Difference between revisions of "Firmament"
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| − | The '''firmament''' is the sky | + | The '''firmament''' is the sky and it is debated on whether the term merely means expanse or means a solid dome.<ref>[http://creation.com/is-the-raqiya-firmament-a-solid-dome Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely] by James Patrick Holding</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. |
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> | 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> | ||
Revision as of 08:26, October 4, 2014
The firmament is the sky and it is debated on whether the term merely means expanse or means 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
- ↑ Is the raqiya‘ (‘firmament’) a solid dome? Equivocal language in the cosmology of Genesis 1 and the Old Testament: a response to Paul H. Seely by James Patrick Holding
- ↑ 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.