states that belief in such conflicts are predicated on false assumptions.[14] Pope St. John Paul II summarised the Catholic view of the relationship between faith and reason in the encyclical Fides et Ratio, saying that "faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth; and God has placed in the human heart a desire to know the truth – in a word, to know himself – so that, by knowing and loving God, men and women may also come to the fullness of truth about themselves."[15] The present Papal astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno describes science as an "act of worship" and as "a way of getting intimate with the Creator."[16]

Scientific fields with important foundational contributions from Catholic scientists include: physics (Galileo), acoustics (Mersenne), mineralogy (Agricola), modern chemistry (Lavoisier), modern anatomy (Vesalius), stratigraphy (Steno), bacteriology (Kircher and Pasteur), genetics (Mendel), analytical geometry (Descartes), heliocentric cosmology (Copernicus), atomic theory (Boscovich), and the Big Bang Theory on the origins of the universe (Lemaître). Jesuits devised modern lunar nomenclature and stellar classification and some 35 craters of the moon are named after Jesuits, among whose great scientific polymaths were Francesco Grimaldi and Giambattista Riccioli. The Jesuits also introduced Western science to India and China and translated local texts to be sent to Europe for study. Missionaries contributed significantly to the fields of anthropology, zoology, and botany during Europe's Age of Discovery.[citation needed]

Differing analyses of the Catholic relationship to science may arise from definitional variance. While secular philosophers consider "science" in the restricted sense of natural science, theologians have viewed science in a very broad sense as given by Aristotle's definition that science is the sure and evident knowledge obtained from demonstrations.[17] In this sense, science comprises the entire curriculum of university studies, and the Church has claimed authority in matters of doctrine and teaching of science. With the gradual secularisation of the West, the influence of the Church over scientific research has gradually faded.[18]

After the Fall of Rome, while an increasingly Hellenized Roman Empire and Christian religion endured as the Byzantine Empire in the East, the study of nature endured in monastic communities in the West. On the fringes of western Europe, where the Roman tradition had not made a strong imprint, monks engaged in the study of Latin as a foreign language, and actively investigated the traditions of Roman learning. Ireland's most learned monks even retained a knowledge of Greek. Irish missionaries like Colombanus later founded monasteries in continental Europe, which went on to create libraries and become centers of scholarship.[19]

The leading scholars of the Early Middle Ages were clergymen, for whom the study of nature was but a small part of their scholarly interest. They lived in an atmosphere which provided opportunity and motives for the study of aspects of nature. Some of this study was carried out for explicitly religious reasons. The need for monks to determine the proper time to pray led them to study the motion of the stars;[20] the need to compute the date of Easter led them to study and teach rudimentary mathematics and the motions of the Sun and Moon.[21] Modern readers may find it disconcerting that sometimes the same works discuss both the technical details of natural phenomena and their symbolic significance.[22] In an astronomical observation, Bede of Jarrow described two comets over England, and wrote that the "fiery torches" of AD 729 struck terror in all who saw them â€“ for comets were heralds of bad news.[23]

Among these clerical scholars was Bishop Isidore of Seville who wrote a comprehensive encyclopedia of natural knowledge, the monk Bede of Jarrow who wrote treatises on The Reckoning of Time and The Nature of Things, Alcuin of York, abbot of the Abbey of Marmoutier, who advised Charlemagne on scientific matters, and Rabanus Maurus, Archbishop of Mainz and one of the most prominent teachers of the Carolingian Age, who, Like Bede, wrote treatises on computus and On the Nature of Things. Abbot Ælfric of Eynsham, who is known mostly for his Old English sermons, wrote a book on the astronomical time reckoning in Old English based on the writings of Bede. Abbo of Fleury wrote astronomical discussions of timekeeping and of the celestial spheres for his students, teaching for a while in England where he influenced the work of Byrhtferth of Ramsey, who wrote a Manual in Old English to discuss timekeeping and the natural and mystical significance of numbers.[24]

Using church Latin as a lingua franca, the medieval universities across Western Europe produced a great variety of scholars and natural philosophers, including Robert Grosseteste of the University of Oxford, an early expositor of a systematic method of scientific experimentation,[29] and Saint Albert the Great, a pioneer of biological field research.[30] By the mid-15th century, prior to the Reformation, Catholic Europe had some 50 universities.[28]

The Condemnations of 1210-1277 were enacted at the medieval University of Paris to restrict certain teachings as being heretical. These included a number of medieval theological teachings, but most importantly the physical treatises of Aristotle. The investigations of these teachings were conducted by the Bishops of Paris. The Condemnations of 1277 are traditionally linked to an investigation requested by Pope John XXI, although whether he actually supported drawing up a list of condemnations is unclear.

Approximately sixteen lists of censured theses were issued by the University of Paris during the 13th and 14th centuries.[31] Most of these lists of propositions were put together into systematic collections of prohibited articles.[31]

According to art historian Kenneth Clark, "to medieval man, geometry was a divine activity. God was the great geometer, and this concept inspired the architect."[32] Monumental cathedrals such as that of Chartres appear to evidence a complex understanding of mathematics.[32] The Church has invested greatly in engineering and architecture and founded a number of architectural genres â€“ including Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic, High Renaissance, and Baroque.[28]

Georgius Agricola (1494-1555), is considered the founder of geology and "Father of Mineralogy".[33][34] He made important contributions which paved the way for systematic study of the earth.[34] A German Catholic who retained his faith through the Reformation, he also wrote on patristics (early church history).[33]

Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) is a notable Catholic convert who served as a bishop after making a series of important anatomical and geological innovations. His studies of the formation of rock layers and fossils was of vital significance to the development of modern geology and continue to be used today.[35] He established the theoretical basis for stratigraphy. Originally a Lutheran, he did important anatomical work in the Netherlands but moved to Catholic Italy and, in 1667, converted. Denied office in the Protestant north, he continued his medical and geological studies, but in 1675 became a priest and soon after was appointed a bishop, writing 16 major theological works.[36]

Historically, the Catholic Church has been a major sponsor of astronomy, not least because of the astronomical basis of the calendar by which holy days and Easter are determined. The Churchâ€™s interest in astronomy began with purely practical concerns, when in the 16th century Pope Gregory XIII required astronomers to correct for the fact that the Julian calendar had fallen out of sync with the sky. Since the Spring equinox was tied to the celebration of Easter, the Church considered that this steady movement in the date of the equinox was undesirable. The resulting Gregorian calendar is the internationally accepted civil calendar used throughout the world today and is an important contribution of the Catholic Church to Western Civilisation.[37][38][39] It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582.[40] In 1789, the Vatican Observatory opened. It was moved to Castel Gandolfo in the 1930s and the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope began making observation in Arizona, USA, in 1995.[41]

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and Catholic clergyman who was the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe.

In 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered a series of lectures in Rome outlining Copernicus' theory. Pope Clement VII and several Catholic cardinals heard the lectures and were interested in the theory. On 1 November 1536, Nikolaus von Schönberg, Archbishop of Capua and since the previous year a cardinal, wrote to Copernicus from Rome:

Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you....For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe....Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject.[42]

By then Copernicus' work was nearing its definitive form, and rumors about his theory had reached educated people all over Europe. Despite urgings from many quarters, Copernicus delayed publication of his book, perhaps from fear of criticism â€“ a fear delicately expressed in the subsequent dedication of his masterpiece to Pope Paul III. Scholars disagree on whether Copernicus' concern was limited to possible astronomical and philosophical objections, or whether he was also concerned about religious objections.[43]

At original publication, Copernicus' epoch-making book caused only mild controversy, and provoked no fierce sermons about contradicting Holy Scripture. It was only three years later, in 1546, that a Dominican, Giovanni Maria Tolosani, denounced the theory in an appendix to a work defending the absolute truth of Scripture.[44] He also noted that the Master of the Sacred Palace (i.e., the Catholic Church's chief censor), Bartolomeo Spina, a friend and fellow Dominican, had planned to condemn De revolutionibus but had been prevented from doing so by his illness and death.[45]

Galileo Galilei was a Catholic scientist of the Reformation period whose support for Copernican heliocentrism was suppressed by The Inquisition.[46] He is considered one of the inventors of modern science. Along with fellow Catholic scientist Copernicus, Galileo was among those who ultimately overturned the notion of geocentrism.[47] Protestant and atheist critics of Catholicism's relationship to science have placed great emphasis on the Galileo affair. Galileo was ordered not to support Copernican theory in 1616, but in 1632, after receiving permission from a new Pope (Urban VIII) to address the subject indirectly through a dialogue, he fell foul of the Pontiff by placing the pope's views in the mouth of an imbecile within the text, and was hauled before the Inquisition. The Inquisition found him guilty of defending Copernican theory as a probability, "vehemently suspect of heresy," and placed him under house arrest for the remainder of his life.

