RE: What do invented saints tell us about Christianity?
November 16, 2019 at 4:44 pm
(This post was last modified: November 16, 2019 at 4:49 pm by Belacqua.)
(November 16, 2019 at 1:48 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Simply because a philosopher who - let's admit it, lives a somewhat rarified life - holds a particular viewpoint doesn't mean that rank-and-file peasants are going to hold that same view point. And it's worth mentioning here that Plato doesn't appear anywhere in the New Testament.
Boru
I never said that it became the majority view because of Plato. I pointed out that he believed it, back then.
It became the majority view over several centuries, due to the work of lots of people.
Plato doesn't appear in the Bible but was indirectly a strong influence on Christian theology.
We know less about the views of the rank and file peasants whether they were Christian or not. But the simple fact that they were Christian doesn't mean they believed in a flat earth.
(November 16, 2019 at 8:09 am)Jehanne Wrote: 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.
The idea that anything in the book of Revelation is intended literally is a stretch.
Anyway -- we've established that many Christians knew the earth was round. And this shows that a belief in the flat earth is not something that automatically goes with Christianity.
(November 16, 2019 at 10:19 am)Jehanne Wrote: Plato argued passionately, also, that the Earth was the center of the universe and that all the planets and Sun must go around the Earth in perfect circles. That idea went unchallenged for over 2000 years, even though the ellipse was universally known.
Yes, but that's not a flat earth -- that's a different problem.
When your geocentric model accurately predicts eclipses and allows you to navigate safely, it means that there is strong empirical evidence for its truth. It took a long time to gather more detailed evidence to the contrary.
Nor is belief in a geocentric model particularly Christian.