We, like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants, can see more and farther not because we are keener and taller, but because of the greatness by which we are carried and exalted.

Bernard of Charters (1090-1153

The spherical earth is one of the lesser members of a group of planets circling an insignificant star on the outer edge of a run-of-the-mill galaxy, in a universe of countless galaxies. While rotating around a polar axis at an average equatorial speed of 1000 mph, the earth is at the same time rushing at about 70,000 mph in its orbit around the sun. Besides all of this, the earth, along with the rest of the solar system is moving at the unimaginable speed of 1,000,000 mph due to its rotation around the center of the galaxy. This is not all. The galaxy itself is moving at a yet unknown rate of speed through the black, cold, lifeless void of space, origin and destination unknown.

Are you impressed? Well, probably not because in today's world these statistics are taken for granted. They are recited dryly in every junior high school science class as one student whispers to another, "I heard all of this stuff on public TV last week." However, it wasn't always this way. Until about 500 years ago, a relatively short time as human history goes, things were much simpler. Conventional wisdom decreed the earth to be flat. It was obviously motionless and at the center of the universe, because the heavenly bodies seemed to move around it in predictably circular paths. Man was, therefore, situated in an exalted position, indeed. He saw himself as the brightest jewel in God's own crown of creation. It could not have been more ideal. So what caused all of this to change so drastically? Well, we will see. But to put things in perspective, let us first briefly review the history of astronomy.

Stargazing is as old as humanity itself. Even in prehistoric times life demanded some knowledge of the basic celestial phenomena. Early man depended exclusively on the location and movement of the heavenly bodies for navigation on both land and sea as well as for regulating the agricultural and ritual cycles of the year. However, the modern science of astronomy had its beginning in the ancient civilizations of Babylonia and Greece. The earliest were the Babylonians who, by the 8th century before the common era (BCE), had a well-established, though highly fanciful, concept of the cosmos. The Babylonians conceived the earth to be discoid or circular in shape, rising toward the center to form a single huge mountain. They also maintained that this circular earth was resting, or floating, on a great encircling ocean. This ocean was, in turn, girdled by a circular wall of mountains supporting the hemispherical vault of heaven, or the firmamen as it is called. The heavenly bodies seem to have been regarded as mysterious points of light moving freely through space. With its defeat by the Persians in 539 BCE, the great Babylonian civilization ended, and its astronomical theories ended with it.

The early Greek astronomers conceived the earth to be a flat circular disk floating at the center of a hollow, rotating sphere to which the stars are attached like silver studs. However, the Greeks, then living in a relatively free society, produced some dissenters who challenged this cosmological conception. One of these dissenters was Pythagoras, a 6th century BCE mathematician and astronomer, who so far as we know, was the first to propose a spherical earth. Although there is now some suggestion that the Egyptian builders of the Great Pyramid at Gisa (c. 2550 BCE) incorporated information on the spherical shape of the Earth into the dimensions of the pyramid (Encyclopedia Britannica, 15th Edition, Vol. 6, page 1), Pythagoras is usually credited with being the first to conceive the earth to be a sphere instead of a flat, circular disk. However, Pythagoras retained the traditional concept of a geocentric or earth centered universe. In the 5th century BCE, Eudoxas, a pupil of Plato, followed the Pythagorean example. Abandoning the traditional Greek concept of a flat, circular, disk-shaped earth, but retaining the notion of geocenterism, Eudoxas proposed a spherical earth sitting serenely at the center of a rotating celestial sphere.

About a generation later the great Aristotle burst upon the scene and the world has not been the same since. Aristotle embraced the Pythagorean/Eudoxian model of the cosmos. However, he embellished it by postulating the existence of a series of concentric spheres or shells that carried the heavenly bodies around the earth.

