Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present

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The Astrolabe

An ancient instrument for solving problems of location and distance, as well as time

Astrolábon órganon is the word used in Ptolemaeus Syntaxis 5.1 to describe a form of armillary sphere consisting of both fixed and rotating rings for determining the ecliptic co-ordinates of stars. Also called astrolabe were two-dimensional representations of the celestial sphere: over fixed disks with a representation of the horizon of the earth (in each case for a specific geographic latitude) and its parallels up to the zenith lies a rotating representation of the heavens (called ‘spider’ or ‘net’) with zodiac and indicators for some of the brightest stars. On the back is an indicator (‘alidade’) with visor plates for calculating the height of the stars. The astrolabe allows its user to determine the hours of day and night, the positions of stars, and the height and depth of objects on earth (mountains, buildings, wells). The oldest extant descriptions of the flat, planispheric astrolabe come from Iohannes Philoponus, 6th century AD, and (in Syrian) from Severus Sebokht, c. 660 AD. Indirect references may date back as early as Theon (4th cent.). Between the 8th and the 9th centuries the Arabs appropriated the knowledge of the astrolabe. At the end of the 10th century and again in the 12th century, they passed it on to Western Europe, where astrolabes were constructed up until the 17th cent. Today, one Byzantine astrolabe (from 1062) is extant, as are some 750 Arabic-Islamic astrolabes and approximately the same number of European astrolabes.

This information is abstracted from Brill's New Pauly, the English edition of the authoritative Der Neue Pauly, Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World. The encyclopaedic coverage and high academic standard of the work, the interdisciplinary and contemporary approach and clear and accessible presentation have made the New Pauly the unrivalled modern reference work for the ancient world. For more information see www.brillsnewpauly.com or visit our website catalog: www.brill.nl/bnp
Brill’s New Pauly and the complete original Der Neue Pauly, the recognized standard reference works for students and scholars of the ancient world are also available online. This dual-language edition offers basic and advanced search facilities and is fully browsable. New English translations are added as they become available. See www.paulyonline.brill.nl for more information and a demo version.

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Publications & Services> Books> Book Series> Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present

Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: 1700-Present

Edited by Jitse M. van der Meer and Scott Mandelbrote

Books

Available
Publication year: 2008


Series:	Brill's Series in Church History, 37
ISBN-13 (i)The ISBN (International Standard Book Number) has been changed from 10 to 13 digits on 1 January 2007:	978 90 04 17192 3
ISBN-10:	90 04 17192 4

Cover:	Hardback
Number of pages:	Vol I: xviii, 1-296 pp.; Vol. II:x, 293-606 pp.
Number of volumes:	2
Google Book Search:	View this book at Google Book Search

List price:	€ 195.00 / US$ 312.00

Table of contents

Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
List of Illustrations

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
1. Biblical Hermeneutics and the Sciences, 1700-1900: An Overview, Scott Mandelbrote

PART V. 1700–1900

2. Biblical Interpretation in the Light of the Interpretation of Nature, 1650-1900, William Yarchin
3. Jonathan Edwards and the Discourses of Nature, Robert E. Brown
4. Georges Cuvier and the Use of Scripture in Geology, Jitse M. van der Meer
5. Ethnology and the “Two Books:” Some Nineteenth-Century Americans on Preadamist Polygenism, G. Blair Nelson

PART VI. 1860–1900: SCRIPTURE AND BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION
6. Interpreting Scripture, Assimilating Science: Four British and American Christian Evolutionists on the Relationship between Science, the Bible, and Doctrine, Richard England
7. Scriptural Facts and Scientific Theories: Epistemological Concerns of Three Leading English Speaking Anti-Darwinians (Pusey, Hodge & Dawson), Richard England
8. The Will to Meaning: Protestant Reactions to Darwinism in Nineteenth-Century Germany, Bernard Kleeberg
9. Dutch Calvinists and Darwinism, 1900-1960, Rob P. W. Visser
10. Twin Sisters with a Changing Character: How Neo-Calvinists Dealt with the Modern Discrepancy between Bible and Natural Sciences, George Harinck
11. The Problem of Faith and Scientific Knowledge in Russian Religious Thought of the Nineteenth–Twentieth Centuries, Alexei V. Nesteruk

PART VII. 1900–PRESENT
12. Original Sin, Biblical Hermeneutics, and the Science of Evolution, J. Matthew Ashley
13. Galileo and the Garden of Eden: Historical Reflections on Creationist Hermeneutics, Edward B. Davis & Elizabeth Chmielewski
14. A Post-World War II Response to Karl Barth and Rudolph Bultmann: Biblical Hermeneutics and Modern Science in the ‘Dutch Reformed Church’ in the Twentieth Century, Henri W. de Knijff
15. The Exegesis of Science in Twentieth-Century Arabic Interpretations of the Qur’an, Marwa Elshakry
16. Judaism and the Religious Crisis of Modern Science, Menachem Fisch

Index

Readership

All those interested in the history of the following disciplines: natural philosophy, religion, exegesis, hermeneutics, theology, linguistics, astronomy, physical science, earth sciences, and the life sciences. Professionals (historians, historians of science, historians of religion, historians of interpretation, theologians, scientists, historians of language), students and educated lay-persons.

About the author(s)

Jitse M. van der Meer, Ph.D. (1978) University of Nijmegen, is Professor of Biology and History and Philosophy of Science at Redeemer University College (Ontario, Canada). Among his recent publications is J.H. Brooke, M.J. Osler & J.M. van der Meer (eds.), Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions (University of Chicago Press, 2001).

Scott Mandelbrote is Official Fellow and Director of Studies in History, Peterhouse, Cambridge University. He recently published Footprints of the Lion: Isaac Newton at Work (Cambridge University Library, 2001).

The four companion volumes of Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions contribute to a contextual evaluation of the mutual influences between scriptural exegesis and hermeneutics on the one hand and practices or techniques of interpretation in natural philosophy and the natural sciences on the other. We seek to raise the low profile this theme has had both in the history of science and in the history of biblical interpretation. Furthermore, questions about the interpretation of scripture continue to be provoked by current theological reflection on scientific theories. We also seek to provide a historical context for renewed reflection on the role of the hermeneutics of scripture in the development of theological doctrines that interact with the natural sciences.

Contributors are J. Matthew Ashley, Robert E. Brown, Elizabeth Chmielewski, Edward B. Davis, Henri Wijnandus de Knijff, Marwa Elshakry, Richard England, Menachem Fisch, George Harinck, Bernhard Kleeberg, Scott Mandelbrote, G. Blair Nelson, Alexei V. Nesteruk, Jitse M. van der Meer, Rob P. W. Visser, and William Yarchin.

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