#1735 (10/10) Columbus Day: "Columbus and the Rise of Science.../ "Was Columbus A Christian?"

"Columbus and the Rise of Science - WE'VE BEEN LIED TO" - By: Chuck Colson| Breakpoint.org: Oct. 10, 2016; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/29948

Thank heavens that Columbus was able to convince the world that the earth was round. Except, as Chuck Colson explains in this classic BreakPoint commentary, Columbus didn’t have to convince anyone...

To paraphrase the opening of a popular ESPN show, these four things everyone knows are true: Before Columbus's first voyage, people thought the world was flat. When Copernicus wrote that the Earth revolved around the Sun, his conclusions came out of nowhere. Three, the "scientific revolution" of the seventeenth century invented science as we know it. And four, false beliefs and impediments to science are Christianity's fault.There's just one problem: All four statements are false.

As Rodney Stark writes in his new book, "For the Glory of God," "every educated person" of Columbus's time, especially Christian clergy, "knew the earth was round." More than 800 years before Columbus's voyage, Bede, the church historian, taught this, as did Hildegard of Bingen and Thomas Aquinas. The title of the most popular medieval text on astronomy was Sphere, not exactly what you would call a book that said the earth was flat.

As for Copernicus's sudden flash of insight, Stark quotes the eminent historian L. Bernard Cohen, who called that idea "an invention of later historians." Copernicus "was taught the essential fundamentals leading to his model by his Scholastic professors"—that is, Christian scholars.

That model was "developed gradually by a succession of . . . Scholastic scientists over the previous two centuries." Building upon their work on orbital mechanics, Copernicus added the "implicit next step."

Thus, the idea that science was invented in the seventeenth century, "when a weakened Christianity could no longer prevent it," as it is said, is false. Long before the famed physicist Isaac Newton, clergy like John of Sacrobosco, the author of Sphere, were doing what can be only called science. The Scholastics—Christians—not the Enlightenment, invented modern science.

Three hundred years before Newton, a Scholastic cleric named Jean Buridan anticipated Newton's First Law of Motion, that a body in motion will stay in motion unless otherwise impeded. It was Buridan, not an Enlightenment luminary, who first proposed that the Earth turns on its axis.

In Stark's words, "Christian theology was necessary for the rise of science." Science only happened in areas whose worldview was shaped by Christianity, that is, Europe. Many civilizations had alchemy; only Europe developed chemistry. Likewise, astrology was practiced everywhere, but only in Europe did it become astronomy.

That's because Christianity depicted God as a "rational, responsive, dependable, and omnipotent being" who created a universe with a "rational, lawful, stable" structure. These beliefs uniquely led to "faith in the possibility of science."

So why the Columbus myth? Because, as Stark writes, "the claim of an inevitable and bitter warfare between religion and science has, for more than three centuries, been the primary polemical device used in the atheist attack of faith." Opponents of Christianity have used bogus accounts like the ones I've mentioned to not only discredit Christianity, but also position themselves as "liberators" of the human mind and spirit.

Well, it's up to us to set the record straight, and Stark's book is a great place to start. And I think it's time to tell our neighbors that what everyone thinks they know about Christianity and science is just plain wrong. (The original commentary aired December 4, 2003).

[bold, italics, and colored emphasis mine]

RESOURCES

For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery - Rodney Stark | Princeton University Press | August 2004; http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7501.html

"Progress Through Theology: Interview with Rodney Stark" - David Neff | Christianity Today | July 1, 2003; http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/julyweb-only/7-14-52.0.html

"The Myth of the Flat Earth" - Bede Library | http://www.bede.org.uk/flatearth.htm

"Wagging the Dog: The Invented War between Science and Christianity" - Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | August 30, 2002; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-search/entry/13/11085

"Two Heavenly Subjects: Linking Science and Faith" - Chuck Colson |BreakPoint.org | July 14, 2003; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-search/entry/13/11726

"An Old Urban Legend: Confused by the Copernican Cliché" - Chuck Colson | BreakPoint.org | September 9, 2003; http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/breakpoint-commentaries-search/entry/13/11554

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"WAS COLUMBUS A CHRISTIAN?" - D. James Kennedy, Oct. 12, 2015

'And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations…’—Matthew 24:14

Today marks the annual remembrance of Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the New World. Columbus was a brave and farsighted leader whose monumental discovery changed the world. But our society often questions Columbus’ character. We know he was a man of flesh and blood, a sinner as we all are. And we know he made mistakes. Yet we can’t hold him responsible for all the things modern critics would like to blame him for.

So what kind of person was Columbus? His son portrays him as a gracious, loving father. Columbus was a godly man who so fervently attended to Scripture reading, prayer, fasting, and all of the worship services, that if one didn’t know he was a seafaring man, one would have suspected that he belonged to a holy order. In fact, when Columbus first landed in the New World, his first act was to plant a cross on the land.

The names Columbus chose for the places he discovered also indicate his dedication to Christ. He named his first landing place “San Salvador,” which means “Holy Savior.” He named his next landing places “Vera Cruz,” which means “1 Cross,” and “La Navidad,” which means “The Nativity” or “Christmas.” Then Columbus came to an island with three hills on it, and he named it “Trinidad,” meaning “The Trinity.” He did this time after time in the places he landed, indicating his godly focus and nature.

Today you’ll often hear people doubt the goodness of Columbus’ character. Part of this is because they perceive that Columbus sailed for “gold and glory.” But listen to what Columbus himself said about his reason for sailing: “It was the Lord who put it into my mind to sail to the Indies. The fact that the gospel must be preached to so many lands—that is what convinced me.” Overall, I think Columbus is a model of courage, who admirably drew his life’s vision from Jesus Christ.

"No one should fear to undertake any task in the name of our Savior, if it is just and if the intention is purely for His holy service." —CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS