Enlightened flat-earthers

Apparently every American child knows that Christopher Columbus discovered that the world is a sphere in 1492. In which case, every American child is wrong! They are wrong because every European intellectual before 1492 knew that the world was not flat and was indeed a sphere. In fact, not just the intellectuals, but every educated person of the time knew the earth was a sphere.

That’s right, all those maps, where ships fall of the edge of the world or dragons inhabit the unknown realms are probably false. They are most likely a modern anachronism.

This is the argument of Rodney Stark in his book For the Glory of God: How Monotheism led to Reformation, Science, Witch Hunts and the End of Slavery.

So why do we think that ancient thinkers were a bunch of dummies in the dark ages because they were Christians?

Why is it that the understanding of ancient Christian scholars has been ignored or misrepresented?

The reason is that the conflict category of religious flat-earther versus enlightened scientific thinker is a piece of powerful propaganda from the Enlightenment. They wanted to dismiss those religious Christian thinkers as a bunch of dummies in the dark so they could present themselves as thinkers in the light of truth.

Now, that I’ve got your attention let me provide 5 references that show that Christian scholars were never flat-earthers. Here is a list of those authors or writings that taught the earth was a sphere and the dates. The first one is just shy of 1000 years before good old Columbus:

• The Venerable Bede - Circa 673-735
• Bishop Virgilius of Salzburg - Circa 720-784
• Hildegard of Bingen - 1098-1179
• John of Sacrobosco - 1200-1256
• Thomas Aquinas - 1224-1274

Bede, Virgilius, Hildegard and Thomas were not the dissenting heretics of the ancient church. These guys were the absolute main stream.

And the name of the most popular medieval book on astronomy, written by the scholastic John of Sacrobosco between 1200-1256 was Sphere or Da Sphaera. It transmitted the standard view that all heavenly bodies - including the earth - were spherical (For the Glory of God by Rodney Stark page 122).

In fact, the only time that the ancient Christian thinkers and writers wrote about the world being flat was in order to argue against the idea.

So, do you feel more enlightened?