Flattening the Medieval Earth explores the origin of the ‘flat error’, i.e. the false accusation that ancient and medieval Christians believed in a flat Earth, and what this implies in terms of a conflict between science and Christianity. Engaging with scientific and religious debates, this book includes a reception study of two key figures of the 4^th century AD, Lactantius and Augustine. This study demonstrates that the mistaken ‘dark’ image of medieval scholars as flat-earthers started very early, c. 1600, as an internal Christian debate in the context of new geographical and astronomical views. The author draws on extensive research including many primary and secondary sources from different countries and languages not previously put into conversation. Combining history of science, church history, science and religion, history of navigation, and historiography, this book gives the most updated explanation of the origin of the flat error, finding paradoxes and unexpected answers along the way to understand the past and to reflect on some current approaches in science and religion.

Pablo de Felipe is a researcher and lecturer, with a focus on the relations between science and Christianity, at the Protestant Faculty of Theology SEUT in Madrid (Spain). In the same city he also lectures at the Xavier Zubiri Foundation and is part of the advisory board of the Science, Technology and Religion Chair at the Comillas Pontifical University. He holds a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a PhD in Religion and Theology from the University of Bristol (UK). He works as Head of Service (Virology) at the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices (AEMPS) in Madrid.

Table des matières :

Introduction: Columbus and the flat Earth;
1. Searching for the origins and causes of an error;
2. From the Greek discovery of the spherical Earth to the Medieval debate of the antipodes;
3. Revival and criticism of early Christians’s geographical views in the Early Renaissance (14th and 15th centuries);
4. Old texts and the geographical challenge of the voyages (1434-1522);
5. The early Copernicans and the flat-earthers (1541-1616);
General Conclusions: From the invention of the flat error to the idea of an historical conflict between science and Christianity.

Informations pratiques :

Pablo de Felipe, Flattening the Medieval Earth. Seeking the Early Modern Origins of the Idea of an Historical Conflict between Science and Christianity, Lodnres, Routledge, 2025 ; 1 vol., 280 p. (Routledge Science and Religion Series). ISBN : 978-1-03289-306-8. Prix : GBP 145,00.

Source : Routledge