Federico Cesi created the Accademia dei Lincei in 1603 as an Italian science academy, of which Galileo became a member.[48] Galileo's championing of Copernicanism was controversial within his lifetime, when a large majority of philosophers and astronomers still subscribed to the geocentric view. Galileo gained wide support for his theories outside the universities by writing in Italian, rather than academic Latin. In response, the Aristotelian professors of the universities formed a united effort to convince the Church to ban Copernicanism.[47]

Initially a beneficiary of church patronage of astronomy, Galileo rose to prominence with the publication of Sidereus Nuncius, which comprised astronomical observations made possible by the 1608 invention of the telescope. He was feted in Rome, honoured by the Jesuits of the Roman College, and received by Pope Paul V and church dignitaries.[49] Galileo began to dismiss geocentrism and emerging alternative theories like that of Tycho Brahe. Proponents of these alternatives began to work against Galileo and claim a contradiction between the Bible and his theories. Galileo rejected the accusation â€“ quoting Cardinal Baronius: "The Holy Ghost intended to teach us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go." He invited the Church to follow established practice and reinterpret Scripture in light of the new scientific discoveries. The leading Jesuit Theologian Cardinal Robert Bellarmine agreed that this would be an appropriate response to a true demonstration that the sun was at the center of the universe, but cautioned that the existing materials upon which Galileo relied did not yet constitute an established truth.[49]

Galileo's career coincided with the reaction of the Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation, in which the Roman Church found itself in a struggle for authority in Europe, following the emergence of the Protestant Churches and nations of Northern Europe.[50] Pope Paul III created the Roman and Universal Inquisition to stop the spread of "heretical depravity" throughout the Christian world. From 1571, the institution had jurisdiction over books and created the Index of Prohibited Books.[51] Rome established the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in 1622. The historian of science Jacob Bronowski wrote that "Catholics and Protestants were embattled in what we should now call a Cold War....The Church was a great temporal power, and in that bitter time it was fighting a political crusade in which all means were justified by the end." In this climate, Cardinal Bellarmine, himself a distinguished scientist of the age, instigated inquiries against Galileo as early as 1613.[50]

After 1610, when Galileo began publicly supporting the heliocentric view which placed the Sun at the center of the universe, he met with bitter opposition from some philosophers and clerics, and two of the latter eventually denounced him to the Roman Inquisition early in 1615. Galileo defended his theories by means of the long-established Catholic understanding of Scripture, that the Bible was not intended to expound scientific theory and where it conflicted with common sense, should be read as allegory.[47] Although he was cleared of any offence at that time, the Catholic Church nevertheless condemned heliocentrism as "false and contrary to Scripture" in February 1616,[52] and Galileo was warned to abandon his support for it, which he promised to do.

In March 1616, the Church's Congregation of the Index issued a decree suspending De revolutionibus until it could be "corrected", on the grounds that the supposedly Pythagorean doctrine[53] that the Earth moves and the Sun does not was "false and altogether opposed to Holy Scripture."[54] The same decree also prohibited any work that defended the mobility of the Earth or the immobility of the Sun, or that attempted to reconcile these assertions with Scripture.[citation needed] On the orders of Pope Paul V, Cardinal Bellarmine gave Galileo prior notice that the decree was about to be issued, and warned him that he could not "hold or defend" the Copernican doctrine.[55] The corrections to De revolutionibus, which omitted or altered nine sentences, were issued four years later, in 1620.[56]

In 1623, Galileo's friend Maffeo Barberini was elected as Pope Urban VIII. Urban VIII was an intellectual and patron of the arts and architecture, who had written poetry as a young man in praise of Galileo's astronomical writings. Galileo met with the new Pope, hoping to persuade him to lift the 1616 ban.[57] Instead he received permission to write a book on Aristotelian and Copernican theories, provided he did not take sides.[47] The book, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, was passed by the censors and was well received across Europe,[47] but ultimately offended Urban VIII, whose own arguments were put into the mouth of the buffoon-like Simplicio in the dialogue. The Preparatory Commission for the trial of Galileo noted that the Pope's stated belief that it would be extravagant boldness to limit the power and wisdom of God to an individual's particular conjecture was put "into the mouth of a fool" in Galileo's text.[58]

Galileo was summoned to Rome to be tried by the Inquisition in 1633. According to Bronowski, Galileo's accusers relied on a forged document purporting to have, in 1616, forbidden Galileo from in "any way whatsoever" teaching theories of Copernicus, and thus could find him guilty of dishonestly tricking the censors and therefore ban his book without addressing the issues of substance relating to Copernicus found within it.[59] Galileo was found "vehemently suspect of heresy" for "following the position of Copernicus, which is contrary to the true sense and authority of Holy Scripture."[60] Though never tortured, Galileo was shown the implements of torture to instill fear in him,[59] forced to recant, and spend the rest of his life under house arrest. Galileo remained a practicing Catholic and during his house arrest wrote his most influential work Two New Sciences â€“ a book which had to be smuggled to Protestant Holland in order to be published.[46]

The Catholic Church's 1758 Index of Prohibited Books omitted the general prohibition of works defending heliocentrism,[61] but retained the specific prohibitions of the original uncensored versions of De revolutionibus and Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. Those prohibitions were finally dropped from the 1835 Index.[62]

The Inquisition's ban on reprinting Galileo's works was lifted in 1718 when permission was granted to publish an edition of his works (excluding the condemned Dialogue) in Florence.[63] In 1741 Pope Benedict XIV authorized the publication of an edition of Galileo's complete scientific works[64] which included a mildly censored version of the Dialogue.[65] In 1758 the general prohibition against works advocating heliocentrism was removed from the Index of prohibited books, although the specific ban on uncensored versions of the Dialogue and Copernicus's De Revolutionibus remained.[66] All traces of official opposition to heliocentrism by the Church disappeared in 1835 when these works were finally dropped from the Index.[67]

Pope Urban VIII refused Galileo a stately burial upon his death, though later his bones were interned under a monument at the Church of Santa Croce in Florence. In 1980, Pope John Paul II ordered a re-examination of the evidence against Galileo and formally acquitted him in 1992.[68]

In 1939 Pope Pius XII, in his first speech to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, within a few months of his election to the papacy, described Galileo as being among the "most audacious heroes of researchÂ ... not afraid of the stumbling blocks and the risks on the way, nor fearful of the funereal monuments."[69] His close advisor of 40 years Professor Robert Leiber wrote: "Pius XII was very careful not to close any doors (to science) prematurely. He was energetic on this point and regretted that in the case of Galileo."[70]

On 15 February 1990, in a speech delivered at the Sapienza University of Rome,[71] Cardinal Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) cited some current views on the Galileo affair as forming what he called "a symptomatic case that permits us to see how deep the self-doubt of the modern age, of science and technology goes today."[72] Some of the views he cited were those of the philosopher Paul Feyerabend, whom he quoted as saying: “The Church at the time of Galileo kept much more closely to reason than did Galileo himself, and she took into consideration the ethical and social consequences of Galileo's teaching too. Her verdict against Galileo was rational and just and the revision of this verdict can be justified only on the grounds of what is politically opportune.”[72] The Cardinal did not clearly indicate whether he agreed or disagreed with Feyerabend's assertions. He did, however, say: "It would be foolish to construct an impulsive apologetic on the basis of such views."[72]

On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and issued a declaration acknowledging the errors committed by the Church tribunal that judged the scientific positions of Galileo Galilei; this was the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for Culture.[73][74] In March 2008 the Vatican proposed to complete its rehabilitation of Galileo by erecting a statue of him inside the Vatican walls.[75] In December of the same year, during events to mark the 400th anniversary of Galileo's earliest telescopic observations, Pope Benedict XVI praised his contributions to astronomy.[76]

Brother Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit, became the first religious brother to be awarded the American Astronomical Society's Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science in 2014.[77] The judges noted his six books, and nominated his 'Turn Left At Orion' as having had an "enormous impact on the amateur astronomy community, engendering public support for astronomy." They described Consolmagno as "the voice of the juxtaposition of planetary science and astronomy with Christian belief, a rational spokesperson who can convey exceptionally well how religion and science can co-exist for believers."[78] Consolmagno describes science as an "act of worship,... a way of getting close to creation, to really getting intimate with creation, and it's a way of getting intimate with the creator."[79]

Conrad Gessner's great zoological work, Historiae animalium, appeared in 4 vols. (quadrupeds, birds, fishes folio), 1551–1558, at Zürich, with a fifth (snakes) being issued in 1587. This work is recognized as the starting-point of modern zoology. There was extreme religious tension at the time Historiae animalium came out. Gesner was Protestant. Under Pope Paul IV it was felt that the religious convictions of an author contaminated all his writings,[80] so – without any regard for the content of the work – it was added to the Roman Catholic Church's list of prohibited books.[81]

In the years since the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859, the position of the Catholic Church on the theory of evolution has slowly been refined. For about 100 years there was no authoritative pronouncement on the subject, though hostile comments were made by local church figures.[citation needed] In October 1996, Pope John Paul II outlined the Catholic view of evolution to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, saying that the Church holds that evolution is "more than a hypothesis," it is a well-accepted theory of science and that the human body evolved according to natural processes, while the human soul is the creation of God.[83] This updated an earlier pronouncement by Pope Pius XII in the 1950 encyclical Humani generis that accepted evolution as a possibility (as opposed to a probability) and a legitimate field of study to investigate the origins of the human body â€“ though it was stressed that "the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God."[84] In contrast with Protestant literalist objections, Catholic issues with evolutionary theory have had little to do with maintaining the literalism of the account in the Book of Genesis, and have always been concerned with the question of how man came to have a soul.[85][86]

Catholic scientists contributed to the development of evolutionary theory. Among the foremost Catholic contributors to the development of the modern understanding of evolution was the Jesuit-educated Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and the Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel (1822-1884).[28] Lamark developed Lamarckism, the first coherent theory of evolution, proposing in Philosophie Zoologique (1809) and other works his theory of the transmutation of species and drawing a genealogical tree to show the genetic connection of organisms.[87] Mendel discovered the basis of genetics following long study of the inherited characteristics of pea plants, although his paper Experiments on Plant Hybridization, published in 1866, was famously overlooked until the start of the next century.[88] The work of Catholic scientists like the Danish Bishop Nicolas Steno helped establish the science of geology, leading to modern scientific measurements of the age of the earth.[35] The church accepts modern geological theories on such matters and the authenticity of the fossil record. Papal pronouncements, along with commentaries by cardinals, indicate that the Church is aware of the general findings of scientists on the gradual appearance of life. The Church's stance is that the temporal appearance of life has been guided by God.

