An Early Conflict between Theologians and Science - A Flat Earth
Disagreements between scientists and Christians are nothing new. The same motivation, the preservation of the authority of Scripture, has so often been the root cause.
Ancient people naturally assumed that the earth was flat as that was the only way they could conceive that plants, people and buildings could stand upright. In early Mesopotamian mythology the world was portrayed as a flat disc floating in the ocean with a hemispherical sky dome above. The ancient Hebrews appear to have accepted contemporary notions about a flat earth. Isaiah writing in the seventh or eighth century BC wrote about the heavens where God lived,
“He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.” Isaiah 40:22
Job’s advisor, Eliphaz, also portrayed the current thinking, although he does acknowledge that some stars appear to be higher than others. This is possibly the oldest writing in the Bible, some considering it to have been originally composed around the time of Abraham (2000BC).
“Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars! . . . thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.” Job 22:12-14
Job himself however demonstrated a considerable understanding of astronomy.
“He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.” Job 26:7
Daniel, when an exile in Babylon in the sixth century BC is told by King Nebuchadnezzar of his dream, which could infer that he understood the earth as being flat.
“ . . there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous. The tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky; it was visible to the ends of the earth.” Daniel 4:10-11
Similarly Isaiah looked forwards to the time when God would bring back together all his people,
“. . . he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Isaiah 11:12
It is easy to see how some, reading these words literally, could have argued that the Bible is teaching that earth is flat but further evidence came to light from science to suggest that such phrases as ‘the ends of the earth’ and ‘the four corners of the earth’ should be understood figuratively.
It was Pythagoras, in the sixth century BC, who taught that the earth was round. They could see the shapes of the moon and the sun. Seafarers knew that ships disappeared over the horizon and the Pole Star moved to a higher position in the sky when journeying north. Two centuries later Aristotle to came up with the evidence. He saw that in an eclipse of the moon, the earth’s shadow is always circular. In ancient Egypt some clever mathematicians undertook to find the size of the round earth. Several observers were placed hundreds of miles apart along the Nile valley which runs from South to North. They each measured the angle of the sun at noon on a certain day. In this way it was confirmed that the earth ‘s surface was round and the diameter of the earth was calculated to a precision of just one per cent off current measurements.
However later there were Christians who became very concerned about these findings because they were being used to reject Christianity by teaching that these findings undermined the concept of Scripture being the Word of God. Proclus (411-485 AD) used the Ptolemaic model of revolving spherical planets to argue against the Christian doctrine of creation. He argued that a circle is a picture of eternity and that this denied the idea of a finite creation.
Some of the church fathers were flat-earthers, opposed to Greek astronomy. Early Christian beliefs mention a number of ideas about the shape of the earth. These are some examples of Christian theologians who accepted the notion of a flat earth because this is what they felt the bible taught. Methodius (c. 290 AD), was an eastern Christian derided "the theory of the Chaldeans and the Egyptians" who had asserted that the earth was spherical. He said,
"Let us first lay bare ... the theory of the Chaldeans and the Egyptians. They say that the circumference of the universe is likened to the turnings of a well-rounded globe, the earth being a central point. They say that since its outline is spherical, ... the earth should be the centre of the universe, around which the heaven is whirling."i
There are many examples of leading Christians being wrong because they did not have enough knowledge. Thus the Christian Lactanius (260-330 AD), an advisor to the first Christian Roman Emperor, Constantine, wriote about the possibility of life on the other side of a spherical earth, said,
"Is it possible that men can be so absurd as to believe that the crops and the trees on the other side of the earth hang downward, and that men have their feet higher than their heads? If you ask them how they defend these monstrosities, how things do not fall away from the earth on that side, they reply that the nature of things is such that heavy bodies tend toward the centre, like the spokes of a wheel, while light bodies, as clouds, smoke, fire, tend from the centre to the heavens on all sides. Now, I am really at a loss what to say of those who, when they have once gone wrong, steadily persevere in their folly, and defend one absurd opinion by another."
He also ridiculed those who thought that:
“. . . the universe is round like a ball. They also thought that heaven revolves in accordance with the motion of the heavenly bodies. ... For that reason, they constructed brass globes, as though after the figure of the universe. ... I am at a loss as to what to say concerning those who, once they have erred, continue in their folly, defending one vain thing by another vain thing.”ii
St. Augustine (354 – 430AD), who did so much to help the church understand Scripture, asserted that no one could live on the other side of the earth saying,
"Its impossible there should be inhabitants on the opposite side of the earth, since no such race is recorded by Scripture among the descendants of Adam."
Augustine objected to the "fable" of an inhabited Antipodes:
“But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours that is on no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other: hence they say that the part that is beneath must also be inhabited. But they do not remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled. For Scripture, which proves the truth of its historical statements by the accomplishment of its prophecies, gives no false information; and it is too absurd to say, that some men might have taken ship and traversed the whole wide ocean, and crossed from this side of the world to the other, and that thus even the inhabitants of that distant region are descended from that one first man.”iii
Another argument against there being inhabitants on the other side of the earth was that,
"In the day of judgment, men on the other side of a globe could not see the Lord descending through the air."
