The mathematical reception of Copernicus never implied adherence to heliocentrism as a physical reality. At Wittenberg, one of the most important irradiating centers of his astronomical work, the leading intellectuals opposed this realist option. Martin Luther is reported to have reacted with skepticism to the new system because it was in contrast with the Bible. Philip Melanchthon condemned Copernicus’s hypotheses on the basis of natural-philosophical considerations. In his and the philosopher Paul Eber’s introduction to physics, Initia doctrinae physicae, the Copernican theory was rejected and its teaching was prohibited.
The Wittenberg mathematician Reinhold was enthusiastic about Copernicus’s geometrical models, for they respected the so-called astronom- ical axiom (celestial motions are circular and uni- form about their centers). In his manuscript commentary on Copernicus, Commentarius in opus Revolutionum Copernici, he hinted at the possibility of accepting his devices without renouncing geocentrism. However, he could not complete his geocentric revision of Copernican astronomy due to an untimely death.