Before exploring 7000+ years of human history related to the shape of the earth, we feel compelled to comment on the flat earth related works of Jeffrey Burton Russell. The Ethical Atheist's motivation in researching flat earth thinking was in large part motivated by reading his paper "The Myth of the Flat Earth". As stated in the Preface, the initial version of this eBook was very different. We readily admit our guilt in writing a misleading, biased, and closed-minded piece that was overly critical of the Church and of Jeffrey Burton Russell. If you skipped the Preface, please read it now. (See "Preface - Closed-Minded Thinking Contaminated Original Version".) As we stated in email correspondence directly to Mr. Russell, we sincerely apologize for our previous rash approach. While we still disagree on some issues, there is no reason not to live in peace. Mr. Russell responded, "Good. Peace it is.".While our view has changed significantly on the timeframe and extent of flat earth thinking, we believe the title "The Myth of the Flat Earth" is a misnomer. It's not a myth in that it never occurred. It's more a matter of when and by whom. We now tend to agree with Russell in his discussion on the lack of flat earth thinking in medieval times. Doing this research has been very enlightening in this respect. But, we will remain open to all new evidence that presents itself regarding flat earth thinking. We're convinced that Russell will too.
However, what still annoys us is Russell's claims of attacks on Christianity, anti-religion conspiracies and a myth promoted by supporters of evolution. Contrary to Russell, who sees the entire matter as a myth produced as "ammunition against the creationists", we see his accusations as "ammunition for the creationists in their fight against evolutionists".
BACKGROUND
Jeffrey Burton Russell wrote a book entitled "Inventing the flat earth". [5] Following up the book, he published papers such as "The Myth of the Flat Earth" [11] and presented them at science conferences. First, we must give credit to Russell for many of his findings. For example, Christopher Columbus was not among the flat earth thinkers. All written material we have found from his time leads us to agree with Russell on this point. And, flat earth thinking likely ended long before Columbus' time. Russell is a well-known and respected historian of theology and the medieval ages. He is often praised and cited by other medieval historians. We believe much of his flat earth research to be sound. However, he appears to have a strong religious motivation in these flat earth writings. This is evident in his attacks on non-religious groups, secular writers and evolutionists. These harsh attacks tend to discredit Russell's work in the eyes of the non-religious. It had this effect on us, but fortunately we were persuaded to look beyond this and consider the rest of the material. Wouldn't it have been better to just stick with the flat earth research, devoid of the claims of blame? Some of his attacks are shown below.
- Blames all history of flat-earth beliefs as "incessant attacks on Christianity" by "secular writers". Isn't there enough damning evidence in existence with regards to Christianity's past that there should be no need to spin a myth about the flat earth?
- Blames the lie about flat-earth thinking on those trying to defend Darwinism. It is just "ammunition against the creationists" to make the Church and Bible look bad. Again, isn't there plenty of existing evidence to show the beliefs of creationists to be false? (At least for those willing to look at it.) There is no need to spin a flat earth conspiracy to attack creationists. Flat earth thinking and evolution are two separate concepts that easily stand on their own merits, or lack thereof.
- Spins a conspiracy between a Frenchman and an American. He claims they purposefully conjured up the flat earth myth as a means to misrepresent the Church Fathers and attack religion. The Frenchman, being the supposed evil conspirator was none other than the historian Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787-1848). The American was the well-known writer of comic and satirical fiction Washington Irving (1783-1859). Let's take a look at these two individuals who Russell claims were inventing a flat earth lie to attack Christianity.
