A short treatise of biblical exegesis in "Astronomia Nova"

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There are, however, many more people who are moved by piety to withhold assent from Copernicus, fearing that falsehood might be charged against the Holy Spirit speaking in the scriptures if we say that the earth is moved and the sun stands still.

But let them consider that since we acquire most of our information, both in quality and quantity, through the sense of sight, it is impossible for us to abstract our speech from this ocular sense. Thus, many times each day we speak in accordance with the sense of sight, although we are quite certain that the truth of the matter is otherwise. This verse of Virgil furnishes an example:

We are carried from the port, and the land and cities recede. (Aeneid III.72.)

Thus, when we emerge from the narrow part of some valley, we say that a great plain is opening itself out before us.

Thus Christ said to Peter, "Lead forth on high," (Lk 5:4) as if the sea were higher than the shores. It does seem so to the eyes, but optics shows the cause of this fallacy. Christ was only making use of the common idiom, which nonetheless arose from this visual deception. Thus, we call the rising and setting of the stars "ascent" and "descent," though at the same time that we say the sun ascends, others say it descends. See the Astronomiae pars optica (Ch. 10, 327).

Thus the Ptolemaic astronomers even now say that the planets are stationary when they are seen to stay near the same fixed stars for several days, even though they think the planets are then really moving downwards in a straight line, or upwards away from the earth.

Thus writers of all nations use the word "solstice," even though they in fact deny that the sun stands still. Thus there has not yet been anyone so doggedly Copernican as to avoid saying that the sun is entering Cancer or Leo, even though he wishes to signify that the earth is entering Capricorn or Aquarius. And there are other like examples.

Now the holy scriptures, too, when treating common things (concerning which it is not their purpose to instruct humanity), speak with humans in the human manner, in order to be understood by them. They make use of what is generally acknowledged, in order to weave in other things more lofty and divine.

No wonder, then, if scripture also speaks in accordance with human perception when the truth of things is at odds with the senses, whether or not human s are aware of this. Who is unaware that the allusion in Psalm 19 is poetical? Here, under the image of the sun, are sung the spreading of the Gospel and even the sojourn of Christ the Lord in this world on our behalf, and in the singing the sun is said to emerge from the tabernacle of the horizon like a bridegroom from his marriage bed, exuberant as a strong man for the race. Which Virgil imitates thus:

Aurora leaving Tithonus's saffron-coloured bed (Aeneid IV.585)

The psalmodist was aware that the sun does not go forth from the horizon as from a tabernacle (even though it may appear so to the eyes). On the other hand, he considered the sun to move for the precise reason that it appears so to the eyes. In either case, he expressed it so because in either case it appeared so to the eyes. He should not be judged to have spoken falsely in either case, for the perception of the eyes also has its truth, well suited to the psalmodist's more hidden aim, the adumbration of the Gospel and also of the Son of God. Likewise, Joshua makes mention of the valleys against which the sun and moon moved (Jos 10:12ff), because when he was at the Jordan it appeared so to him. Yet each writer was in perfect control of his meaning. David was describing the magnificence of God made manifest (and Syracides with him), which he expressed so as to exhibit them to the eyes, and possibly also for the sake of a mystical sense spelled out through these visible things. Joshua meant that the sun should be held back in its place in the middle of the sky for an entire day with respect to the sense of his eyes, since for other people during the same interval of time it would remain beneath the earth .

But thoughtless persons pay attention only to the verbal contradiction, "the sun stood still" versus "the earth stood still," not considering that this contradiction can only arise in an optical and astronomical context, and does not carry over into common usage. Nor are these thoughtless ones willing to see that Joshua was simply praying that the mountains not remove the sunlight from him, which prayer he expressed in words conforming to the sense of sight, as it would be quite inappropriate to think, at that moment, of astronomy and of visual errors. For if someone had admonished him that the sun doesn't really move against the valley of Ajalon, but only appears to do so, wouldn't Joshua have exclaimed that be only asked for the day to be lengthened, however that might be done? He would therefore have replied in the same way if anyone had begun to present him with arguments for the sun's perpetual rest and the earth's motion.

Now God easily understood from Joshua's words what he meant, and responded by stopping the motion of the earth, so that the sun might appear to him to stop. For the gist of Joshua's petition comes to this, that it might appear so to him, whatever the reality might meanwhile be. Indeed, that this appearance should come about was not vain and purposeless, but quite conjoined with the desired effect.

