Biblical cosmology
- See also: Cosmology
The various authors of the Bible provide sporadic glimpses of their insight regarding astronomy. These glimpses may be stitched together to form a Biblical impression of the physical universe. As demonstrated below, the meaning of Biblical scriptures are often debated due to translational ambiguities as well as metaphorical and allegorical interpretations.
Sky, sun, moon and stars
The sky, the abode of the stars, is described as a "raqiya'" (rakia, Hebrew for an extended solid surface or flat expanse, considered to be a hemisphere above the Earth).[1] The translation familiar to most English speakers is "firmament." According to Genesis 1:6-7, this raqiya' was set in the midst of the waters, and it divided the waters above from those beneath. There were also lights placed in the raqiya`, or firmament, to give light upon the earth (Genesis 1:14-17), being the Sun, Moon, and stars. According to some readings, God made it of matter already existing at the time of Creation; that is, God did not "create" it at that time. The raqiya' representing the sky in Ezek. 1:22 resembled ice; therefore it is quite possible that the author of Genesis, like Ezekiel, regarded the sky as being composed of solidified water or ice (some translations render it as "crystal"). Such a sky, being transparent, would permit the stars, which are located above its vault, to be seen through it.
Stars as the Hosts of Heaven
Several biblical passages refer to “hosts” around God and in the heights above. This phrase is commonly taken to refer to angels or other creatures, but an alternate interpretation takes it to mean the stars. Under this interpretation, the stars were supposed to be living creatures. If the difficult passage (Judges 5:20) may be regarded as other than a poetical figure, the stars "walk on the way"; they "come out" in the morning, and "go in" at night. By a miracle, sun and moon are made to stand suddenly still (Joshua 10:12). They fight from their courses like warriors on the march (Judges ib.); the poet perhaps thinks of falling stars. In later times the stars are spoken of as "the hosts of heaven." This conception is paralleled among the Assyrians, contemporaries of the Hebrews, who likewise conceive of the stars as soldiers serving the god of heaven, Anu, and probably also the somewhat similar god Ninib, whose abode was the planet Saturn.
The stars stand in God's presence, to the right and the left of God's throne (I Kings 22:19; II Chronicles 18:18); they serve Him (Neh. 9:6; Ps. 103:21), and praise Him (Ps. 103:21, 148:2). Like the kings of earth, they may be consigned by God's judgment to the nether world (Isa. 24:21 et seq.); and God will in future execute judgment among them as among the nations of earth (Isa. 34:4 et seq.). Reverence is offered to the stars as living creatures (Jer. 8:2).
At the head of this starry host stands a "captain of the army" (Josh. 5:14; Dan. 8:11); according to the passage in the Book of Daniel, he was the star highest in altitude as well. By this designation the planet Saturn was probably intended, the farthest removed from earth and therefore the highest in the heavens, and which was held by the Assyrians to be the "bellwether" of the flock. This starry army belongs to God; hence the frequent expression "God of hosts" indicates that God is the actual leader of the heavenly array.
Zechariah 4:1–10 recounts a vision of a menorah (seven branched candelabrum used as decoration in the Tabernacle from the time of Moses, and later in the Temple in Jerusalem.) Taking this interpretation to its extreme, this passage can be viewed as calling the seven planets the "seven eyes of God", just as the planet Saturn was the eye of Anu, lord of heaven among the Babylonians. It would appear, therefore, that they were no longer considered independent beings, and of course the other stars likewise. However, this vision is a visual parable, not necessarily a physical object, and it does not mention stars: therefore the interpretation that it refers to the seven planets is not obvious from the text (Compare Revelation 1:20)
Modern movements in Biblical cosmology
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Modern geocentrism attempts to alter scientific thought to be compatible with the Bible with special focus on astronomy.
Young earth creationism attempts to alter scientific thought to be compatible with the Bible with special focus on creationism (spiritual cosmology).
After its experiences during the Copernican revolution, The Roman Catholic Church has slowly shifted towards tolerance and even acceptance of physical cosmology as proposed by scientists. A Roman Catholic Priest in the employ of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Georges Lemaître was, in fact, instrumental in the development of the Big Bang theory of the universe. The Catholic Church and many other mainline Christian denominations accept modern scientific cosmology as compatible with allegorical interpretations of the Bible. The Conservative and Reform traditions within Judaism also accept modern cosmology as compatible with their reading of scripture.
In contrast, some modern-day Young Earth creationists have tried to create Creationist cosmologies that they claim are compatible with a plain reading of the Creation according to Genesis in order to explain observations that appear to refer to a universe that is older than they would prefer. There are also a limited number of radical creationists who believe that strict modern geocentrism or even a flat earth [citation needed]are the only acceptable cosmological arrangements in concord with the bible, though their numbers are vanishingly small and their arguments are rejected by the majority of creationists. Scientists and their supporters, dismiss all these cosmologies as pseudoscience.
References
See also
- Cosmogony
- Cosmological argument
- Creation (theology)
- Creation according to Genesis
- Allegorical interpretations of Genesis
- Creationism
- Creationist cosmologies
- Creator god
- Dating Creation
- Day-Age Creationism
- Deism
- Firmament
- Gap Creationism
- Hindu cosmology
- Modern geocentrism
- Old Earth creationism
- Origin belief
- Theism
- Timeline of the Universe
- Ultimate fate of the universe
- Young Earth creationism
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