Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
History and Religion
Luther, Calvin, & Melanchthon Wax Geocentric, Oppose Copernicus

Luther, Calvin, & Melanchthon Wax Geocentric, Oppose Copernicus

Last updated on: June 2, 2017 at 4:24 pm by Dave Armstrong

Luther, Calvin, & Melanchthon Wax Geocentric, Oppose Copernicus 2017-06-02T16:24:54-04:00 Dave Armstrong

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Earth3

NASA photograph of the earth from 22,000 miles away (10-17-00) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons]

***

(2-5-09)

*****

Martin Luther

[From Conversations With Luther: Selections From Recently Published Sources of the Table Talk, translated and edited by Preserved Smith and Herbert Percival Gallinger, New York: The Pilgrim Press, 1915 (link to Google Reader)]

Then Luther spoke concerning the threefold movement of the heavens: “The first is the primary motion, of great swiftness, which is perhaps caused by an angel; in twenty-four hours the whole firmament is revolved a thousand miles in a jiffy. It is wonderful how quickly the whole sky is thus wheeled around. If the sun and stars were made of iron, silver or gold, they would soon be melted as a result of their enormous velocity. . . .”

“No one will persuade me, neither Paul nor an angel from heaven, nor even Melanchthon (1), to believe in the predictions of astrology, which are mistaken so many times that nothing is more unreliable. . . .”

Mention was made of a new astronomer (2) who wished to prove that the earth moved and went around, not the sky or the firmament or the sun or the moon. It was just as when one was sitting on a wagon or a boat which was moving, it seemed to him that he was standing still and resting, and that the earth and trees moved by. “So it goes,” [said Luther] “whoever wants to be clever must not be content with what any one else has done, but must do something of his own and then pretend it was the best ever accomplished. The fool wants to change the whole science of astronomy. But the Holy Scripture clearly shows us that Joshua commanded the sun, not the earth, to stand still. [Joshua 10:12-13]

[1] Dave: Melanchthon was a firm adherent of astrology, as was early Lutheran champion Martin Chemnitz.

[2] Editors: “Copernicus, whose epoch-making work De orbium coelestium revolutionibus was printed as its author was dying by the Protestant Reformer Osiander at Nuremburg in 1543. He had arrived at his momentous conclusions as early as 1507, and Luther, who is speaking on June 4, 1539, had heard of them from one of his numerous Nuremburg friends.”

(pp. 101-102, 104)

John Calvin

[From: Copernicus and His Successors, Edward Rosen, edited by Erna Hilfstein, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1995 (link to Google Book Search and reader)]

. . . let us look at Calvin’s commentary on Ps. 93:1, the relevant portion of which reads as follows:

The heavens revolve daily, and, immense as is their fabric and inconceivable the rapidity of their revolutions, we experience no concussion — no disturbance in the harmony of their motion. The sun, though varying its course every diurnal revolution, returns annually to the same point. The planets, in all their wanderings, maintain their respective positions. How could the earth hang suspended in the air were it not upheld by God’s hand? By what means could it maintain itself unmoved, while the heavens above are in constant rapid motion, did not its Divine Maker fix and establish it?

[Commentary on the Book of Psalms, tr. James Anderson (Edinburgh, 1845-1849), IV, 6-7; re-issued, Grand Rapids, 1949; Calvini opera, XXXII, 16-17]

(p. 168)

* * *

Theological opponents of Copernicus usually quoted Ps. 104:5 (God “laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed, for ever”), on which Calvin’s comment begins as follows:

Here the prophet celebrates the glory of God, as manifested in the stability of the earth. Since it is suspended in the midst of the air, and is supported only by pillars of water, how does it keep its place so stedfastly that it cannot be moved? This I indeed grant may be explained on natural principles; for the earth, as it occupies the lowest place, being the center of the world, naturally settles down there.

[Commentary on the Book of Psalms, IV, 148-149; Calvini opera, XXXII, 86]

(p. 168)

* * *

Commenting on Ps. 19:4, Calvin says: “the firmament, by its own revolution, draws with it all the fixed stars” (Commentary on the Book of Psalms, I, 315; Calvini opera, XXXI, 198)

(p. 168)

* * *

This concept of a stationary earth at rest in the air was picturesquely elaborated by Calvin in his sermon on the alphabetical Ps. 119:90 (“Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth”):

I beseech you to tell me what the foundation of the earth is. It is founded both upon the water and also upon the air: behold its foundation. We cannot possibly build a house fifteen feet high on firm ground without having to lay a foundation. Behold the whole earth founded only in trembling, indeed poised above such bottomless depths that it might be turned upside down at any minute to become disordered. Hence there must be a wonderful power of God to keep it in the condition in which it is.