In the third century BCE, about a generation after Aristotle, there came the remarkable Aristarchus of Samos, who anticipated the full Copernican system, at least in its broader outlines. Aristarchus put forward the hypothesis that the sphere of stars was motionless. Its apparent daily rotation was, in reality, due to the rotation of the spherical earth, itself. The sun, Arisratchus maintained, is the true center of the universe around which the earth and the other planets are rotating. These revolutionary hypotheses, although essentially correct, were, unfortunately, too far ahead of their time. They were considered to be impious and contrary to "good old common sense." Moreover, they conflicted with the teachings of the great Aristotle and could not withstand his withering sunlight. It was to be almost 2000 years before Aristarchus and his cosmological hypotheses were vindicated.

The last of the great Greek astronomers and mathematicians was Ptolemy of Alexandria who lived in the 2nd century of the common era (CE). Ptolemy, in the best Aristotelian tradition, postulated a fixed, spherical earth at the center of a rotating celestial sphere. He published a comprehensive astronomical treatise titled the Almagest, which was to serve as the primary source book of astronomy for the next 1400 years.

The coming to power of Christianity in the 4th century ended the Golden Age of Greece. As their power increased, the Christian leaders showed a growing contempt and intolerance for the teachings of classical science and particularly for those heretical astronomical theories of the Greeks. Quoting scripture, the early church fathers frequently confirmed a flat, motionless earth at the center of the universe. They went so far as to declare that anyone imprudent enough to suggest that the earth might be inhabited on its "underside" was in imminent danger of being branded a blasphemer and put to death. As to the structure of the universe, they preferred to think of it as being analogous to the tabernacle of Moses. This was indeed the beginning of the "Dark Age."

While Europe wallowed in a Christian sponsored orgy of book burning and witch hunting, it was the Arabs of the Moslem world who kept alive in their great universities the traditions of ancient science and philosophy. They preserved many of the texts in which that tradition is enshrined. Later, these texts were to figure prominently in the coming of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment thereby bringing the Dark Age to a close.

In those days, science and religion were as cozy as two peas in a pod. Theologians, quoting the Bible, as well as scientific theory, assured their congregations that "up" there just beyond the outermost star there existed a wonderful domain called heaven. Heaven was ruled over by God, the creator and Lord of this system. Those who obeyed God's laws satisfactorily were rewarded after death by allowing their spirit to "ascend" into heaven where they would spend eternity praising God and living the good life. But if they had not obeyed God's laws, or if they had had the misfortune to fall out of favor with the church, their spirit would "descend" to Hell, the lower level of this simple three-tiered universe. There they would be forced to suffer eternal torment under the oppressive supervision of Satan, the personification of evil, the Prince of Darkness. So what ended this harmonious and apparently logical relationship between science and religion? Lets see just when and how it happened.

On May 24 of the year 1543 a man named Necholi Koppernigk, known to us by his Latinized name, Copernicus, lay on his deathbed in Fraunberg, Poland. He had been born in nearby Torun, Poland on the 19th day of February exactly 70 years earlier. He had been educated abroad and was awarded a doctorate in canon law from the University of Ferrara in Italy. However, he held a lifelong interest in the science of astronomy as well as in mathematics and remained at the cutting edge of both disciplines

As Copernicus lay on his deathbed a newly printed copy of his masterwork was brought to him. It is titled On The Revolutions Of The Heavenly Spheres. This astounding work would topple in one fell swoop the cosmological beliefs that had been taught as fact for more than fourteen centuries. The book was delivered none too soon, as it turned out, because Copernicus' first sight of it was almost his last sight of anything. Some days earlier he had suffered a stroke causing him to loose his memory and mental vigor. He saw his completed work almost at his last breath on the day he died. This, probably, was a good thing for him because his work contradicted holy scripture thereby committing what in those days was a capital offense. It presented mathematical proof that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the solar system. According to Copernicus, the earth, as well as the other planets, revolved around the sun while at the same time spinning about a central axis.

This has been correctly designated the Copernican Revolution, and a revolution it indeed was. It is difficult to imagine a similar challenge to our accustomed beliefs, to conceive of such a sudden and tremendous jolt to our imagination, such a reversal of what had been taken to be immutable truth. The academic community was left stunned and bewildered. The churches' reaction was predictable. The Heliocentric Theory, as it was known, was declared a heresy in direct conflict with established church dogma. We must remember that this was an age when the church was at the zenith of its power. The atrocities of the Catholic Inquisition and Protestant witch burnings struck fear into the hearts of the bravest of men.