There have been hot debates about such matters in the past and it is only as more information has come to light over time that the truth has been revealed. Indeed Augustine himself gave the following advice for those facing apparent contradictions between secular and Biblical studies,
“If we cannot reconcile such a contradiction we are to suspend judgement, not doubting either the Holy Scripture or the results of human observation and reasoning, but believing that it is possible, given sufficient knowledge and understanding to reconcile the apparent contradiction.”
It is all too easy to pick out mistakes made by others, but we must never forget that Augustine reminded the world what Scripture shouts, that we are all meant to find a relationship with Jesus Christ, our creator. He summarised the Bible’s teaching as,
“Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.”
One Greek monk, Cosmas Indiopleustes, wrote a book in AD 548 titled ‘Christian Topography’ in which he argued strongly that all Christians should believe in a flat earth. He thought that the sun was just 42 miles in diameter and circled in an arc 4,400 miles above the earth. He regarded this as a vital gospel issue. He despised any Christians who accepted Ptolemaic ideas as being ‘two-faced’ and ‘tainted with worldly wisdom’. His argument was.
“The pagans believe the earth is round; therefore it must be flat!”
There was a public debate in Alexandria, that Cosmas thought he had won. He wrote afterwards,
“And it is the truth I speak, O most beloved Father, through the power of Christ they went away dumbfounded and sadly crestfallen, having been put to shame by our exposure of their fiction.”iv
In fact the weight of evidence was so strong that the Christian community rejected the theory of a flat earth and accepted that the earth was spherical.v This acceptance did not undermine the Christian faith whatsoever, but for a time it did help Christians to be more circumspect in the way they interpreted the Bible.
Augustine had obviously wrestled over the conflict between the discoveries of science and his understanding of what the Bible teaches. He gave some excellent advice in his book, ‘The Literal Meaning of Genesis’, written around AD 415,
“Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of the world, about the motion and orbit of the stars and even their size and relative positions, about the predictable eclipses of the sun and moon, the cycles of the years and the seasons, about the kinds of animals, shrubs, stones, and so forth, and this knowledge he holds to as being certain from reason and experience. Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticised and rejected as unlearned men. If they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are they going to believe those books in matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learnt from experience and the light of reason? Reckless and incompetent expounders of Holy Scripture bring untold trouble and sorrow on their wiser brethren when they are caught in one of their mischievous false opinions and are taken to task by those who are not bound by the authority of our sacred books. For then, to defend their utterly foolish and obviously untrue statements, they will try to call upon Holy Scripture for proof and even recite from memory many passages which they think support their position, although they understand neither what they say nor the things about which they make assertion [quoting 1 Tim 1:7].”
It is very unfortunate that Christians have not listened to that advice. It is so easy to be distracted away from gospel priorities and not to see the effect some are having on others.
Resurgence of the Flat Earth theory
The issue of a flat earth was reintroduced in England in 1849 in a sixteen page booklet, written under the pseudonym ‘Parallax’, titled ‘Zetetic Astronomy: a Description of Several Experiments which prove that the sea is a perfect plane and that the earth is not a Globe’. Over the next 35 years its author, Samuel Rowbotham, toured England giving public lectures wherever he could. In 1873 he published a 430 page second edition of his book “Earth is not a Globe” which best describes his theories. He argued that the world is a large circular plane with the North Pole at the centre and a hundred and fifty foot wall of ice at the South Pole. The equator was a circle half way out. For him the sun, moon and stars circle above the equator at a height of 600 miles. Their arguments were surprisingly persuasive. George Bernard Shaw described a public meeting in which a flat-earther destroyed his globe-believing opponent. In a meeting in Brockport, New York two scientists were opposed by a flat-earther. Five townspeople, appointed as judges, gave the unanimous opinion that the flat earth view was more convincing. This resurgence was again associated with religious views. One flat-earther, David Wardlaw Scott said,
“I believe the real source of modern astronomy to have been SATAN,”
“From his first temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden until now, his great object has been to throw discredit on the Truth of God.”vi
Another flat-earther, John Hampden, agreed that calling the earth spherical was,
“ . . . that Satanic device of a round and revolving globe, which sets Scripture, reason and facts at defiance.”vii
The importance of describing these events about a flat-earth are to demonstrate how sincere, well-meaning people can get things wrong and fail to link up all areas of knowledge. He based his Flat Earth views on a literal interpretation of the Bible. The phrase “four corners of the earth” appears in several Bible verses as a figurative expression meaning the whole world.
“He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the exiles of Israel; he will assemble the scattered people of Judah from the four quarters of the earth.” Isaiah 11:12
This refers to God regathering His people from all directions.
“Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land!’” Ezekiel 7:2
This is saying that God’s judgment will extend to all parts of the land.
