Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
came from the Greek geographer Ptolemy. The Bible does not directly address the issue.
Neither does it address the date of creation. The belief that the Bible says we live on a not-
quite six-thousand-year-old Earth at the center of the universe is itself an interpretation.
Gradually, the idea that there were other ways to interpret biblical stories came to be accep-
ted. By the time Pope John Paul II apologized publicly for Galileo's persecution in 1992,
the church had long since abandoned the idea of Noah's Flood as a global deluge. The new
official view was that those who condemned Galileo did not recognize the potential for dif-
fering interpretations of the Bible's plain words.
Consider, for example, how through a literal interpretation one can read something into
the Bible one knows not to be true, like that the world is flat. The Creation story in Gen-
esis says Earth is covered by a great vault (firmament) on which the celestial bodies move
across the sky, which makes literal sense if the world is flat—like the floor of a grand
temple. And must not Daniel have considered Earth essentially flat when he interpreted the
dream of a great tree that could be seen to the farthest end of the world (Daniel 4:20)? This
only would be possible if the world were flat (and a lot smaller than it actually is). Obvi-
ously, it is impossible to see the far side of the world on a spherical planet, which is why
one understands the obvious meaning as a figure of speech.
This is not just an Old Testament problem. Literal interpretation of the New Testament
also implies a flat Earth. Matthew wrote that the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of
the world from the top of a high mountain (Matthew 4:8). This would only be possible if
the planet were indeed flat, unless of course Matthew was referring to all the kingdoms of
the Middle East, the world known to the Jews. Similarly, the Book of Revelation refers to
“the four corners of the earth” (Revelation 7:1) despite the fact that spheres lack corners. In
other words, acknowledging the fact that we live on a planet requires allowing for figurat-
ive or allegorical interpretations for these, and therefore other, biblical passages.
As debate about the nature of the cosmos, the beginning of the world, and evidence for
the Flood moved from cloisters into more public forums, Protestants generally promoted
biblical literalism in their feud with the Catholic Church and its allegorical readings of the
Bible. Today, however, few realize that until the Reformation Christian theologians con-
sidered strict biblical literalism simplistic fodder for the illiterate masses.
