Gooch's dad

Much of it does, yes. This one has come up before several times, and I'm amazed to see anybody repeate this canard.

Jehanne

The early medieval Catholic Church may not have "taught" the idea of a Flat Earth, but it was certainly acceptable theological opinion to do so!

Boro Nut

That the earth is spherical was known from classical times and that knowledge was not lost to the knowledgeable. That's a long way from saying it was taught by the church, or known by the common people, who's sole source of knowledge was the bible as dictated by the only person who could understand the dead language it was written in. The dark ages weren't called the dark ages because Krakatoa had erupted.

In 1415 Henry V marched to Calais via Agincourt entirely without a map. The concept did not exist as we know it, as the contemporary church-produced Mapa Mundi in Evesham Abbey demonstrates. It was entirely useless unless you needed to know Jerusalem was at the centre, the garden of Eden at the top, and where a particular city stood in the hierarchy of political influence or religious significance. Yet it was well known to science at the time that a fourth antipodean continent beyond Europe, Asia, and Africa existed. We know this because the church was busying itself burning university professors in Bologna and Padua for teaching the fact.

So was it known that the earth was spherical? Of course. Was it common knowledge? Hardly likely. What is definitely known is that scientific knowledge was held back by the church and progressed largely in spite of its influence, not because of it, as many revisionists would like to portray.

Boro Nut

Boro Nut

Hardly a surprising opinion. That's exactly what it says in the Book of Enoch.

Boro Nut

lee_merrill

Strange then that many prominent early scientists were clergy!

Jehanne

Galileo is usually credited as being the first modern scientist, that is, someone who uses the "empirical method" to understand the World and Universe. And, Galileo was not a clergy member.

lee_merrill

Certainly, yet various clergy were involved in early science, notably Mendel and Stensen (geology) and more recently, Lemaître (apparently first to the big bang), so some categorical repression of science by the church--this conclusion is incorrect, though I perhaps should have said many early scientists were Christians.

Boro Nut

So the revisionism begins. Let's just ignore all the burnings at the stake for expressing a simple observation of fact. Yet in the one instance where you really could make a compelling case that it was idle clerics who did most of the legwork for the radical advances in 19th century understanding of naturalism, geology, paleontology etc, you totally reject their conclusions.

Boro Nut

God Fearing Atheist

This is really amazing, since Augustine is quite explicitly saying he doubts the existence of people on the opposite side of the earth, not that the earth has an opposite side.

aa5874

So why was Galilileo asked to recant by the Church? Why was there a trial in the first place?

Officially, the Church was against anyone that appeared to be contrary to the Scriptures, whether scientist or not, in or out the confines of the Church.