(November 16, 2019 at 7:49 am)Belacqua Wrote:(November 16, 2019 at 6:33 am)Jehanne Wrote: The link is here for those who wish to read it for themselves:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth
And, here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_cosmology
Plato says the earth is a sphere.
Apparently the idea began to catch on especially in the 4th century BC. After that it was the majority view, although there was a minority of holdouts.
To say "early Christians believed in a flat earth" would be misleading, because some did, but many didn't. It would be equally correct to say "modern Americans believe in a flat earth," because some small percentage do. A blanket statement that excludes so many is misleading at best.
The topic came up on this thread because "Aron Ra" states categorically that Augustine believed in a flat earth. There are only two places in Augustine's work where he addresses the idea; the first time he says he's not sure and we should believe whatever the experts prove -- it won't affect Christianity. The second time he seems to accept that it's been demonstrated, but since he's not writing a geography book he doesn't address it much.
The point is that "Aron Ra" is wrong. And the view that a flat earth was the mainstream belief until Columbus is false.
Clearly, the author of Revelation (7:1) believed in a flat Earth, as did the author of Matthew. Likewise, Saint
Irenaeus, a second century Christian bishop, justified the four Gospels as being due to the "four corners of the World", and so, the idea was certainly present in Christian belief.