Modern Creationism has had little Catholic support. In the 1950s, the Church's position was one of neutrality; by the late 20th century its position evolved to one of general acceptance of evolution. Today[update], the Church's official position is a fairly non-specific example of theistic evolution.[85][86] This states that faith and scientific findings regarding human evolution are not in conflict, though humans are regarded as a special creation, and that the existence of God is required to explain both monogenism and the spiritual component of human origins. No infallible declarations by the Pope or an Ecumenical Council have ever been made.

There have been several organizations composed of Catholic laity and clergy which have advocated positions both supporting evolution and opposed to evolution. For example:

As in other countries, Catholic schools in the United States teach evolution as part of their science curriculum. They teach the fact that evolution occurs and the modern evolutionary synthesis, which is the scientific theory that explains how evolution occurs. This is the same evolution curriculum that secular schools teach. Bishop DiLorenzo of Richmond, chair of the Committee on Science and Human Values, said in a December 2004 letter sent to all U.S. bishops: "Catholic schools should continue teaching evolution as a scientific theory backed by convincing evidence. At the same time, Catholic parents whose children are in public schools should ensure that their children are also receiving appropriate catechesis at home and in the parish on God as Creator. Students should be able to leave their biology classes, and their courses in religious instruction, with an integrated understanding of the means God chose to make us who we are."[92]

Gregor Mendel was an Austrian scientist and Augustinian friar who began experimenting with peas around 1856. Observing the processes of pollination at his monastery in what is now the Czech Republic, Mendel studied and developed theories pertaining to the field of science now called genetics. Mendel published his results in 1866 in the Journal of the Brno Natural History Society. The paper was not widely read nor understood, and soon after its publication Mendel was elected Abbott of his Monastery. He continued experimenting with bees but his work went unrecognised until various scientists resurrected his theories around 1900, after his death.[93] Mendel had joined the Brno Augustinian Monastery in 1843, but also trained as a scientist at the Olmutz Philosophical Institute and the University of Vienna. The Brno Monastery was a center of scholarship, with an extensive library and a tradition of scientific research.[94]

Where Charles Darwin's theories suggested a mechanism for improvement of species over generations, Mendel's observations provided explanation for how a new species itself could emerge. Though Darwin and Mendel never collaborated, they were aware of each other's work (Darwin read a paper by Wilhelm Olbers Focke which extensively referenced Mendel). Bill Bryson wrote that "without realizing it, Darwin and Mendel laid the groundwork for all of life sciences in the twentieth century. Darwin saw that all living things are connected, that ultimately they trace their ancestry to a single, common source; Mendel's work provided the mechanism to explain how that could happen."[95] Biologist J. B. S. Haldane and others brought together the principles of Mendelian inheritance with Darwinian principles of evolution to form the field of genetics known as Modern evolutionary synthesis.[96]

The Big Bang model, or theory, is now the prevailing cosmological theory of the early development of the universe and was first proposed by Belgian priest Georges Lemaitre, astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain, with a PhD from MIT. Lemaître was a pioneer in applying Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity to cosmology. Bill Bryson wrote that the idea was decades ahead of its time, and that Lemaitre was the first to bring together Einstein's theory of relativity with Edwin Hubble's cosmological observations, combining them in his own "fire-works theory". Lemaitre theorized in the 1920s that the universe began as a geometrical point which he called a "primeval atom", which exploded out and has been moving apart ever since. The idea became established theory only decades later with the discovery of cosmic background radiation by American scientists.[97]

In ancient times, the church supported medical research as an aid to Christian charity. The Church supported the development of modern science and scientific research by founding Europe's first universities in the Middle Ages. Historian Lawrence M. Principe writes that "it is clear from the historical record that the Catholic church has been probably the largest single and longest-term patron of science in history, that many contributors to the Scientific Revolution were themselves Catholic, and that several Catholic institutions and perspectives were key influences upon the rise of modern science."[98] The field of astronomy is a prime example of the Church's commitment to science. J.L. Heilbron in his book The Sun in the Church: Cathedrals as Solar Observatories writes that "the Roman Catholic Church gave more financial aid and support to the study of astronomy for over six centuries, from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment, than any other, and, probably, all other, institutions."[99]

Scientific support continues through the present day. The Pontifical Academy of Sciences was founded in 1936 by Pope Pius XI, with the aim of promoting the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. The academy holds a membership roster of the most respected names in 20th century science, many of them Nobel laureates. Also worth noting is the Vatican Observatory, which is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See.

In his 1996 encyclical Fides et Ratio, Pope John Paul II wrote that "faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth."[100] Pope Benedict XVI re-emphasized the importance of reason in his famous 2006 address at Regensburg.[101] But the emphasis on reason is not a recent development in the Church's history. In the first few centuries of the Church, the Church Fathers appropriated the best of Greek philosophy in defense of the faith. This appropriation culminated in the 13th century writings of Thomas Aquinas, whose synthesis of faith and reason has influenced Catholic thought for eight centuries. Because of this synthesis, it should be no surprise that many historians of science trace the foundations of modern science to the 13th century. These writers include Edward Grant,[102] James Hannam,[103] and Pierre Duhem.[104]

The Church has, since ancient times, been heavily involved in the study and provision of medicine. Early Christians were noted for tending the sick and infirm, and priests were often also physicians. Christian emphasis on practical charity gave rise to the development of systematic nursing and hospitals after the end of the persecution of the early church. Notable contributors to the medical sciences of those early centuries include Tertullian (born A.D. 160), Clement of Alexandria, Lactantius, and the learned St. Isidore of Seville (d. 636). St. Benedict of Nursia (480) emphasised medicine as an aid to the provision of hospitality.[105]

During the Middle Ages, famous physicians and medical researchers included the Abbot of Monte Cassino Bertharius, the Abbot of Reichenau Walafrid Strabo, the Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, and the Bishop Marbodius of Rennes. Monasteries of this era were diligent in the study of medicine.[105] So too, convents: Hildegard of Bingen, a doctor of the church, is among the most distinguished of Medieval Catholic women scientists. Other than theological works, Hildegard also wrote Physica, a text on the natural sciences, as well as Causae et Curae. Hildegard of Bingen was well known for her healing powers that involved practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones.[106]

Charlemagne decreed that each monastery and cathedral chapter establish a school and in these schools medicine was commonly taught. At one such school Pope Sylvester II taught medicine. Clergy were active at the School of Salerno, the oldest medical school in Western Europe. Among the important churchmen to teach there were Alpuhans, later (1058â€“85) Archbishop of Salerno, and the influential Constantine of Carthage, a monk who produced superior translations of Hippocrates and investigated Arab literature.[105]

In Catholic Spain amidst the early Reconquista, Archbishop Raimund founded an institution for translations, which employed a number of Jewish translators to communicate the works of Arabian medicine. Influenced by the rediscovery of Aristotelean thought, churchmen like the Dominican Albert Magnus and the Franciscan Roger Bacon made significant advances in the observation of nature.

