Dr Paul Allen

Astronomer Copernicus, conversation with God. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) It's funny that many secularists believe that Christian myths about Jesus evolved over time until they were written down generations later. This is the thesis in Bart Ehrman 's latest book. It's not accurate. It's funny because there are things believed by some of the same secularists that actually are myths that evolved over time to create the impression that Christianity is a science stopper and anti-intellectual. One of these myths is about the scientific revolution that was purportedly initiated by Copernicus and the supposed subsequent opposition from the church to his heliocentric theories. The myth begins with the notion of the "dark ages," a time when the church suppressed education. It's just not true. Scholarship was alive and well prior to Copernicus. In fact, scholars were working on heliocentric theories before Copernicus. He learned these in university and built on

Nicolaus Copernicus portrait from Town Hall in Thorn/Toruń - 1580) Esperanto: Nikolao Koperniko (Portreto el Toruń - 1580) Polski: Mikołaj Kopernik (portret z Sali Mieszczańskiej w Ratuszu Staromiejskim w Toruniu - 1580 r.) Français : Nicolas Copernic, portrait exposé au musée de Toruń (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The church's understanding of special revelation had been corrected by students of natural revelation, in terms of new astronomical ideas in the sixteenth century. Both Calvin and Luther rejected Copernicus as a heretic in the 16th century.  I don't know anybody in orthodox Christianity today who's pleading for geocentricity . Do you? In that case the church has said, "Look, we misinterpreted the teaching of the Bible with respect to the solar system, and thank you scientists for correcting our misunderstanding.   We can learn from  nonbelieving  scientists who are studying natural revelation. They may get a better sense of the truth from their study