“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.” Revelation 7:1
This is symbolic of the earth’s four cardinal directions, north, south, east, west.
“And will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore.” Revelation 20:8
This describes the global extent of Satan’s deception.
These verses all use “four corners” figuratively to describe the entire world. They are not meant as scientific statements about the shape of the earth but rather as poetic or prophetic language. Other passages used, or misused are:
“He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth,
and its people are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a canopy,
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.” Isaiah 40:22“He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.” Job 26:10
The question that needs to be answered is how literally is the word of God meant to be understood and does God also speak to us through nature and other means. Clearly any words from God must be coherent.
It is so easy to have conspiratorial views and consider that anyone with a different view is deceived, particularly if they come from those with atheistic or pagan beliefs. It is easy to hold that that evidence, such as photos from the moon, or isotope dating, must be flawed or even faked because they seem to go against the way we understand the Bible to be saying. There must however be a unity between the evidence obtained from science and that taught in Scripture if the one God is the source of both. In the question of the whether the earth is flat, just as in the case of whether the earth moves around the sun, or with regard to the age of the universe and earth, science can help us understand Scripture, to our benefit.
Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo all confirmed that the planets were globes traveling through space. Isaac Newton (1643-1727) provided the mathematical mechanism by invoking gravity as the force that held the round planets in place. It was gravity that gave them their round shapes. The idea of a flat earth was never widely held. Respected theologians such as the Venerable Bede, Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon all taught that the earth was a sphere.
However at the end of Victorian times there were some who began to blame Christians for many wrongs and one of these was that they had advocated a flat earth. This argument however was more polemical than factual. The historian, J.B. Russell, studied the old history textbooks that had been used in schools. Few of these textbooks even mentioned the “flat Earth myth” before 1870. However after 1890 almost all of them mentioned the myth. He considered that this change had been brought about by two influential books both of which were written by men with anti-Christian agendas.
In 1874 John Draper had published his ‘History of the Conflict between Religion and Science’ and he introduced the notion that Christianity had taught that the earth was flat. This very popular book was translated into ten languages and had many reprints. He cited Lactantius (245-325 AD), the advisor to Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor. As we have seen Lactantius does, at one point in his many writings, question how people could live on the other side of the earth. However what is fascinating is to see how he refers to the widespread belief of his time that the earth was round and travelled through space. Draper also cited ‘Cosmas Indicopleustes’, the Greek merchant from Alexandria who lived in the sixth century, the second part of his name simply meant ‘Indian traveller’. He published a book called ‘Topographia’ containing some of the earliest maps of that part of the world. He did think that the earth was flat and openly disagreed with the traditional view of a spherical earth floating in space. He suggested that the earth was more like the shape of the Jewish tabernacle, the skies being a curved box overhead. His views were widely rejected by other Christians of that time, including the very influential philosopher, John Philoponus, who also lived in Alexandria. Cosmas’s theory of a flat earth was never widely accepted or even known about until the early eighteenth century when his writings were translated into Latin.
In 1896 the flat earth theory was discussed in Andrew Dickson White’s ‘A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom’. White was the founder of Cornell University, the first secular college in the United States and he wanted to reduce the influence of the church. He also refers to Lactantius and Cosmas but does not question the significance of their ideas or give a fair analysisviii. Both Draper and White overlook the fact that neither of these ancient writers are quoted as authorities in medieval writings.
The idea that the church had held back science, the thesis of the above books, was advocated in spite of the evidence that it was Christians who initiated the development of science.
The late Stephen Jay Gould, the famous evolutionist, was concerned about the basis of such claims. He investigated the matter and concluded that the flat earth myth had been invented by secular scientists so that the Christian church could be ridiculed for its anti-scientific views. He concluded,
“. . . the nineteenth-century invention of the flat earth, as we shall see, occurred to support another dubious and harmful separation wedded to another legend of historical progress - the supposed warfare between science and religion.”
BVP
i Quoted by Bercot, David (1998). 'A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs'. Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers. p. 222.
ii Lactantius, The Divine Institutes, Book III, Chapter XXIV, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol VII, ed. Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D., American reprint of the Edinburgh edition (1979), , Grand Rapids, MI, pp. 94–95.William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
iii Augustine, ‘City of God’, chap 9
iv Quoted by Ken Keathley in Aquila Report , Sept 30th 2012
v Ken Keathley, found at betweenthetimes.com/index.php/tag/patristics/
vi David Wardlaw Scott, ‘The Earth: Scripturally, Rationally and Practically Described. A Geographical, Philosophical, and Educational review, Nautical Guide, and General Students Manual’ n. 17 (Nov 1st 1887) p. 60
vii John Hampden, ‘The Earth: Scripturally, Rationally and Practically Described. A Geographical, Philosophical, and Educational review, Nautical Guide, and General Students Manual’ n. 8 (Dec 11th 1886) p. 60
viii This is discussed in more detail in http://www.bede.org.uk/conflict.htm
