Lactantius Quotes
Any one so senseless as to believe that there are men whose footsteps are higher than their heads?... that the crops and trees grow downward?... that the rains and snow and hail fall upward toward the earth?... I am at a loss what to say of those who, when they have once erred, steadily persevere in their folly and defend one vain thing by another.
He was known as “The Christian Cicero” because of his rhetoric. He contributed little original Christian thought but communicated it more so than anyone had done before. Interestingly, the early church fathers did not see the concept of a round earth as heretical—just absurd. When the idea began to be seen as potentially serious heresy would be almost 1000 years later.
Lactantius, 4th Century, Lucius Caecilius Firmianus, African Christian Scholar and Apologist, First organizer of Christian Principles in Latin, Tutor in Latin to the emperor's [Constantine’s] son Crispus, Comment on the assertion of some that the Earth was round and rotated about the sun
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
While critics of Islam cite this sura to show how absurd the Koran can be and contradicts what is known about the Earth’s orbit, few sophisticated, moderate Muslims believe this. However, even in the United States there are many Christians and Orthodox Jews who not only deny Evolution but also believe the Earth is 6000 years old. The basic difference is that in Islamic countries publicly critiquing such anti-scientific theological statements is rare and an individual who publicly argues against the Koran taken literally is often in danger from state or private retribution. In the West the conflict between the Bible and known science is not only publicly commented upon but in a somewhat derisive way. However, consider this: Islam is about 1500 years old. When Christianity was the same age, Galileo was tried and convicted by the Catholic Church for denying this very statement. Perhaps in another 700 years Muslims will look back with embarrassment on this as most of Christianity does.
One irony of this statement and the belief of so many Muslims today is that in the Dark Ages when the rest of the world believed the Earth was flat, Muslim scientists and students commonly used globes to study the Earth and the Muslims preserved what was known of science.
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus signo Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most important work is the Institutiones Divinae ("The Divine Institutes"), an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to pagan critics.
