Question Concerning Wilhelmus a Brakel

[Jaewon]

Hello, fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

I recently purchased a Brakel's The Christian's Reasonable Service.

I have been reading this book since that time on and am thoroughly impressed by the contents.

In today's reading, however, I found something that confused me a little bit.

Following quotes are taken from The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. I.

"God says that the world is motionless and stationary, being circled by the sun, and thus it is a certain and incontrovertible truth" (64-65).

"All this clearly proves that sun and moon revolve around the earth" (65-66).

There is a footnote attached to above quotes that reads as follows:

"It should be evident that this unequivocal conclusion of a Brekel must be viewed in its historical context."

Does anybody know what historical context that the footnote is talking about?

Thank you for your help. It would help me understand this book better.

 

[VictorBravo]

Welcome to the PB.

Please remember to fix your signature--check the link below mine.

As for the historical context, I believe that the editor is commenting on the idea that a Brakel's understanding was colored by his era and he could not have known of the change in view brought about by advances in science.

To which I chuckle a bit, because we still have serious discussions here about whether the sun revolves around Earth, etc. Count me as being in the geocentric camp: but maybe with a twist. My view is that God literally and constantly moves all the objects in the heavens, according to his own order and will. When the scientist observes that order, he discovers "laws" and calls it "gravity" or "momentum", etc.

 

[jfhutson]

From publication [of Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium] until about 1700, few astronomers were convinced by the Copernican system, though the book was relatively widely circulated (around 500 copies of the first and second editions have survived

Wikipedia

The Christian's Reasonable Service was published in 1700.

The fact remains that A Brakel seems pretty certain of the Bible's geocentric teaching. I think we should fault him more for poor exegesis than scientific knowledge if we disagree.

 

[Jaewon]

Thanks for the answers
A debate surrounding whether the sun revolves around Earth sounds interesting. I will look into that.