Protestant and Roman Catholic church leaders joined in a vicious and strident attack on this "blasphemy." For example:

Martin Luther reacted by flatly rejecting the Heliocentric Theory as, "The over-witty notions of a fool, for does not Joshua 10 plainly say that the sun, not the earth, stood still?"

John Calvin quoted Psalm 93:1, "The earth is set firmly in place and cannot be moved," and he exclaimed, "Who will dare to place the authority of this man Copernicus above holy scripture?"

Cardinal Bellarmine, one of the chief enforcers of the Inquisition, declared, "This pretended discovery debases the whole Christian plan of salvation  To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin".

To their credit, these theologians correctly perceived the contradiction and rightly foresaw that the long held misconception of biblical inerrancy and infallibility was unmasked. If the new astronomy should prevail, their oppressive hold on the minds of men was doomed. The Heliocentric Theory for the first time brought into serious question the credibility of the Bible. Copernicus had delivered the first in what was to be over the next several centuries a series of devastating blows from which the Christian religion would never completely recover. The long night of the Dark Age was at last over. The Renaissance was in full bloom. Try as they might the church leaders were unable to stop it.

Copernicus had not only toppled conventional astronomy of his day, he had, in effect, driven the first nail into God's coffin. When the earth ceases to be flat and no longer sits serenely at the center of the universe, Christianity no longer makes any sense. Modern astronomy has completely destroyed the limited and circumscribed geocentric conception of the universe so essential to Christian rationale. The unvarnished truth is that the Christian belief system functions only in terms of a geocentric premise. 

In the generation following Copernicus the Heliocentric Theory found wide acceptance throughout the academic world, but not without risk. The church redoubled its opposition. Three young scientists, Antonio Vanini, Jaques Fountianier, and Giordano Bruno, all dedicated adherents of the Heliocentric Theory, were pronounced heretics by the Inquisition and given the dreaded choice--recant or die. They bravely chose death, and the age of modern science began with martyrs.

You know, there is a very poignant and compelling story here that is too often ignored by history. These men willingly chose death under the most inhumane conditions for a cause to which they were devoted. They were obviously men of great integrity with a selfless dedication to truth and knowledge. In that regard, was the sacrifice allegedly made by Jesus of Nazareth any greater than theirs? When you think of it, didn't these men die for us? Didn't they die so that we might be free?

When in 1633 the great Galileo Galilei's turn before the Inquisition came he wisely choose to recant and was thus spared the ultimate humiliation and hideous torture of being burnt alive at the stake. But he was not to get off scot-free. Due, no doubt, to the prestige he commanded throughout the academic world of that day Pope Urban VIII relented and in a rare gesture of benevolence allowed Galileo to live out his sentence in the comfort and privacy of his home in Florence where he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Upon his death in 1642 Galileo was buried obscurely and at the church's contrivance he was denied either a monument or an epitaph to honor his name. To his credit, in 1992 Pope John Paul II issued an official apology for the church's unjust treatment of Galileo.

If history has taught us anything it is that old prejudices and indoctrinations die slowly regardless of how absurd and incorrect they may be. For example, in March of the year 1616 Copernicus' works were placed on the Roman Catholic index of prohibited books and declared off limits to all Catholics, "Until they should be corrected." This ban was not lifted until 1825 long after the work of such important post Copernican astronomers as Brahe, Kepler, Descartes, Huygens, Galileo and Newton.

Even more preposterous than that was the attitude of Johannes Kruger, the revered founding father of the now defunct Union of South Africa. Until his death in 1904, Kruger, a fundamentalist Christian, clung tenaciously to the long discredited concept of a flat, motionless earth located at the center of a simple three-layered universe. It is said that when he assumed the office of Prime Minister he assembled at the taxpayer's expense, of course, a large group of theologians, soothsayers and so-called scientists who were given the ridiculous assignment of proving that the earth is flat.

The influential Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church did not eliminate geocentricity from its seminary curriculum until well into the 1920s.

