Basil of Caesarea (329-378AD):  Reflecting on Nature.

My first reflection is that the hills are mostly brown, which they shouldn't be this time of year.  The Snowpack survey puts us at 19% of normal for January 3rd and there is no rain in the ten day forecast.

Basil's Hexaemeron is a collection of long sermons on the creation.  The context thus causes him to engage all his rhetorical skills in the discussions of nature, which means touching on a great number of subjects involving science and geography.  For this reason it is a treasure trove of ideas that were accepted in his lifetime, while also giving us insights into the state of caution that he maintained with respect to science.  There are a few oddities such as a claim that the full moon significantly effects things like humidity and rates of decay, while neglecting tides.  A condemnation of astrology is included and complaints about superstition.

I have been collecting notes related to the flat earth theory.  Basil gives us a collection of the views that circulated in his time:

"Those who have written about the nature of the universe have discussed at length the shape of the earth. If it be spherical or cylindrical, if it resemble a disc and is equally rounded in all parts, or if it has the forth of a winnowing basket and is hollow in the middle; all these conjectures have been suggested by cosmographers, each one upsetting that of his predecessor. It will not lead me to give less importance to the creation of the universe, that the servant of God, Moses, is silent as to shapes; he has not said that the earth is a hundred and eighty thousand furlongs in circumference; he has not measured into what extent of air its shadow projects itself whilst the sun revolves around it, nor stated how this shadow, casting itself upon the moon, produces eclipses. He has passed over in silence, as useless, all that is unimportant for us. ..."  - The Hexaemeron, Homily IX.

For reference, a furlong is about 200 meters, so 180,000 furlongs is roughly 36,000 kilometers, compared to the modern measurement of about 40,000 kilometers.  An interesting discussion is where Basil argues for the great size of the Sun and Moon given that they have the same apparent size in India as in Briton.  To this he compares a great ship which looks tiny when viewed from a mountain.  At this point the Darwin Worshipers and Big Bangers will immediately chime in that there is nothing in this that should conflict with the infallibility of their doctrines.  As if Darwin Worshipers and Big Bangers weren't known to Basil!  These are the first gnostics that he deals with:

"... Others imagined that atoms, and indivisible bodies, molecules and ducts, form, by their union, the nature of the visible world. Atoms reuniting or separating, produce births and deaths and the most durable bodies only owe their consistency to the strength of their mutual adhesion: a true spider’s web woven by these writers who give to heaven, to earth, and to sea so weak an origin and so little consistency! It is because they knew not how to say “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Deceived by their inherent atheism it appeared to them that nothing governed or ruled the universe, and that all was given up to chance." - The Hexaemeron, Homily I.

Something curious in the Genesis account of Creation is that the plants are created on the third day, but the Sun and Moon are created on the fourth.  Basil's explanation is as follows:

"The reason why the adornment of the earth was before the sun is the following; that those who worship the sun, as the source of life, may renounce their error. If they be well persuaded that the earth was adorned before the genesis of the sun, they will retract their unbounded admiration for it, because they see grass and plants vegetate before it rose." - The Hexaemeron, Homily V

My end conclusion is that I would like to listen to more of Basil's lectures.  Hopefully more recordings will go up onto Librivox.org.