Through the devastating Bubonic Plague, the Franciscans were notable for tending the sick. The apparent impotence of medical knowledge against the disease prompted critical examination. Medical scientists came to divide among anti-Galenists, anti-Arabists, and positive Hippocratics. In Renaissance Italy, the Popes were often patrons of the study of anatomy, and Catholic artists such as Michelangelo advanced knowledge of the field through such studies as sketching cadavers to improve his portraits of the crucifixion.[105]

The Jesuit order, created during the Reformation, contributed a number of distinguished medical scientists. In the field of bacteriology it was the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher (1671) who first proposed that living beings enter and exist in the blood. In the development of ophthalmology, Christoph Scheiner made important advances in relation to refraction of light and the retinal image.[105]

In modern times, the Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of health care in the world. Catholic religious have been responsible for founding and running networks of hospitals across the world where medical research continues to be advanced.[107]

The Society of Jesus (Jesuit Order) was founded by the Spaniard Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1540. Jesuits were leaders of the Counter-Reformation, who have contributed a great many distinguished scientists and institutions of learning, right up to the present. The role of some of its members like Robert Bellarmine, in the Counter-Reformation period and in defense of Papal teaching, show the constraints under which they operated. However, recent scholarship in the history of science has focused on the substantial contributions of Jesuit scientists over the centuries. Historian Jonathan Wright discussed the breadth of Jesuit involvement in the sciences in his history of the order:

[The Jesuits] contributed to the development of pendulum clocks, pantographs, barometers, reflecting telescopes and microscopes, to scientific fields as various as magnetism, optics, and electricity. They observed, in some cases before anyone else, the colored bands on Jupiter’s surface, the Andromeda nebula, and Saturn’s rings. They theorized about the circulation of the blood (independently of Harvey), the theoretical possibility of flight, the way the moon effected the tides, and the wave-like nature of light. Star maps of the southern hemisphere, symbolic logic, flood-control measures on the Po and Adige rivers, introducing plus and minus signs into Italian mathematics – all were typical Jesuit achievements, and scientists as influential as Fermat, Huygens, Leibniz, and Newton were not alone in counting Jesuits among their most prized correspondents.[108]

Christopher Clavius was the main architect of the modern Gregorian calendar. Missionaries like Matteo Ricci and Ferdinand Verbiest introduced Western scientific knowledge to China. Athanasius Kircher proposed his precursor of germ theory. As leading exponents of astronomy, Jesuits were among those arguing the case for and against Copernicanism and made a great many notable astronomical observations. Ruđer Bošković produced a precursor of atomic theory. Angelo Secchi drew an early map of Mars and was the first to classify stars based on their spectrum. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was among the leading paleontologists who discovered Peking Man and Piltdown Man.

The contribution of the Jesuits to the development of seismology and seismic prospecting has been so substantial that seismology has been called "The Jesuit Science".[109] Frederick Odenbach, SJ, is considered by many to have been the "pioneer of American seismologists." In 1936, Fr. J.B. Macelwane, SJ, wrote the first seismology textbook in America, Introduction to Theoretical Seismology. In the 21st Century, Jesuits remain prominent in the sciences through institutions like the Vatican Observatory and Georgetown University.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences was founded in 1936 by Pope Pius XI. It draws on many of the world's leading scientists, including many Nobel Laureates, to act as advisors to the Popes on scientific issues. The Academy has an international membership which includes British physicist Stephen Hawking, the astronomer royal Martin Rees, and Nobel laureates such as U.S. physicist Charles Hard Townes.[110]

Under the protection of the reigning Pope, the aim of the Academy is to promote the progress of the mathematical, physical, and natural sciences and the study of related epistemological problems. The Academy has its origins in the Accademia Pontificia dei Nuovi Lincei ("Pontifical Academy of the New Lynxes"), founded in 1847 and intended as a more closely supervised successor to the Accademia dei Lincei ("Academy of Lynxes") established in Rome in 1603 by the learned Roman Prince Federico Cesi (1585â€“1630) who was a young botanist and naturalist, and which claimed Galileo Galilei as a member.

The Vatican Observatory (Specola Vaticana) is an astronomical research and educational institution supported by the Holy See. Originally based in Rome, it now has headquarters and laboratory at the summer residence of the Pope in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, and an observatory at the Mount Graham International Observatory in the United States.[111] The Director of the Observatory is Fr. José Gabriel Funes, SJ. Many distinguished scholars have worked at the Observatory. In 2008, the Templeton Prize was awarded to cosmologist Fr. Michał Heller, a Vatican Observatory Adjunct Scholar. In 2010, the George Van Biesbroeck Prize was awarded to former observatory director Fr. George Coyne, SJ.[112] As mentioned above the present Papal astronomer Brother Guy Consolmagno was awarded the American Astronomical Society's Carl Sagan Medal for Excellence in Public Communication in Planetary Science in 2014.

In his 1893 encyclical, Pope Leo XIII wrote that "no real disagreement can exist between the theologian and the scientist provided each keeps within his own limits....If nevertheless there is a disagreement... it should be remembered that the sacred writers, or more truly ‘the Spirit of God who spoke through them, did not wish to teach men such truths (as the inner structure of visible objects) which do not help anyone to salvation’; and that, for this reason, rather than trying to provide a scientific exposition of nature, they sometimes describe and treat these matters either in a somewhat figurative language or as the common manner of speech those times required, and indeed still requires nowadays in everyday life, even amongst most learned people."[113]

The Catechism of the Catholic Church asserts: "Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things of faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are."[114]

Providentissimus Deus, "On the Study of Holy Scripture", was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 18 November 1893. In it, he reviewed the history of Bible study from the time of the Church Fathers to the present, spoke against what he considered to be the errors of the Rationalists and "higher critics", and outlined principles of scripture study and guidelines for how scripture was to be taught in seminaries. He also addressed the issues of apparent contradictions between the Bible and physical science, or between one part of scripture and another, and how such apparent contradictions can be resolved.

Providentissimus Deus responded to two challenges to biblical authority, both of which rose up during the 19th century. The physical sciences, especially the theory of evolution and geology's theory of a very old earth, challenged the traditional Biblical account of creation taking place 6,000 years ago. Pope Leo XIII wrote that true science cannot contradict scripture when it is properly explained, that errors the Church Fathers made do not demonstrate error in Scripture, and that what seems to be proved by science can turn out to be wrong.

The historical-critical method of analyzing scripture questioned the reliability of the Bible. Leo acknowledged the possibility of errors introduced by scribes but forbade the interpretation that only some of scripture is inerrant, while other elements are fallible. Leo condemned the use that certain scholars made of new evidence, clearly referring to Alfred Firmin Loisy and Maurice d'Hulst, although not by name.[115]

At first, both conservatives and liberals found elements in the encyclical to which to appeal. Over the next decade, however, Modernism spread and Providentissimus Deus was increasingly interpreted in a conservative sense.[115]

This encyclical was part of an ongoing conflict between Modernists and conservatives. In 1902, Pope Leo XIII instituted the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which was to adapt Roman Catholic Biblical studies to modern scholarship and to protect Scripture against attacks.[116] The Oath against Modernism was finally rescinded after Vatican II.

Humani generis is a papal encyclical that Pope Pius XII promulgated on 12 August 1950 "concerning some false opinions threatening to undermine the foundations of Catholic Doctrine." Theological opinions and doctrines known as Nouvelle Théologie or neo-modernism and their consequences on the Church were its primary subject. Evolution and its impact on theology constitute only two out of 44 parts. Yet the position which Pius XII defined in 1950, delinking the creation of body and soul, was confirmed by Pope John Paul II, who highlighted additional facts supporting the theory of evolution half a century later.

The Catholic Church teaches that scientific research and conduct need to be informed by and put to the aid of Christian ethics. During recent pontificates, issues such as the implications of genetics and anthropological climate change have been important areas of focus. The Vatican draws on leading scientists to examine scientific literature in search of "moral and philosophical problems, either caused by science or which can be helped by science."[110]

The Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin argued in an influential book The Phenomenon of Man (1959) that science and religion were two vital sides of a same phenomenon: a quest for perfect knowledge.[117] Pope John Paul II in his 1998 encyclical Fides et Ratio wrote that "faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth."

The scientists John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White were the most influential exponents of the conflict thesis between the Catholic Church and science. In the early 1870s, Draper was invited to write a History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874), a book replying to contemporary papal edicts such as the doctrine of infallibility, and mostly criticizing the anti-intellectualism of Roman Catholicism,[118] yet he assessed that Islam and Protestantism had little conflict with science. Draperâ€™s preface summarises the conflict thesis: "The history of Science is not a mere record of isolated discoveries; it is a narrative of the conflict of two contending powers, the expansive force of the human intellect on one side, and the compression arising from traditionary faith and human interests on the other."[119] In 1896, White published A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, the culmination of thirty years of research and publication on the subject. In the introduction, White emphasized he arrived at his position after the difficulties of assisting Ezra Cornell in establishing a university without any official religious affiliation.

More recently, Thomas E. Woods, Jr., asserts that, despite the widely held conception of the Catholic Church as being anti-science, this conventional wisdom has been the subject of "drastic revision" by historians of science over the last 50 years. Woods asserts that the mainstream view now is that the "Church [has] played a positive role in the development of science... even if this new consensus has not yet managed to trickle down to the general public."[109] Science historian Ronald L. Numbers corroborates this view, writing that “Historians of science have known for years that White’s and Draper’s accounts are more propaganda than history. …Yet the message has rarely escaped the ivory tower."[120]


who sang the song i was country when country wasn't cool

"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" is a song written by Kye Fleming and Dennis Morgan, recorded by American country music artist Barbara Mandrell. It was released in April 1981 as lead single from the album Barbara Mandrell Live. It featured a guest appearance by country artist George Jones who was not credited on the record charts. The song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in July 1981 and peaked at #14 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart. The song was nominated for 1981 Single of the Year by both the CMA and ACM Awards organizations.

