Re: The "solid" firmament of Genesis

R. Joel Duff (virkotto@intrnet.net)
Thu, 7 Nov 1996 13:37:34 GMT

>>On Thu, 7 Nov 1996, R. Joel Duff wrote:
>
>> A long and interesting discourse follows showing from Biblical
>> and ancient non-biblical texts that all ancient cultures believed
>> the sky to be solid,
>
>> The early Christian church held strongly to the view that there
>> was a real body of water above the solid sky

At 11:37 AM 11/7/96 Oliver Beck:
>Whom is he citing and what references does he give?

He provides quotes of St. Basil in the 4th century who apparently introduced
the idea that there were two firmaments, one below the sun and the other
being the clouds. Augustine followed this and Luther was probably the last
of the great church fathers to accept a watery firmament above the clouds
and sky.
His quotes are from:

St. Basil,"Exegetic homilies (Washington, DC: Catholic University of
America Press, 1963) 42. St. Ambrose, Hexmerion, Paradise, and Cain and
Abel (New York: Fathers of the Church, 1961) 52-56.

St. Augustine, "The Literal Meaning of Genesis" (New York: Newman, 1982) 152

Luther, "Luthers's Works," vol. 1: Lectures on Genesis, Chapters 1-5 (St.
Louis: Concordia, 1948) 26.

Joel,

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