But see Chapter 10 of the Astronomiae pars optica, where you will find reasons why, to absolutely all men, the sun appears to move and not the earth: it is because the sun appears small and the earth large, and also because, owing to its apparent slowness, the sun's motion is perceived, not by sight, but by reasoning alone, through its change of distance from the mountains over a period of time. It is therefore impossible for a previously uninformed reason to imagine anything but that the earth, along with the arch of heaven set over it, is like a great house, immobile, in which the sun, so small in stature, travels from one side to the other like a bird flying in the air.

What absolutely all men imagine, the first line of holy scripture presents. "In the beginning," says Moses, "God created the heaven and the earth," because it is these two parts that chiefly present themselves to the sense of sight. It is as though Moses were to say to man, "This whole worldly edifice that you see, light above dark and widely spread out below, upon which you are standing and by which you are roofed over, has been created by God."

In another passage, Man is asked whether he has learned how to seek out the height of heaven above, or the depths of the earth below (Jer 31:37), because to the ordinary man both appear to extend through equally infinite spaces. Nevertheless, there is no one in his right mind who, upon hearing these words, would use them to limit astronomers' diligence either in showing the contemptible smallness of the earth in comparison with the heavens, or in investigating astronomical distances. For these words do not concern measurements arrived at by reasoning. Rather, they concern real exploration, which is utterly impossible for the human body, fixed upon the land and drawing upon the free air. Read all of Chapter 38 of Job, and compare it with matters discussed in astronomy and in physics.

Suppose someone were to assert, from Psalm 24, that the earth is founded upon rivers, in order to support the novel and absurd philosophical conclusion that the earth floats upon rivers. Would it not be correct to say to him that he should regard the Holy Spirit as a divine messenger, and refrain from wantonly dragging Him into physics class? For in that passage the psalmodist intends nothing but what men already know and experience daily, namely, that the land, raised on high after the separation of the waters, has great rivers flowing through it and seas surrounding it. Not surprisingly, the same figure of speech is adopted in another passage, where the Israelites sing that they were seated upon the waters of Babylon (Ps 137), that is, by the riverside, or on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris.

If this is easily accepted, why can it not also be accepted that in other passages usually cited in opposition to the earth's motion we should likewise turn our eyes from physics to the aims of scripture?

A generation passes away says Ecclesiastes (Eccl 1:4), and a generation comes, but the earth stands forever. Does it seem here as if Solomon wanted to argue with the astronomers? No; rather, he wanted to warn men of their own mutability, while the earth, home of the human race, remains always the same, the motion of the sun perpetually returns to the same place, the wind blows in a circle and returns to its starting point, rivers flow from their sources into the sea, and from the sea return to the sources, and finally, as these men perish, others are born. Life's tale is ever the same; there is nothing new under the sun.

You do not hear any physical dogma here. The message is a moral one, concerning something self-evident and seen by all eyes but seldom pondered. Solomon therefore urges us to ponder. Who is unaware that the earth is always the same? Who does not see the sun return daily to its place of rising, rivers perennially flowing towards the sea, the winds returning in regular alternation, and men succeeding one another? But who really considers that the same drama of life is always being played, only with different characters, and that not a single thing in human affairs is new? So Solomon, by mentioning what is evident to all, warns of that which almost everyone wrongly neglects.

It is said, however, that Psalm 104, in its entirety, is a physical discussion, since the whole of it is concerned with physical matters, and in it, God is said to have "founded the earth upon its stability, that it not be laid low unto the ages of ages." But in fact, nothing could be farther from the psalmodist's intention than speculation about physical causes. For the whole thing is an exultation upon the greatness of God, who made all these things: the author has composed a hymn to God the Creator, in which he treats the world in order, as it appears to the eyes.

If you consider carefully, you will see that it is a commentary upon the six days of creation in Genesis. For in the latter, the first three days are given to the separation of the regions: first, the region of light from the exterior darkness; second, the waters from the waters by the interposition of an extended region; and third, the land from the seas, where the earth is clothed with plants and shrubs. The last three days, on the other hand, are devoted to the filling of the regions so distinguished; the fourth, of the heavens; the fifth, of the seas and the air; and the sixth, of the land. And in this psalm there are likewise the same number of distinct parts, analogous to the works of the six days.