I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool

"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" was a song produced by Tom Collins. Mandrell recorded the song as a "live" performance; however the track was actually recorded in the studio with an audience applause track inserted over various sections of the song to fit into the context of the forthcoming live album. The song also featured an uncredited guest appearance on part of the chorus by country vocalist, George Jones.[1] The song was released during a period of rapid growth in the popularity of country music related to a dance-focused form of the genre called neocountry that was popularized, in part, by the movie Urban Cowboy. In the song, the singer explains her relationship with country music as being authentic and part of long tradition, and not a part of some fad or, worse, something that's merely "cool."

The song was the first track released from Mandrell's 1981 "Live" album. Unlike the studio single version, the album version of the song was recorded during a live concert at the Roy Acuff Theater of Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. Applause from the audience can be heard in the beginning and end of the song, as well as when Jones makes his guest performance and when Mandrell refers to Jones in the lyrics in the early part of the song.[2]

"I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" was released as Mandrell's second single of the year in mid 1981. The song became a major hit shortly after its release, reaching number one on the Billboard Magazine Hot Country Songs chart on July 4 of that year. George Jones was never credited as a featured vocalist on the recording charts at the time of its release. It has since been considered to be one of Mandrell's signature recordings during her career. The single helped her 1981 live album, Barbara Mandrell Live certify gold by the Recording Industry Association of America and also helped her win the Country Music Association's "Entertainer of the Year" award in 1981.[3]


what's the meaning of the song tiny dancer

With lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, the song was first featured as the opening track to John’s 1971 album, Madman Across the Water. The song's lyrics were inspired by Taupin’s first visit to the US in 1970, and were intended to capture the spirit of California, where he found the women he met highly contrasted with those who he had known in his home country of England.[3][4] A common misconception is that the song’s lyrics were about Taupin's first wife, Maxine Feibelman. Taupin has stated that this was not true, and that the belief came about due to the song being dedicated to Feibelman on the original album.[3][5][2]

Tiny Dancer

"Tiny Dancer" is a song by Elton John with lyrics by Bernie Taupin.  It appears on John's fourth album, Madman Across the Water, and was released as a single in 1972. In the U.S. it was certified Gold on 19 May 2005, and Platinum on 19 August 2011, and 3x Platinum on 26 April 2018 by the Recording Industry Association of America.[1] In the UK, "Tiny Dancer" has been certified Gold on 17 August 2018 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of 400,000 copies,  despite never being released as an official single.
The song was popularized after being featured in the 2000 film Almost Famous.[2]

The song features piano-based accompaniment during verses.  The arrangement start features pedal steel guitar, light percussion, Paul Buckmaster's strings and a very quiet choir.

Due to the song’s lengthy run time[3] and lack of a hook, "Tiny Dancer" was initially a non-starter as a single in the US, reaching only #41 on the U.S. pop chart, and was not even released as a single in the UK.  The song fared better in Canada, where John had much of his early commercial breakthrough success, peaking at #19.  It was also a hit in Australia, peaking at #13.  Eventually, the song slowly became one of John's most popular songs even in the territories that initially failed to embrace it, and the full-length version is now a fixture on North American, UK and Australian adult contemporary and rock radio stations. The song also received a boost of popularity after having been prominently featured in the 2000 film Almost Famous.[3]

It was ranked No. 387 on the 2010 list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[6]

In May 2017, an official music video for "Tiny Dancer" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival as a winner of Elton John: The Cut, a competition organized in partnership with AKQA, Pulse Films, and YouTube in honour of the fiftieth anniversary of his songwriting relationship with Bernie Taupin. The competition called upon independent filmmakers to submit treatments for music videos for one of three Elton John songs from the 1970s, with each song falling within a specific concept category. "Tiny Dancer" was designated for the live-action category, with the competition won by Max Welland. The video was filmed in Los Angeles, and features scenes of various residents driving around the city.[7][8]

"Tiny Dancer" has been covered by Lani Hall in the 1970s, by the Red Hot Chili Peppers with John Frusciante on vocals since the early 1990s, and by Dave Grohl on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.[13][14]

In 2002, Ben Folds covered "Tiny Dancer" for his live album, Ben Folds Live. The song was later released as a promo single.

Country music artist Tim McGraw covered the song on his 2002 album Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors. McGraw also performed the song, with Elton John, at the American Music Awards.

In 2009, DJ Ironik and Chipmunk created a remix of the song, featuring John singing the chorus, which peaked at No.3 in the UK Singles Chart.[15]

A version featuring Mary Black, Paddy Casey and Declan O'Rourke was recorded in Galway, Ireland in 2012 as a charity single. This version reached number one on the Irish Singles Chart.[16][17]

Florence and the Machine covered the song on the 2018 tribute album Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.[18]

In 1996, Season 3 Episode 1 of Friends, Phoebe refers to the song as "...the one Elton John wrote about that guy from "Who's the Boss".  She then sings the words, "Hold me close, young Tony Danza..."

In 2005, Season 2 Episode 1 of The Office (The Dundies) the song is featured when Michael Scott is singing along with it until he’s interrupted and again at the end of the episode after Pam Beesly gets in Angela Martin’s car and Jim Halpert smiles as they leave.

In 1971, Elton John performed the song on the first series of The Old Grey Whistle Test. The performance has been released as part of The Old Grey Whistle Test - Volumes 1-3 Box Set.[19]

It features in the rock film Almost Famous (2000), set in the year 1973, where the main characters sing the song while driving on a bus.[2]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt performed the song in a lip-syncing competition against Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Merchant on Fallon's Late Night show.[20]

A brief parody version of the song was broadcast on Saturday Night Live (Season 39, Episode 17, 5 April 2014), in which Kate McKinnon appeared as Angela Merkel and sang, to the tune of "Tiny Dancer," "Hold me closer, German Chancellor".[21]

The UK based department store chain John Lewis, use the song on their August 2015 insurance advert.[22]

Donald Trump has used the song during his 2016 presidential rallies as his entrance and exit song.[23]

In his 2017 single, "Castle on the Hill", Ed Sheeran references the song.[24]

On her 2017 studio album Lust for Life, Lana Del Rey referenced the song on her track "Tomorrow Never Came" featuring Sean Ono Lennon.

On his 2018 single "Don't leave me alone" (ft. Anne-Marie), David Guetta referenced the song.[25]


when was the niv version of the bible written

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). Many popular, earlier versions of the Bible, such as the King James Bible, were themselves based on earlier translations of average quality. Since then many discoveries had been made. The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality scriptures available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

New International Version

A team of 15 biblical scholars, representing a variety of denominations, worked from the oldest copies of reliable scripture, variously written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Each section was subjected to multiple translations and revisions, and those assessed in detail to produce the best option. Everyday Bible readers were used to provide feedback on ease of understanding and comprehensibility. Finally, plans were made to continue revision of the Bible as new discoveries were made and as changes in the use of the English language occurred.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011,[3] and has become one of the most popular and best selling modern translations.[4]

The NIV began in 1956 with the formation of a small committee to study the value of producing a translation in the common language of the American people.[5] The project was formally started after a meeting in 1965 at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois, of the Christian Reformed Church, National Association of Evangelicals, and a group of international scholars. The initial "Committee on Bible Translation" consisted of E. Leslie Carlson, Edmund Clowney, Ralph Earle, Jr., Burton L. Goddard, R. Laird Harris, Earl S. Kalland, Kenneth Kantzer, Robert H. Mounce, Charles F. Pfeiffer, Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Francis R. Steele, John H. Stek, J. C. Wenger, Stephen W. Paine, and Marten Woudstra. The New York Bible Society (now Biblica) was selected to do the translation. The New Testament was released in 1973 and the full Bible in 1978.

The NIV underwent a minor revision in 1984. In 1997 a new version was published in the UK as the New International Version Inclusive Language Edition, but was not published in the U.S. because of opposition from conservative evangelical groups there to inclusive language.[6]

A revised English edition titled Today's New International Version (TNIV) released a New Testament in March 2002, with the complete Bible published February 2005.[7]

In 2011, an updated version of the NIV was released. The update modified and dropped some of the gender-neutral language of the TNIV (such as going back to using "mankind" and "man" instead of "human beings" and "people"), along with other changes.[8] Translational issues with Paul's letters were also addressed.[9][10] Keith Danby, president and chief executive officer of Biblica, speaking of the TNIV, said they had failed to convince people revisions were needed and underestimated readers' loyalty to the 1984 edition.[6]

An 'easy-reader' version, New International Reader's Version (NIrV), was published in 1996; it was written at a third grade reading level.

In 1979 it was decided to produce a version of the New Testament in Spanish with the title La Santa Biblia, Nueva Versión Internacional (often abbreviated NVI)[11] though at this point this version was based only on the former English translation of the historic manuscripts. In 1990 the committee on Bible translation headed by Drs. René Padilla and Luciano Jaramillo conducted a translation from the historic manuscripts directly into Spanish of both testaments, bypassing English altogether and producing a complete Spanish NVI Bible in 1999.

