Was it Christians or scientists that first said the earth was flat?

Question

I think the scientists said it first and the Christians accepted it as fact without questioning. What is your opinion?

Answer 1

There weren't really any scientists back then. It was simply assumed that the earth was flat, because there was no immediate reason to think otherwise.

Eratosthenes is widely regarded as figuring out the earth is a sphere around 240BC. Flat Earthers have never been as common, in any age, as people think. Also, saying the earth is round has never been particularly controversial. However, saying the earth orbits the sun, well...that was to the 1500s what evolution is today. Copernicus and Galileo both got screwed by the Church for saying that.

Answer 2

Greek mythology was the first to say that the earth was flat in the 6th century and scientists agreed with it. The prophet Isaiah stated two centuries before with certainity that “There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth.” (Isaiah 40:22). Isaiah used the Hebrew word for circle which can be rendered sphere. ” Interestingly, only a spherical object appears as a circle from every angle. Technically speaking, the earth is an oblate spheroid. It is slightly flattened at the poles.

Answer 3

The idea that the flat earth theory was widespread is a bit of a myth- there have been points in history were some have expounded this theory, but for the most part people have known it was round, chiefly due to the fact that sailors would see the masts of a ship on the horizon before anything else, and they also used the stars to navigate - it's not a big leap of logic, really.

Answer 4

Many of the the first scientists - even until relatively recently in fact were outwardly christian - what choice did they have? It was worship our lord or burn at the stake. With that in mind I cant make sense of this question.

Seeing the other answers has shamed me, I am forgetting about the ancient Ionians. They were scientists and NOT Christians - and they showed the earth was round and indeed, worked out its circumference to an accuracy of about 98%

Answer 5

The world was described as being round as far back as 600 BC by the Greek philosophers. They even worked out its size fairly well and were able to give observations like the shape of the earth's shadow on the moon during eclipses as evidence.
The Bible has always stated that the Earth was flat and after the 326 AD Council at Nice under Constantine the Catholics began a 500 year campaign of book burning and suppression of anything and everything that contradicted their teachings.

Answer 6

The earliest Egyptian scientist figured out by using math that the Earth was round about 3000 years ago. Religions have been fighting that notion ever since.

Answer 7

Those first called Christians at Antioch,
were the likes of Saul of Saul-->Paul,
and of Barnabas (got carried away),
and dissimulating Peter (called Satan).

Two dimensional flat world thinking is old,
so old it's ready to vanish and shall vanish;
Because Law vs Law is as Loser vs Loser.

Charity never faileth is greatest of three things;
And what's greatest is neither great nor greater:
(Great --> Greater) --> Greatest: 1Cor 13
(plural principles) --> Perfection: Heb 6
(OT Law --> NT Law) --> Grace

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ with you all. Amen.

Answer 8

Those who read Job 26:7 and Isaiah 40:22 knew different. This was over a 1,000 years before Jesus came.

Answer 9

The ancient Greeks knew that the earth was round, hundreds of years before Christianity emerged.

Answer 10

I'm not sure whether anyone actually said that. I think people assumed that it was flat, being that it seemed obvious at the time. I guess they thought that it was ludicrous to believe the world was round because people would be rolling off.