Re: Hyers' Article - Cods Wallop

Jim wrote,

> It was only a couple of weeks ago when I stood at the Hotel del Coronado
> (just visiting!) and looked as small boats partially disappeared over the
> horizon. In light of that, it's a little hard to believe that at least some of
> the folks familiar with the seas (even the big inland ones) might not have some
> sense of curvature. Curvature of the heavens above would be an easier
> conjecture, but I'll bet that a curved earth was not a hard sell to some mariners
> and other sea-savvy folks. It might be a harder leap to a spherical Earth. I
> don't think it is a slam dunk that a flat earth was the universal holding.
> Admittedly just a speculation, though. But, have you been to the seashore
> lately? JimA
>
>
A careful statement.
My research shows that there is considerable evidence that all peoples prior
to the Greeks and many, of course, afterward, including island peoples
believed the earth was flat, albeit some curvature may well have been accepted. The
only evidence I have seen of a people before c. 500 BC believing the earth was
a sphere were the early Japanese who thought of the earth as a snowball
floating in the primeval sea---not really the same as the modern concept. See Paul
H. Seely, "The geographical meaning of 'earth' and 'seas' in Gen 1:10" in the
Westminster Theological Journal 59 (1997) 231-55. I can send it by attachment
to email if you or anyone else is interested.

Paul
Received on Wed Feb 25 15:03:31 2004