The manuscript base for the Old Testament was the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Masoretic Hebrew Text. Other ancient texts consulted were the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Samaritan Pentateuch, the Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac Peshitta, the Aramaic Targum, and for the Psalms the Juxta Hebraica of Jerome.[12] The manuscript base for the New Testament was the Koine Greek language editions of the United Bible Societies and of Nestle-Aland.[13] The deuterocanonical books are not included in the translation.

The core translation group consisted of fifteen Biblical scholars using Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts whose goal was to produce a more modern English language text than the King James Version. The translation took ten years and involved a team of over 100 scholars.[14][15] from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The range of those participating included many different denominations such as Anglicans, Assemblies of God, Baptist, Christian Reformed, Lutheran and Presbyterian.[16][verification needed]

The NIV is a balance between word-for-word and thought-for-thought or literal and phrase by phrase translations.[17]

Recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries helped in understanding passages that have traditionally been difficult to translate. Familiar spellings of traditional translations were generally retained.[18]

In Genesis 2:19 a translation such as the NRSV uses "formed" in a plain past tense "So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal...". Some have questioned the NIV choice of pluperfect "Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals..." to try to make it appear that the animals had already been created.[19] Theologian John Sailhamer states "Not only is such a translation... hardly possible... but it misses the very point of the narrative, namely, that the animals were created in response to God's declaration that it was not good that the man should be alone."[20]

Biblical scholar Bruce M. Metzger criticized the NIV 1984 edition[21] for the addition of just into Jeremiah 7:22 so the verse becomes "For when I brought your forefathers/ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices." Metzger also criticized[21] the addition of your into Matthew 13:32, so it becomes "Though it (the mustard seed) is the smallest of all your seeds." The usage of your was removed in the TNIV and did not return in the 2011 revision.

According to the Association for Christian Retail (CBA), the New International Version has become the most popular selling English translation of the Bible in CBA bookstores, having sold more than 450 million copies worldwide.[22]

There are numerous study Bibles available with extensive notes on the text and background information to make the Biblical stories more comprehensible. Among these are the NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible, Concordia Study Bible, the Zondervan published NIV Study Bible, the Wesleyan revision, Reflecting God Study Bible, as well as the Life Application Study Bible.

In 2009, the New Testament scholar N. T. Wright wrote that the NIV obscured what Paul the Apostle was saying, making sure that Paul's words conformed to Protestant and Evangelical tradition. Wright believes that due to paraphrasing and interpretation, Protestants and Evangelicals will never understand what Paul was talking about if they rely on the NIV. According to Wright, this happens in several of Paul's letters, including Galatians and Romans.[23]

Professor of New Testament Studies Daniel B. Wallace[24] has praised the 2011 update, stating: "it is a well-thought out translation, with checks and balances through rigorous testing, overlapping committees to ensure consistency and accuracy".[25] The Southern Baptist Convention rejected the 2011 update because of gender-neutral language,[26] although it had dropped some gender-neutral language of the 2005 revision.[8] Southern Baptist publisher LifeWay declined the SBC's censor request to remove the NIV from their stores.[27] While the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod[28] rejected its use, some in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) believe many of the translations changes are right and defensible.[29]

Professor of New Testament Studies, Rodney J. Decker wrote in Themelios Journal review of the NIV 2011 that,

By taking a mediating position between formal and functional equivalence (though tending, I think, closer to the formal end of the spectrum), the NIV has been able to produce a text that is clearer than many translations, especially those weighted more heavily with formal equivalence...If we are serious about making the word of God a vital tool in the lives of English-speaking Christians, then we must aim for a translation that communicates clearly in the language of the average English-speaking person. It is here that the NIV excels. It not only communicates the meaning of God’s revelation accurately, but does so in English that is easily understood by a wide range of English speakers. It is as well-suited for expository preaching as it is for public reading and use in Bible classes and children’s ministries."[30][31]


where is tuscany italy located on the map

Roughly triangular in shape, Tuscany borders the regions of Liguria to the northwest, Emilia-Romagna to the north, Marche to the northeast, Umbria to the east and Lazio to the southeast. The comune (municipality) of Badia Tedalda, in the Tuscan Province of Arezzo, has an exclave named Ca' Raffaello within Marche.

Tuscany

Tuscany (/ˈtʌskəni/ TUSK-ə-nee; Italian: Toscana, pronounced [toˈskaːna]) is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 square miles) and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants (2013). The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).

Tuscany is known for its landscapes, traditions, history, artistic legacy and its influence on high culture. It is regarded as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance[4] and has been home to many figures influential in the history of art and science, and contains well-known museums such as the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace. Tuscany produces wines, including Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino. Having a strong linguistic and cultural identity, it is sometimes considered "a nation within a nation".

Tuscany is traditionally a popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto.[5] The village of Castiglione della Pescaia is also the most visited seaside destination in the region,[5] with seaside tourism accounting for approximately 40% of tourist arrivals in Tuscany. Additionally, Siena, Lucca, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val d'Orcia are also internationally renowned and particularly popular spots among travellers.

Seven Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982); the Cathedral square of Pisa (1987); the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990); the historical centre of Siena (1995); the historical centre of Pienza (1996); the Val d'Orcia (2004), and the Medici Villas and Gardens (2013). Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves, making Tuscany and its capital Florence popular tourist destinations that attract millions of tourists every year.[6] In 2012, the city of Florence was the world's 89th most visited city, with over 1.834 million arrivals.[7]

Tuscany has a western coastline on the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, among which is the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the largest island is Elba. Tuscany has an area of approximately 22,993 square kilometres (8,878 sq mi). Surrounded and crossed by major mountain chains, and with few (but fertile) plains, the region has a relief that is dominated by hilly country used for agriculture. Hills make up nearly two-thirds (66.5%) of the region's total area, covering 15,292 square kilometres (5,904 sq mi), and mountains (of which the highest are the Apennines), a further 25%, or 5,770 square kilometres (2,230 sq mi). Plains occupy 8.4% of the total area—1,930 square kilometres (750 sq mi)—mostly around the valley of the River Arno. Many of Tuscany's largest cities lie on the banks of the Arno, including the capital Florence, Empoli and Pisa.

The climate is fairly mild in the coastal areas, and is harsher and rainy in the interior, with considerable fluctuations in temperature between winter and summer,[8] giving the region a soil-building active freeze-thaw cycle, in part accounting for the region's once having served as a key breadbasket of ancient Rome.[9]

Sunflower field in Maremma

Tuscan landscape near Siena

Hilly landscape in Val d'Orcia

Vineyard in Tuscany

Valley in Tuscany

The pre-Etruscan history of the area in the late Bronze and Iron Ages parallels that of the early Greeks.[10] The Tuscan area was inhabited by peoples of the so-called Apennine culture in the late second millennium BC (roughly 1350–1150 BC) who had trading relationships with the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations in the Aegean Sea.[10] Following this, the Villanovan culture (1100–700 BC) saw Tuscany, and the rest of Etruria, taken over by chiefdoms.[10] City-states developed in the late Villanovan (paralleling Greece and the Aegean) before "Orientalization" occurred and the Etruscan civilization rose.[10]

The Etruscans (Latin: Tusci) created the first major civilization in this region, large enough to establish a transport infrastructure, to implement agriculture and mining and to produce vibrant art.[11] The Etruscans lived in Etruria well into prehistory.[10] The civilization grew to fill the area between the Arno River and Tiber River from the 8th century BC, reaching its peak during the 7th and 6th centuries BC, finally succumbing to the Romans by the 1st century.[12] Throughout their existence, they lost territory (in Campania) to Magna Graecia, Carthage and Celts.[11] Despite being seen as distinct in its manners and customs by contemporary Greeks,[13] the cultures of Greece, and later Rome, influenced the civilization to a great extent. One reason for its eventual demise[12] was this increasing absorption by surrounding cultures, including the adoption of the Etruscan upper class by the Romans.[11]

Soon after absorbing Etruria, Rome established the cities of Lucca, Pisa, Siena, and Florence, endowed the area with new technologies and development, and ensured peace.[11] These developments included extensions of existing roads, introduction of aqueducts and sewers, and the construction of many buildings, both public and private. However, many of these structures have been destroyed by erosion due to weather.[11] The Roman civilization in the West collapsed in the 5th century AD, and the region fell briefly to Goths, then was re-conquered by the Byzantine Empire. In the years following 572, the Longobards (Lombards) arrived and designated Lucca the capital of their Duchy of Tuscia.[11]

Pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena between Rome and France brought wealth and development during the medieval period.[11] The food and shelter required by these travellers fuelled the growth of communities around churches and taverns.[11] The conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, factions supporting the Papacy or the Holy Roman Empire in central and northern Italy during the 12th and 13th centuries, split the Tuscan people.[11] The two factions gave rise to several powerful and rich medieval communes in Tuscany: Arezzo, Florence, Lucca, Pisa, and Siena.[11] Balance between these communes was ensured by the assets they held: Pisa, a port; Siena, banking; and Lucca, banking and silk.[14] But by the time of the Renaissance, Florence had become the cultural capital of Tuscany.[14]

One family that benefitted from Florence's growing wealth and power was the ruling Medici family. Its scion Lorenzo de' Medici was one of the most famous of the Medici. The legacy of his influence is visible today in the prodigious expression of art and architecture in Florence. His famous descendant Catherine de' Medici married Prince Henry (later King Henry II) of France in 1533.