[Calvin, Two and Twentie Sermons . . . [on] the Hundredth and Nineteenth Psalme, tr. Thomas Stocker, (London, 1580), fol. 99v (somewhat modernized); Calvini opera, XXXII, 620: sermon 12, preached on April 9, 1553]

(p. 169; see also Calvin’s sermon on Job 26:7, cited at length on pp. 169-170)

* * *

. . . in his Commentarius in librum Iosue, composed during the agony of his last illness, Calvin commented:

As in kindness to the human race He divides the day from the night by the daily course of the sun, and constantly whirls the immense orb with indefatigable swiftness, so He was pleased that it should halt for a short time till the enemies of Israel were destroyed.

[Calvin, Commentaries on the Book of Joshua, tr. Henry Beveridge (Edinburgh, 1854), 153; re-issued, Grand Rapids, 1949, Calvini opera, XXV, 500]

(p. 171)

* * *

. . . Calvin never demolished, condemned, rejected, opposed, or stigmatized as an utter reprobate the quiet thinker who founded modern astronomy.

What, then, may we ask at the end of our inquiry, was Calvin’s attitude toward Copernicus? Never having heard of him, Calvin had no attitude toward Copernicus.

(p. 171)

Philip Melanchthon

The eyes are witnesses that the heavens revolve in the space of twenty-four hours. But certain men, either from the love of novelty, or to make a display of ingenuity, have concluded that the earth moves; and they maintain that neither the eighth sphere nor the sun revolves . . . Now, it is a want of honesty and decency to assert such notions publicly, and the example is pernicious. It is the part of a good mind to accept the truth as revealed by God and to acquiesce in it.

[in Elements of Physics, 1549 (six years after Copernicus’ death); cited in The Copernican Revolution, Thomas Kuhn and James Bryant Conant, 5th edition, Harvard University Press, 1973, p. 191]

* * *

Copernicus, in effect, already refuted these scientifically ludicrous opinions:

Perhaps there will be babblers who claim to be judges of astronomy although completely ignorant of the subject and, badly distorting some passage of Scripture to their purpose, will dare to find fault with my undertaking and censure it. I disregard them even to the extent of despising their criticism as unfounded. For it is not unknown that Lactantius, otherwise an illustrious writer but hardly an astronomer, speaks quite childishly about the earth’s shape, when he mocks those who declared that the earth has the form of a globe. Hence scholars need not be surprised if any such persons will likewise ridicule me.

(Preface to De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium)

* * *

I located on Internet Archive the old debates between Ken Cole and Gary Hoge vs. Robert Sungenis, with the latter defending the position of geocentrism:

Scientific Disproof of Geocentrism (Ken Cole, with four replies by Sungenis and four counter-replies from Cole)

As the Universe Turns: Is it physically possible for the whole universe to orbit the earth? (Gary Hoge)

Why the earth can’t be the center of mass of the universe (+ Part II) (Gary Hoge vs. Robert Sungenis; Hoge’s rebuttal to Sungenis’ reply to the article immediately above)

John Calvin

Martin Luther

Philosophy & Science

16th century astronomy

astronomy

Calvin

Christianity & science

Protestantism & science

Previous Post

October 19, 2008

Sola Scriptura Debate (vs. Evangelical Pastor C. Michael Patton)

Next Post

February 16, 2009 Candles, Incense, and Symbolism for Prayer in the Bible

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category & Last Things About Me Anti-Catholicism Atheism & Agnosticism Baptism and Sacramentalism Bible and Tradition Blessed Virgin Mary Books by Dave Armstrong C. S. Lewis Calvinism & General Protestantism Catholic Apologetics Catholic Apologists Catholic conversion Catholic converts Christmas Church (Ecclesiology) Church History Conversion and Converts Development of Doctrine Eastern Orthodoxy Ecumenism & Christian Unity Eucharist & Liturgy Fathers of the Church French Translations G. K. Chesterton Hell Hell & Satan Hell & Satan & Last Things Heresies & Comparative Religion Holistic Health Inquisition & Crusades & Scandals James White Jews & Judaism & Old Testament John Calvin John Henry Newman Liberal / Modernist Theology Life Issues Literary Resume Lutheranism Mariology Martin Luther Music Orthodoxy Papacy & Infallibility Personal Page Philosophy & Science Political & Ethical & Moral Issues Protestant Persecution & Intolerance Protestantism Purgatory Purgatory & Penance Romantic & Imaginative Theology Saints & Purgatory & Penance Salvation Salvation & Justification Satan & Last Things Sexuality and Gender Issues Spanish Translations Traditionalism vs. Radical Catholic Reactionaries Traducciones al español / tradução para português Trinitarianism & Christology Uncategorized Videos

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 October 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 March 2009 February 2009 October 2008 September 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 October 2005 June 2005 April 2005 February 2005 July 2004 May 2004 April 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz