Re: [asa] Flat Earth in earlier Christendom

This is one of those uncommon cases, Coope, in which the widely received
view is not only almost entirely wrong (there were in fact a very small
number of Christian authors who endorsed the flat earth, but no more than
half a dozen of any significance in 2000 years), but completely backwards
from the truth--at least in terms of the Columbus stories that circulate
widely. In that case, it was the Christian university professors in Spain
who were right about the earth's shape and size, whereas Columbus was right
only about its shape (on which there was no disagreement whatsoever).

This particular issue is as close as one can get to a "slam dunk,"
historically. Your friend has nothing on which to stand. For a highly
reliable and very short summary of the real history, including an account of
how the false stories become part of our modern "knowledge," see Jeffrey
Burton Russell's book, "Inventing the Flat Earth: Columbus and Modern
Historians." Internet summaries of his work are poor substitutes: go take a
look at the book!

Ted

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Received on Wed Nov 12 10:27:07 2008