An image from Nicolaus Copernicus\u2019 \u201cDe revolutionibus orbium coelestium\u201d
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some point to the proposal of a heliocentric model of our solar system by the cathedral canon Nicholas Copernicus as a watershed moment in what they view as the long and always triumphant war of science and reason against religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s supposed to have shocked people with the realization of how insignificant our planet is, in the great scheme of things.<\/p>\n
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That\u2019s wrong at virtually every level.\u00a0 For now, though, here\u2019s the British medievalist C. S. Lewis, writing in 1947:<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe immensity of the universe is not a recent discovery.\u00a0 More than seventeen hundred years ago Ptolemy taught that in relation to the distance of the fixed stars the whole Earth must be regarded as a point with no magnitude.\u00a0 His astronomical system was universally accepted in the Dark and Middle Ages.\u00a0 The insignificance of Earth was as much a commonplace to Boethius, King Alfred, Dante, and Chaucer as it is to Mr H.G. Wells or Professor Haldane.\u00a0 Statements to the contrary in modern books are due to ignorance.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Cairo, Egypt<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Some point to the proposal of a heliocentric model of our solar system by the cathedral canon Nicholas Copernicus as a watershed moment in what they view as the long and always triumphant war of science and reason against religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s supposed to have shocked people with the realization of how insignificant our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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![\"Copernican](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/186\/2016\/04\/655px-Copernican_heliocentrism_diagram-2.jpg\")
<\/a>