Did the apostles and the early Church believe the Earth was flat?

[zoidar]

As far as I know Greek philosophers knew at that time Earth was round, but how about the apostles and the early Church?

God bless!
/P

 

[usexpat97]

If they did, the men of God were wrong. It happens.

 

[Kate30]

I’m not so sure if they held to a flat earth belief. The bible is certainly geocentric and that is the belief that the church held up unto the beginning of the 20th century. With the earth being stationary and the sun, planets and stars moving around the earth.

 

[☦Marius☦]

I doubt it. The Greeks knew the world was round thousands of years before using oblisks to calculate the earth's circumference. Is was more a medieval trend to believe it flat.

 

[Aussie Pete]

As far as I know Greek philosophers knew at that time Earth was round, but how about the apostles and the early Church?

God bless!
/P

I'd imagine that they believed God's word, which says that the earth was round and suspended in space. (Isaiah 40:22, Job 26:7) Some being sailors, they may have noticed the curvature of the earth revealed as a ship comes over the horizon. I was told by a history teacher that's how the Greeks came to believe that the earth was round.

 

[tampasteve]

I honestly doubt they thought about it to much outside of generalities. The topic just is not something that concerns most common people that are more concerned with their daily needs.

But if they did, they probably believed in a globe earth. As has been stated, the flat earth was primarily a commonly held belief in ancient times and medieval times. The Greeks, and by extension other Mediterranean cultures have known the Earth was round for a very long time.

 

[redleghunter]

As far as I know Greek philosophers knew at that time Earth was round, but how about the apostles and the early Church?

God bless!
/P

They were non-material men living in a material world. Meaning they all grew up in a Hellenistic society and would be familiar or even educated in the current science and philosophy.

Given the Hebrew Scriptures never concludes the earth is flat, I don't think they thought so.

 

[Shrewd Manager]

As far as I know Greek philosophers knew at that time Earth was round, but how about the apostles and the early Church?

God bless!
/P

The Ptolemaic model was likely the governing cosmological outlook for most of the Christian era. It was geocentric, geostationary, round earth. When Copernicus came along with his heliocentric model, nobody was particularly moved, as it was far more complicated (in terms of number of motions) and was plainly contrary to scripture and commonsense.

Still, the ancient Hebrew conception of the earth, for everyone apart from the filthy Babylonians and a few smart-alecky Greeks, was flat and enclosed.

And Jesus himself endorses this when he congratulates the Pharisees: 'Ye hypocrites! Ye can discern the face of the earth and the sky...' (Lk 12:56)

So the apostles, coming from that tradition, would have accepted the concept of absolute space and immovable earth. It's a beautiful truth, if only you're ready to let God be true. You might even find the science supports it.

 

[A Realist]

It's a beautiful truth, if only you're ready to let God be true. You might even find the science supports it.

...and here we go.....

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I doubt it. The Greeks knew the world was round thousands of years before using oblisks to calculate the earth's circumference. Is was more a medieval trend to believe it flat.

The Almagest, a standard textbook of the mediaeval period, explicitly says the world is round. Contrary to popular belief, they didn't think the earth flat; nor did people think Columbus would sail off the edge - they distrusted his calculations of distance, but he found India (America) to prove them 'wrong'. Afterall, the Spanish monarchs funded him. Maybe some simple folk, but the educated have not believed a flat earth for more than 2 millenia in most of Europe.

Don't know if the Apostles thought the world flat. I'd bet the educated Paul didn't, but I am not sure of the other simple fishermen and the like, such as Peter. They might, but probably not.

 

[redleghunter]

...and here we go.....

I feel the NASA posts coming along as well.

 

[Shrewd Manager]

...and here we go.....

Programming? Mindless stupidity? Do tell.

 

[Shrewd Manager]

Maybe some simple folk, but the educated have not believed a flat earth for more than 2 millenia in most of Europe.

I guess arch-protestant martyr William Tyndale bucked the system then:

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

I guess arch-protestant martyr William Tyndale bucked the system then:

Doesn't mean a thing. It is a translation choice to describe a flat piece of land.

Back then the belief was in revolving Heavenly spheres around the round earth. You find this in Shakespeare, Dante, Petrarch, etc. I am unaware of Tyndale making any clear statement on the matter, but I'd bet money on him not thinking the earth literally flat.

 

[Kate30]

I guess arch-protestant martyr William Tyndale bucked the system then:

2nd Samuel 11:11 ( And Uriah said unto David. The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents, and my Lord Joab, and the servants of my Lord , are encamped in the open fields , shall i then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife ? As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. ) Shrewd Manager I did not find? Which word for flat is used ?

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

2nd Samuel 11:11 ( And Uriah said unto David. The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in tents, and my Lord Joan, and the servants of my Lord , are encamped in the open fields , shall i then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife ? As thou livest, and as thy soul liveth, I will not do this thing. ) Shrewd Manager I did not find? Which word for flat is used ?

He is translating 'Open Fields' here for 'Flat Earth' in Tyndale's. It has nothing whatsoever to do with cosmogony, but the terrain they camped upon.

 

[Shrewd Manager]

I don't know enough about Tyndale, but I'd bet money on him not thinking the earth literally flat.

Nobody else made that 'translation choice'. It's a 1537 edition, in the wake of Cristobal Colon's grand opening tour of 1492. I daresay it speaks volumes as to the controversy in the minds of the truly saved. Forget the others you mention, they're all merely stage actors steeped in pagan traditions and convention.

You'll find that cartography did not become 3D until around that time, the first Mercator projection appearing 1569. Strange days indeed. Of course, no navigator or surveyor ever allows for curvature in charting practice to this day. It's just another bogus 'transform equation'.

 

[redleghunter]

Nobody else made that 'translation choice'. It's a 1537 edition, in the wake of Cristobal Colon's grand opening tour of 1492. I daresay it speaks volumes as to the controversy in the minds of the truly saved. Forget the others you mention, they're all merely stage actors steeped in pagan traditions and convention.

You'll find that cartography did not become 3D until around that time, the first Mercator projection appearing 1569. Strange days indeed. Of course, no navigator or surveyor ever allows for curvature in charting practice to this day. It's just another bogus 'transform equation'.

Is the moon flat? The sun? If so are we just happening to see their flat sides? I mean, come on man...Every other heavenly body out there is a sphere.

 

[Shrewd Manager]

Which word for flat is used ?

Strong's Hebrew: 6440. פָּנִים (panim or paneh) -- face, faces

panim or paneh: face, faces

Often creatively translated as 'the open field'.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Nobody else made that 'translation choice'. It's a 1537 edition, in the wake of Cristobal Colon's grand opening tour of 1492. I daresay it speaks volumes as to the controversy in the minds of the truly saved. Forget the others you mention, they're all merely stage actors steeped in pagan traditions and convention.

You'll find that cartography did not become 3D until around that time, the first Mercator projection appearing 1569. Strange days indeed. Of course, no navigator or surveyor ever allows for curvature in charting practice to this day. It's just another bogus 'transform equation'.

Ptolemy already had latitude and longitude to describe places (though imperfect) in the Almagest. We see mediaeval maps like the mappa mundi of Hereford attempt primitive projection, although of necessity drawing it in a circle therefore - though this wasn't a problem, as following Augustine, they thought the Antipodes of the earth uninhabited.