Perhaps the most famous American flat earther was the late Rev. Wilbur Glenn Voliva, General Overseer of the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church of Zion, Illinois. Rev. Voliva was elected mayor of Zion in 1914 and proceeded to turn that little city into his own  private theocracy. Following his inauguration he insisted that biblical cosmology be taught in all public schools in Zion to the exclusion of any other concept, particularly modern astronomy. Being a very energetic man, Rev. Voliva established in Zion one of this country's first Christian radio broadcasting stations where he went on the air daily to thunder against what he described as "the Devil's Triplets" -- evolution, higher criticism (of the Bible), and, of course,  modern astronomy. Voliva was not ousted from political office until 1935. Under new, more progressive leadership the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church of Zion lost control, and its strangle hold on government was, after almost 20 years, finally broken. But take heart good people, the geocentrists may be an endangered species, but they are not yet extinct.

There is a small but dedicated group of serious flat earthers still active today. They meet about every two years at what they call the National Bible-Science Convention. At the time this paper was first written (1988) they were headed by a Dr. Gerardus D. Bouw, who (believe it or not) holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio. It is my understanding that the flat earthers are in league with the Creation Scientists, a marriage no doubt made in heaven.

In a more serious vein, the genius of Copernicus stands out as one of the great watersheds of human history. He is considered the father of modern astronomy, and his work led directly to the discoveries of Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and Einstein. Today, as we stand on the verge of the exploration of space, it is fitting and proper that we take a moment to reflect on the important contribution of Nicholas Copernicus, the man who changed forever our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

NOTES:

The church says that the earth is flat, but I know it is round, for I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in a shadow than in the church."

Ferdinand Magellan

Is the earth flat, motionless and at the center of a simple three-layered universe with heaven above and hell below? According to the Holy Bible it is. The following citations are by no means a complete listing, however they do represent a typical example in each category.

The earth is the center of the universe:

      Genesis 1:16-17 - And God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. And God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light to the earth.

      Joshua 10:12-13 - O sun, stand thou still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Aijalon. So the sun stood still and the moon stopped.

      Matthew 24:29 - ...the stars will fall from the sky.

The earth is fixed and motionless:

      Isaiah 45:18 - ...who made the earth and fashioned it, and himself fixed it fast.

      1 Chronicles 16:30 - He fixed the earth firm and immovable.

The earth is flat:

      Job 28:24 - For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven.

      Daniel 4:10-11 - Daniel saw a tree of great height at the center of the earth visible to the earth's farthest bounds.

      Matthew 4:8 - The devil took (Jesus) to a very high mountain, and showed him all of the kingdoms of the world.

      Revelation 1:7 - Behold, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye shall see him.

The earth is located between heaven and hell:

      Mark 16:19 - So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven.

      Luke 24:51 - And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.

      Psalm 55:15 - Let them go down into hell.

      Matthew 11:23 - And you, Capernaum shall descend into hell.

Bible believers often cite Isaiah 40:22² as proof positive that the Bible postulates a spherical earth. However, there are problems with this argument. For one thing, it must be shown that in referring to "the circle of the earth," Isaiah, an 8th century BCE Hebrew prophet, was speaking literally. Isiah also spoke of the "four corners" of the earth (11:12). Are we to take that literally? Even if it could be determined that Isaiah actually meant a circular earth, it must then be proved that he meant a circle in the sense of a sphere not in the sense of a flat disk. In that regard, it should be noted that the flat-earth society, which still exists today with headquarters in Lancaster, California, says that while the earth may be circular in shape, it is still flat. They base this belief on Isaiah 40:22. Also, Isaiah 40:22 is the very scripture that Lactantius, a 3rd-century church father, cited in rebuttal to arguments for a spherical earth.

Biblical astronomy is a reflection of the universe as it was perceived between two thousand and three thousand years ago when the Bible was written. Yet, some Christians assure me that the Bible is correct in all that it says, including its flat-earth astronomy.

For more information on this subject see Sun, Stand Thou Still and Time, Stand Thou Still on this web site.
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1 Compiled by Louis W. Cable

2 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.