In the second verse, be enfolds the Creator with the vestment of light, first of created things, and the work of the first day.

The second part begins with the third verse, and concerns the water above the heavens, the extended region of the heavens, and atmospheric phenomena that the psalmodist ascribes to the waters above the heavens, namely, clouds, winds, tornadoes, and lightening.

The third part begins with the sixth verse, and celebrates the earth as the foundation of the things being considered. The psalmodist relates everything to the earth and to the things that live on it, because, in the judgment of six, the chief parts of the world are two: heaven and earth. He therefore considers that for so many ages now the earth has neither sunk nor cracked apart nor tumbled down, yet no one has certain knowledge of what it is founded upon.

He does not wish to teach things of which men are ignorant, but to recall to mind something they neglect, namely, God's greatness and potency in a creation of such magnitude, so solid and stable. If an astronomer teaches that the earth is carried through the heavens, he is not spurning what the psalmodist says here, nor does he contradict human experience. For it is still true that the land, the work of God the architect, has not toppled as our buildings usually do, consumed by age and rot; that it has not slumped to one side; that the dwelling places of living things have not been set in disarray; that the mountains and coasts have stood firm, unmoved against the blast of wind and wave, as they were from the beginning. And then the psalmodist adds a beautiful sketch of the separation of the waters by the continents, and adorns his account by adding springs and the amenities that springs and crags provide for bird and beast. He also does not fail to mention the adorning of the earth's surface, included by Moses among the works of the third day, although the psalmodist derives it from its prior cause, namely, a humidification arising in the heavens, and embellishes his account by bringing to mind the benefits accruing from that adornment for the nurture and pleasure of humans and for the lairs of the beasts.

The fourth part begins with verse 20, and celebrates the work of the fourth day, the sun and the moon, but chiefly the benefit that the division of times brings to humans and other living things. It is this benefit that is his subject matter: it is clear that he is not writing as an astronomer here.

If he were, he would not fail to mention the five planets, than whose motion nothing is more admirable, nothing more beautiful, and nothing a better witness to the Creator's wisdom, for those who take note of it.

The fifth part, in verse 26, concerns the work of the fifth day, where He fills the sea with fish and ornaments it with sea voyages.

The sixth is added, though obscurely, in verse 28, and concerns the animals living on land, created on the sixth day. At the end in conclusion, he declares the general goodness of God in sustaining all things and creating new things. So everything the psalmodist said of the world relates to living things. He tells nothing that is not generally acknowledged, because his purpose was to praise things that are known, not to seek out the unknown. It was his wish to invite men to consider the benefits accruing to them from each of these works of the six days.

I, too, implore my reader, when he departs from the temple and enters astronomical studies, not to forget the divine goodness conferred upon men, to the consideration of which the psalmodist chiefly invites. I hope that, with me, he will praise and celebrate the Creator's wisdom and greatness, which I unfold for him in the more perspicacious explanation of the world's form, the investigation of causes, and the detection of errors of vision. Let him not only extol the Creator's divine beneficence in His concern for the well­ being of all living things, expressed in the firmness and stability of the earth, but also acknowledge His wisdom expressed in its motion, at once so well hidden and so admirable.

But whoever is too stupid to understand astronomical science, or too weak to believe Copernicus without affecting his faith, I would advise him that, having dismissed astronomical studies and having damned whatever philosophical opinions he pleases, he mind his own business and betake himself home to scratch in his own dirt patch, abandoning this wandering about the world. He should raise his eyes (his only means of vision) to this visible heaven and with his whole heart burst forth in giving thanks and praising God the Creator. He can be sure that he worships God no less than the astronomer, to whom God has granted the more penetrating vision of the mind's eye, and an ability and desire to celebrate his God above those things he has discovered.

So much for the authority of holy scripture. As for the opinions of the pious on these matters of nature, I have just one thing to say: while in theology it is authority that carries the most weight, in philosophy it is reason. Therefore, Lactantius is pious, who denied that the earth is round, Augustine is pious, who, though admitting the roundness, denied the antipodes, and the Inquisition nowadays is pious, which, though allowing the earth's smallness, denies its motion. To me, however, the truth is more pious still, and (with all due respect for the Doctors of the Church) I prove philosophically not only that the earth is round, not only that it is inhabited all the way around at the antipodes, not only that it is contemptibly small, but also that it is carried along among the stars.