The Black Death epidemic hit Tuscany starting in 1348.[15] It eventually killed 70% of the Tuscan population.[16][17] According to Melissa Snell, "Florence lost a third of its population in the first six months of the plague, and from 45% to 75% of its population in the first year."[18] In 1630, Florence and Tuscany were once again ravaged by the plague.[19]

Guido of Arezzo

A page from Fibonacci's Liber Abaci (1202)

Battle of Giglio (1241)

Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy

Tuscany, especially Florence, is regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance. Though "Tuscany" remained a linguistic, cultural and geographic conception, rather than a political reality, in the 15th century, Florence extended its dominion in Tuscany through the annexation of Arezzo in 1384, the purchase of Pisa in 1405 and the suppression of a local resistance there (1406). Livorno was bought in 1421 and became the harbour of Florence.

From the leading city of Florence, the republic was from 1434 onward dominated by the increasingly monarchical Medici family. Initially, under Cosimo, Piero the Gouty, Lorenzo and Piero the Unfortunate, the forms of the republic were retained and the Medici ruled without a title, usually without even a formal office. These rulers presided over the Florentine Renaissance. There was a return to the republic from 1494 to 1512, when first Girolamo Savonarola then Piero Soderini oversaw the state. Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici retook the city with Spanish forces in 1512, before going to Rome to become Pope Leo X. Florence was dominated by a series of papal proxies until 1527 when the citizens declared the republic again, only to have it taken from them again in 1530 after a siege by an Imperial and Spanish army. At this point Pope Clement VII and Charles V appointed Alessandro de' Medici as the first formal hereditary ruler.

The Sienese commune was not incorporated into Tuscany until 1555, and during the 15th century Siena enjoyed a cultural 'Sienese Renaissance' with its own more conservative character. Lucca remained an independent republic until 1847 when it became part of Grand Duchy of Tuscany by the will of its people. Piombino and other strategic towns constituted the tiny State of the Presidi under Spanish control.

Leonardo da Vinci

Lorenzo de Medici

Niccolò Machiavelli, author of The Prince

In the 16th century, the Medicis, rulers of Florence, annexed the Republic of Siena, creating the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The Medici family became extinct in 1737 with the death of Gian Gastone, and Tuscany was transferred to Francis, Duke of Lorraine and husband of Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, who let rule the country by his son. The dynasty of the Lorena ruled Tuscany until 1860, with the exception of the Napoleonic period, when most of the country was annexed to the French Empire. After the Second Italian War of Independence, a revolution evicted the last Grand Duke, and after a plebiscite Tuscany became part of the new Kingdom of Italy. From 1864 to 1870 Florence became the second capital of the kingdom.

Under Benito Mussolini, the area came under the dominance of local Fascist leaders such as Dino Perrone Compagni (from Florence), and Costanzo and Galeazzo Ciano (from Leghorn). Following the fall of Mussolini and the armistice of 8 September 1943, Tuscany became part of the Nazi-controlled Italian Social Republic, and was conquered almost totally by the Anglo-American forces during summer 1944. Following the end of the Social Republic, and the transition from the Kingdom to the modern Italian Republic, Tuscany once more flourished as a cultural centre of Italy. After the establishment of regional autonomy in 1975, Tuscany has always been ruled by centre-left governments.

Cosimo I de' Medici, first Grand Duke of Tuscany

Pinocchio, created by Carlo Collodi (1883)

An Italian partisan in Florence (August 1944)

Tuscany has an immense cultural and artistic heritage, expressed in the region's churches, palaces, art galleries, museums, villages and piazzas. Many of these artifacts are found in the main cities, such as Florence and Siena, but also in smaller villages scattered around the region, such as San Gimignano.

Tuscany has a unique artistic legacy, and Florence is one of the world's most important water-colour centres, even so that it is often nicknamed the "art palace of Italy" (the city is also believed to have the largest concentration of Renaissance art and architecture in the world).[20] Painters such as Cimabue and Giotto, the fathers of Italian painting, lived in Florence and Tuscany, as well as Arnolfo and Andrea Pisano, renewers of architecture and sculpture; Brunelleschi, Donatello and Masaccio, forefathers of the Renaissance; Ghiberti and the Della Robbias, Filippo Lippi and Angelico; Botticelli, Paolo Uccello, and the universal genius of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.[21][22]

The region contains numerous museums and art galleries, many housing some of the world's most precious works of art. Such museums include the Uffizi, which keeps Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, the Pitti Palace, and the Bargello, to name a few. Most of the frescos, sculptures and paintings in Tuscany are held in the region's abundant churches and cathedrals, such as Florence Cathedral, Siena Cathedral, Pisa Cathedral and the Collegiata di San Gimignano.

In the medieval period and in the Renaissance, there were four main Tuscan art schools which competed against each other: the Florentine School, the Sienese School, the Pisan School and the Lucchese School.

In the province of Arezzo:

In the province of Florence:

In the Province of Grosseto:

In the province of Livorno:

In the province of Lucca:

In the province of Massa and Carrara:

In the province of Pisa:

In the province of Prato:

In the province of Pistoia:

In the province of Siena:

Apart from standard Italian, the Tuscan dialect (dialetto toscano) is spoken in Tuscany. The Italian language is a "literary version" of Tuscan. It became the language of culture for all the people of Italy,[23] thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy, when it was formed.[23]

Tuscany has a rich ancient and modern musical tradition, and has produced numerous composers and musicians, including Giacomo Puccini and Pietro Mascagni. Florence is the main musical centre of Tuscany. The city was at the heart of much of the Western musical tradition. It was there that the Florentine Camerata convened in the mid-16th century and experimented with setting tales of Greek mythology to music and staging, resulting in the first operas, fostering the further development of the operatic form, and the later developments of separate "classical" forms such as the symphony.

There are numerous musical centres in Tuscany. Arezzo is indelibly connected with the name of Guido d'Arezzo, the 11th-century monk who invented modern musical notation and the do-re-mi system of naming notes of the scale; Lucca hosted possibly the greatest Italian composer of Romanticism, Giacomo Puccini; and Siena is well known for the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, an organization that currently sponsors major musical activities such as the Siena Music Week and the Alfredo Casella International Composition Competition. Other important musical centres in Tuscany include Livorno, Pisa and Grosseto.

Several famous writers and poets are from Tuscany, most notably Florentine author Dante Alighieri. Tuscany's literary scene particularly thrived in the 13th century and the Renaissance.

In Tuscany, especially in the Middle Ages, popular love poetry existed. A school of imitators of the Sicilians was led by Dante da Maiano, but its literary originality took another line — that of humorous and satirical poetry. The democratic form of government created a style of poetry which stood strongly against the medieval mystic and chivalrous style. Devout invocation of God or of a lady came from the cloister and the castle; in the streets of the cities everything that had gone before was treated with ridicule or biting sarcasm. Folgóre da San Gimignano laughs when in his sonnets he tells a party of Sienese youths the occupations of every month in the year, or when he teaches a party of Florentine lads the pleasures of every day in the week. Cenne della Chitarra laughs when he parodies Folgore's sonnets. The sonnets of Rustico di Filippo are half-fun and half-satire, as is the work of Cecco Angiolieri of Siena, the oldest humorist we know, a far-off precursor of François Rabelais and Michel de Montaigne.

Another type of poetry also began in Tuscany. Guittone d'Arezzo made art abandon chivalry and ProvenÃ§al forms for national motives and Latin forms. He attempted political poetry, and although his work is often obscure, he prepared the way for the Bolognese school. Bologna was the city of science, and philosophical poetry appeared there. Guido Guinizelli was the poet after the new fashion of the art. In his work the ideas of chivalry are changed and enlarged. Only those whose heart is pure can be blessed with true love, regardless of class. He refuted the traditional credo of courtly love, for which love is a subtle philosophy only a few chosen knights and princesses could grasp. Love is blind to blasons but not to a good heart when it finds one: when it succeeds it is the result of the spiritual, not physical affinity between two souls. Guinizzelli's democratic view can be better understood in the light of the greater equality and freedom enjoyed by the city-states of the center-north and the rise of a middle class eager to legitimise itself in the eyes of the old nobility, still regarded with respect and admiration but in fact dispossessed of its political power. Guinizelli's Canzoni make up the bible of Dolce Stil Novo, and one in particular, "Al cor gentil" ("To a Kind Heart") is considered the manifesto of the new movement which would bloom in Florence under Cavalcanti, Dante and their followers. His poetry has some of the faults of the school of d'Arezzo. Nevertheless, he marks a great development in the history of Italian art, especially because of his close connection with Dante's lyric poetry.

