PS

I do want to add that Crowe seems to stress that the choice between Ptolemy's system and Copernicus' system was based upon the 'aesthetic criteria' more than it was upon the philosophical and theological conundrums that the new system introduced. Living in the 21st century and therefore knowing of the mathematical and scientific developments that will follow and somewhat justify the Copernican system, I find the theological and philosophical implications of Copernicus' heliocentric theory more compromising than his mathematical short comings.