Difference between revisions of "Firmament"
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| − | The '''firmament''' is the sky, conceived as a solid dome.<ref name="NewAdvent">"Firmament", ''Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref> According to Genesis, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from those below: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:6|KJV}}</ref> The word is anglicized from Latin ''firmamentum'', which appears in the [[Vulgate]]. | + | The '''firmament''' is the sky, conceived as a solid dome.<ref name="NewAdvent">"[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06079b.htm Firmament]", ''Catholic Encyclopedia''</ref> According to Genesis, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from those below: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|1:6|KJV}}</ref> The word is anglicized from Latin ''firmamentum'', which appears in the [[Vulgate]]. This, in turn, is a Latinization of the Greek ''stereoma'', used in the Septuagint. |
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| + | Pre-scientific peoples universally believed that the sky was a solid dome. "Firm is the sky and firm is the earth," according the ''Rig Veda,'' an Indian scripture.<ref name="Mesopotamia">"[http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Seely-Firmament-WTJ.pdf The Firmament and the Water Above]", Westminster Theological Journal, 53 (1991), 232–233.</ref> | ||
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| + | [[Augustine]] wrote that too much learning had been expended speculating on the nature of the firmament.<ref name="Grant">Grant, Edward, ''Planets, stars, and orbs: the medieval cosmos, 1200-1687''. p. 335.</ref> [[John Calvin]] proposed that firmament be interpreted as clouds. But he did not commit himself to a naturalistic explanation: "As it became a theologian, [Moses] had to respect ''us'' rather than the stars."<ref name="Calvin">Calvin, comment on verse 1:15.</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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Revision as of 02:42, October 4, 2014
The firmament is the sky, conceived as a solid dome.[1] According to Genesis, God created the firmament to separate the "waters above" the earth from those below: "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."[2] The word is anglicized from Latin firmamentum, which appears in the Vulgate. This, in turn, is a Latinization of the Greek stereoma, used in the Septuagint.
Pre-scientific peoples universally believed that the sky was a solid dome. "Firm is the sky and firm is the earth," according the Rig Veda, an Indian scripture.[3]
Augustine wrote that too much learning had been expended speculating on the nature of the firmament.[4] John Calvin proposed that firmament be interpreted as clouds. But he did not commit himself to a naturalistic explanation: "As it became a theologian, [Moses] had to respect us rather than the stars."[5]
References
- ↑ "Firmament", Catholic Encyclopedia
- ↑ Genesis 1:6
- ↑ "The Firmament and the Water Above", Westminster Theological Journal, 53 (1991), 232–233.
- ↑ Grant, Edward, Planets, stars, and orbs: the medieval cosmos, 1200-1687. p. 335.
- ↑ Calvin, comment on verse 1:15.