[Buddha-l] flat earth?

[Bob Zeuschner]

Hi Curt --
You are asserting that the Church officials in the middle ages knew that 
the earth was a sphere, correct?
If so, can you produce anything written in that era to support the claim?

I'm fairly familiar with the major theologians of the period (including 
Aquinas), and I'm not able to recall anywhere that the claim that the 
earth is s sphere is made.
The way I recall it is that the Church demanded that everyone accept the 
claim that the earth was the center of the universe, and absolutely 
denied that the earth moved through space.

Both claims are compatible with a flat earth (surrounded by spheres of 
aether) or a spherical earth (surrounded by spheres).

That the Church of the middle ages accepted Aristotle's model is NOT 
evidence that the church accepted the claim that the earth was a sphere.
Maybe they did. Aristotle did not.

Can you jog my memory with a statement to that effect from the period?

As I said before, my understanding is that the scientific astronomical 
claims of the Greeks were discounted by Church officials; thus one 
cannot conclude that (a) the Greeks knew the earth was an oblate 
spheroid and therefore (b) all intelligent Christians of the middle ages 
accepted the claim.
Thanks.
Bob

curt wrote:
>>
  > Highly intelligent people disagreed about heliocentrism vs. geocentrism
> until quite recently (by historical standards). But the earth's 
> roundness was a settled matter well over 2000 years ago (precisely 
> because it is more easily demonstrated), and only people who were 
> seriously uneducated were unaware of this.
> 
> Anyone who bothers to make even the most cursory study of the history of 
> science knows that no one has seriously believed that the earth is flat 
> for a very long time - regardless of their religion. Only people who 
> rely on Readers Digest, the writings of Stephen Batchelor, and similar 
> sources for their understanding of the history of science believe in the 
> tale that Columbus proved that the earth is round, and that before that 
> everyone, or almost everyone, thought it was flat.
> 
> - Curt