In the 13th century, there were several major allegorical poems. One of these is by Brunetto Latini, who was a close friend of Dante. His Tesoretto is a short poem, in seven-syllable verses, rhyming in couplets, in which the author professes to be lost in a wilderness and to meet with a lady, who represents Nature, from whom he receives much instruction. We see here the vision, the allegory, the instruction with a moral object, three elements which we shall find again in the Divine Comedy. Francesco da Barberino, a learned lawyer who was secretary to bishops, a judge, and a notary, wrote two little allegorical poems, the Documenti d'amore and Del reggimento e dei costumi delle donne. The poems today are generally studied not as literature, but for historical context. A fourth allegorical work was the Intelligenza, which is sometimes attributed to Compagni, but is probably only a translation of French poems.

In the 15th century, humanist and publisher Aldus Manutius published the Tuscan poets Petrarch and Dante Alighieri (Divine Comedy), creating the model for what became a standard for modern Italian.

Simplicity is central to the Tuscan cuisine. Legumes, bread, cheese, vegetables, mushrooms and fresh fruit are used. Olive oil is made up of Moraiolo, Leccino and Frantoiano olives. White truffles from San Miniato appear in October and November. Beef of the highest quality comes from the Chiana Valley, specifically a breed known as Chianina used for Florentine steak. The indigenous Cinta Senese breed of pork is also produced.[24]

Wine is a famous and common produce of Tuscany. Chianti is arguably the most well-known internationally. So many British tourists come to the area where Chianti wine is produced that this specific area has been nicknamed "Chiantishire".

Between 1851 and 1860, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, an independent Italian state until 1859 when it joined the United Provinces of Central Italy, produced two postage stamp issues which are among the most prized classic stamp issues of the world, and include the most valuable Italian stamp. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was an independent Italian state from 1569 to 1859, but was occupied by France from 1808 to 1814. The Duchy comprised most of the present area of Tuscany, and its capital was Florence. In December 1859, the Grand Duchy officially ceased to exist, being joined to the duchies of Modena and Parma to form the United Provinces of Central Italy, which was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia a few months later in March 1860. In 1862 it became part of Italy, and joined the Italian postal system.

The subsoil in Tuscany is relatively rich in mineral resources, with iron ore, copper, mercury and lignite mines, the famous soffioni (fumarole) at Larderello, and the vast marble mines in Versilia. Although its share is falling all the time, agriculture still contributes to the region's economy. In the region's inland areas cereals, potatoes, olives and grapes are grown. The swamplands, which used to be marshy, now produce vegetables, rice, tobacco, beets and sunflowers.[8]

The industrial sector is dominated by mining, given the abundance of underground resources. Also of note are textiles, chemicals/pharmaceuticals, metalworking and steel, glass and ceramics, clothing and printing/publishing sectors. Smaller areas specialising in manufacturing and craft industries are found in the hinterland: the leather and footwear area in the south-west part of the province of Florence, the hot-house plant area in Pistoia, the ceramics and textile industries in the Prato area, scooters and motorcycles in Pontedera, and the processing of timber for the manufacture of wooden furniture in the Cascina area. The heavy industries (mining, steel and mechanical engineering) are concentrated along the coastal strip (Livorno and Pisa areas), where there are also important chemical industries. Also of note are the marble (Carrara area) and paper industries (Lucca area).[8]

Tuscany is a traditionally popular destination in Italy, and the main tourist destinations by number of tourist arrivals are Florence, Pisa, Montecatini Terme, Castiglione della Pescaia and Grosseto.[5] Additionally, the Chianti region, Versilia and Val d'Orcia are also internationally renowned and particularly popular spots among travellers.

As far as seaside tourism is concerned, which represents 40% of tourist arrivals in the region, Castiglione della Pescaia's sea has been repeatedly nominated as Italy's best sea by the Italian non-governmental environmentalist organisation Legambiente.[25] Castiglione gained the first place in the most recent ranking too, published in 2015. The town is also the most visited seaside destination in Tuscany, and fourth most visited overall, with circa 1.3 million tourist arrivals recorded in 2015.[25] Other popular seaside destination are Grosseto (second most popular after Castiglione), Orbetello (third most popular), Monte Argentario, Viareggio, Elba and Giglio Island.

Many towns and cities in Tuscany have great natural and architectural beauty. There are many visitors throughout the year. As a result, the services and distribution activities, so important to the region's economy, are wide-ranging and well-organised.

The fashion and textile industry are the pillars of the Florentine economy. In the 15th century, Florentines were working with luxury textiles such as wool and silk. Today the greatest designers in Europe utilize the textile industry in Tuscany, and especially Florence.

Italy has one of the strongest textile industries in Europe, accounting for approximately one quarter of European production. Its turnover is over 25 billion euros. It is the third largest supplier of clothing after China and Japan. The Italian fashion industry generates 60% of its turnover abroad.[26]

The population density of Tuscany, with 161 inhabitants per square kilometre (420/sq mi) in 2008, is below the national average (198.8/km2 or 515/sq mi). This is due to the low population density of the provinces of Arezzo, Siena, and especially Grosseto (50/km2 or 130/sq mi). The highest density is found in the province of Prato (675/km2 or 1,750/sq mi), followed by the provinces of Pistoia, Livorno, Florence and Lucca, peaking in the cities of Florence (more than 3,500/km2 or 9,100/sq mi), Livorno, Prato, Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi and Montecatini Terme (all with a population density of more than 1,000/km2 or 2,600/sq mi). The territorial distribution of the population is closely linked to the socio-cultural and, more recently, economic and industrial development of Tuscany.[8]

Accordingly, the least densely populated areas are those where the main activity is agriculture, unlike the others where, despite the presence of a number of large industrial complexes, the main activities are connected with tourism and associated services, alongside many small firms in the leather, glass, paper and clothing sectors.[8]

Italians make up 93% of the total population. Starting from the 1980s, the region has attracted a large flux of immigrants, particularly from China. There is also a significant community of British and American residents. As of 2008[update], the Italian national institute of statistics ISTAT estimated that 275,149 foreign-born immigrants live in Tuscany, equal to 7% of the total regional population.

Tuscany is a stronghold of the center-left Democratic Party, forming with Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Marche the so-called Italian political "Red Quadrilateral". Since 1970, Tuscany has been continuously governed by the Socialist-Communist or PD-led governments. At the February 2013 elections, Tuscany gave more than 40% of its votes to Pier Luigi Bersani, and only 20.7% to Silvio Berlusconi.[27] At the 2014 European elections, Tuscany gave 56.4% of its votes to Matteo Renzi's center-left Democratic Party.[28] Tuscany was one of only three regions to vote YES in the 2016 Italian constitutional referendum.

Tuscany is divided into nine provinces and one Metropolitan City:


what is long may you run neil young about

The album's advance single, "Long May You Run", peaked at #71 on the UK singles chart.[6] The song was an elegy for Neil Young's first car (which he nicknamed "Mort"[7]), a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse that died in 1965 when its transmission blew in Blind River, Ontario.[8] Mort was a different vehicle from the 1953 Pontiac hearse, nicknamed Mort 2, that Richie Furay, traveling with Stills, saw Young driving in a Hollywood traffic jam in 1966 that led to the formation of Buffalo Springfield.[9] "Long May You Run" was performed by Young on the final broadcast of The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on January 22, 2010, and during the closing ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympics on February 28, 2010.

Long May You Run

Long May You Run is an album credited to the Stills-Young Band, a collaboration between Stephen Stills and Neil Young, released in 1976 on Reprise Records, catalogue MS 2253. It peaked at #26 on the Billboard 200 and certified gold in the U.S. by the RIAA. The album is the sole studio release by Stills and Young in tandem. Musically, it follows mostly in a similar vein to the duo's other joint work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, traversing various facets of Americana and folk music, while songs such as "Make Love To You" have something of a jazz feel, and the extensive use of synthesised strings on the second side give the songs an art rock sound.

Following the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young stadium tour of 1974, an attempt by the quartet to finalize a new album ended amidst acrimony without result. David Crosby and Graham Nash resumed their partnership as Crosby & Nash, while Stills and Young continued their independent careers. Songs from the aborted CSNY album appeared on various albums by group members, and Stills covered two Young songs on his contemporary studio albums: "New Mama" on Stills and "The Loner" on Illegal Stills.

In early 1976, Stills and Young reached a rapprochement, and began to work on a joint album project from a desire by both to pick up where they left off with their Buffalo Springfield-era guitar explorations, a decade after the inception of the band. Crosby and Nash signed on as well, and briefly Long May You Run looked to be the awaited CSNY reunion album. However, on a deadline Nash and Crosby left Miami to finish the sessions for what would become their 1976 album Whistling Down the Wire, and Young and Stills reacted by removing the duo's vocals and other contributions from the master tapes.[3] Crosby and Nash vowed never to work with either again, although less than a year later they would regroup with Stills for a new CSN album in 1977.

The Stills-Young Band, comprising Stills' current touring band behind the pair, began a tour in 1976 prior to the album's release. The tour commenced in Clarkston, Michigan on June 23, but after nine dates Young dropped out after July 18 via a telegram to Stills, forcing Stills to complete the concert tour solo through October.[4] The telegram read: "Dear Stephen, funny how some things that start spontaneously end that way. Eat a peach. Neil."[5] Young would later cite cryptic personal reasons for his departure, namely that the tour "wasn't working" and that the "balance was off in some way" as it progressed.