Augustine there were developed, in
every field, theological views of science which have never led
to a single truth--which, without exception, have forced mankind
away from the truth, and have caused Christendom to stumble for
centuries into abysses of error and sorrow. In meteorology, as
in every other science with which he dealt, Augustine based
everything upon the letter of the sacred text; and it is
characteristic of the result that this man, so great when
untrammelled, thought it his duty to guard especially the whole
theory of the "waters above the heavens."
In the sixth century this theological reasoning was still
further developed, as we have seen, by Cosmas Indicopleustes.
Finding a sanction for the old Egyptian theory of the universe
in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, he insisted that the earth is
a flat parallelogram, and that from its outer edges rise immense
walls supporting the firmament; then, throwing together the
reference to the firmament in Genesis and the outburst of poetry
in the Psalms regarding the "waters that be above the heavens,"
he insisted that over the terrestrial universe are solid arches
bearing a vault supporting a vast cistern "containing the
waters"; finally, taking from Genesis the expression regarding
the "windows of heaven," he insisted that these windows are
opened and closed by the angels whenever the Almighty wishes to
send rain upon the earth or to withhold it.
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