Antoine-Jean Letronne (1787-1848). As a French reader of the Ethical Atheist stated, "Letronne is not a stupid anti-religious academician as portrayed by Russell. He found an old book of the irish monk Dicuilus, entitled De mensura orbis terrae, which was a summary of geography, giving concise information about various lands." Letronne's work draws on none other than Pliny, Solinus, Orosius, Isidore of Seville, and others. [107] We find it questionable that Russell implies he was involved in an anti-religious conspiracy. In fact, in the section discussing Dicuilus, the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1908 refers to Letronne's work quite favorably, stating "An excellent commentary [on Dicuilus' De mensura orbis terrae] is that by LETRONNE... " Does it seem logical that Letronne was involved in this conspiracy if none other than the Catholic Encyclopedia is writing positive reviews of his work?! Washington Irving (1783-1859). Did Washington Irving portray Columbus standing before the Council of Salamanca who believed the Earth was flat? Well, yes. Much of Irving's writings were historical fiction, full of comedy and satire. For example, see the discussion on Europe's treatment of the 'Indians' using an analogy of men from the moon in A History of New York (1809) [108] (For more on Washington Irving's A History of New York, see "Pea-Green, One-Eyed Men of the Moon", by the Ethical Atheist - [109]). HOWEVER, Irving does portray his work The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1828) as a serious attempt at writing an accurate historical account of Columbus. We have not had time to locate and read the complete book, but we did find the Preface and beginning of Book I. [112] Irving traveled to Madrid to be near a wealth of original information on the subject. He also worked with some very notable people including: Alexander Everett, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid; and Fernandez de Navarrete, Secretary of the Royal Academy of History. We found very good reviews of this book and very bad reviews. Questions we someday hope to answer by reading the book are: What sources does he cite in his claim of flat earth opposition to Columbus? Are these sources real? Did he misinterpret the sources? Was the flat earth conclusion the result of poor historical study and writing; or a more sinister type of hoax? Did he knowingly promote this myth or was he simply mistaken? As mentioned, Irving was a writer of satirical fiction. He obviously wanted to sell books and therefore wanted to tell a 'good story'. It is said that his desire was to create an American hero by portraying Columbus as the 'little guy' before a mountain of European opposition. Was his embellishment and stretching of the facts intentional? Probably. Was it a jab at Europe? Probably - There were constant jabs during this time between the 'Evil Empires' of Europe and the 'Lowly British Colonies' of America. Another example of this type of writing is Mark Twain. And, finally, was Irving involved in an evil collaboration, along with Letronne, to make the Church look bad for Darwinist reasons? Very doubtful.
Side Note: Have you ever heard of the 'Columbus Doors' at the East entrance of the U.S. Capitol's Rontuda? These bronze relief doors, completed in 1855, are nearly 17 feet tall and weigh 20,000 pounds. They are highly symbolic and depict the story of Columbus as the little guy before the mighty flat earth Council of Salamanca. The concept was a design of Randolph Roger and said to be based on Irving's Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (1835). [110] We're sure there are those that will point to these doors as proof of 'inventing the flat earth myth'. However, shouldn't we view these doors as symbolic fiction rather than accurate history? If not, why doesn't Russell also blame the "secular U.S. Senate" for its "incessant attacks on Christianity" by not tearing the doors down?!
Until we locate and read Irving's book, we will reserve judgment on his motives.
After providing the above background on these writers, what proof does Russell give of their evil collaboration in attacking Christianity? The convincing argument that they were both in Paris at the same time. That's it!
- Attacks Daniel Boorstin, the former Head of U.S. Library of Congress, with accusations that his book The Discoverers [63] attempts to discredit Christianity for Darwinist reasons.
| Isn't there enough damning evidence of the scientific blunders promoted by the Church, that we need not spin conspiracies and myths of flat earth thinking as claimed by Jeffrey Burton Russell? If the goal of "secular writers" was to bring the lack of scientific knowledge in the Church to light, don't we have enough clear proof of this in the areas of geology, paleontology, astronomy, biology, evolution, planetary motion and the health sciences, to name a few? |
THE GREAT IRONY
In a nearly humorous irony, Russell holds up examples of ancient Greek philosophers as proof that Christians of the Early Medieval age knew the earth was a sphere. But, these same philosophers and scientists were stifled, exiled, put under house arrest and imprisoned by the Church. Some were also forced by the Church to preface their writings as hypothetical and not based in truth. While it is true that the reasons for these mistreatments were mostly not due to promoting a spherical earth, it struck us as a great irony that these people were used as proof.
The following biographical data provides examples of his religious background and possible motivations. He had an esteemed career over the past 35 years. He seems to be well respected among many historians, particularly medieval historians. He also appears to approach history objectively. We tend to agree with most of Russell's conclusions on the lack of flat earth thinking in medieval times. However, at least in the case of Inventing the flat earth, it appears that he let his religious background contaminate the work with accusations and blame for inventing the flat earth.
Source:
Biography
of Jeffrey Burton Russell on University of California, Santa Barbara's
site. [65]
Christian groups have devoured Russell's works. They often directly quote his work, using it as "ammunition against evolutionists". Of course these are some of the same sites that claim dinosaurs lived with Adam and Eve and rode on Noah's Ark during the Great Deluge. Examples of sites using Russell's works are provided below.
As
some readers of the initial version of this eBook have correctly stated,
Russell cannot be held responsible for far-right, fundamentalist, bible-thumping,
religious groups quoting his work. However, with Russell's claim
that it was evolutionists trying to make Christianity look bad, it is no
surprise that they did pick up on this and are using it in attacks against
evolutionists. It seems that Russell would have known that this would
happen, considering the accusations and blame contained in his book.
Whether purposefully or not, Russell has, in fact, given the flat earth myth new life in using it to fan the flames of conflict between religious groups promoting creationism and those who see the scientific basis for evolution.