Bible cosmology

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This page is based on an answer to a question submitted to the FAIR web site, or a frequently asked question.

Contents 1 Question 2 Answer 3 Endnotes 4 Further reading 4.1 FAIR wiki articles 4.2 FAIR web site 4.3 External links 4.4 Printed material

Question

What can you tell me about how Bible authors viewed the earth and the universe?

Answer

The standard reference work, the Anchor Bible Dictionary writes:

The variety in date, origin, and scope of the Hebrew Bible's cosmological materials means that achieving a single, uniform picture of the physical universe is hardly possible. Still, sufficient overlap does obtain between the many accounts of the universe, however these may vary in their details, to allow for a few generalizations. The earth on which humanity dwells is seen as a round, solid object, perhaps a disk, floating upon a limitless expanse of water. Paralleling this lower body of water is a second, similarly limitless, above, from which water descends in the form of rain through holes and channels piercing the heavenly reservoir. The moon, sun, and other luminaries are fixed in a curved structure which arches over the earth. This structure is the familiar "firmament" (raqiya) of the priestly account, perhaps envisioned as a solid but very thin substance on the analogy of beaten and stretched metal. Though some texts appear to convey a picture of a four-storied universe (Job 11:8-9 or Ps. 139:8-9), the great majority of biblical texts assume the three-storied universe so clearly assumed in other, ancient traditions. Thus, the Decalog's prohibition of images specifies "heaven above," "earth below," and "water under the earth" as the possible models for any such forbidden images (Ex. 20:4). If we understand the common term "earth" (erets) as designating at times the "underworld," then the combined references in Ps. 77:19 to heaven, the "world" (tebel), and the "earth" ('erets) are another appeal to the universe as a three-storied structure (for other texts where 'erets may refer to the underworld, see Stadelmann 1970: 128, n. 678). Clearer reference still to the same structure is to be found in Ps. 115:15-17, where we find grouped together "the heaven of heavens," "the earth," and the realm of "the dead" (cf. Ps. 33:6-8 snf Prov. 8:27-29).

The curving, solid structure which arches over the realm of humanity is sometimes called a "disk" or "vault" (hug; Is. 40:22, Prov. 8:27). That which allows the heavenly abyss to water the earth are occasional interruptions in this solid structure, openings called variously windows, doors, or channels. In some texts, that which suspends the habitable earth above the underworld's waters (see 1 _Sam. 2:8 for another reference to these rivers) are pillars or some such foundational structures. These seem envisioned in Job 38:4-5; Ps. 24:2; 104:5; Prov. 8:29, and elsewhere. Finally, the realm beneath the arena of human activity is not only imagined as one of watery chaos but also given the specific designation "Sheol" (she'ol), usually translated "the underworld." In the different elaborations upon just what one should imagine Sheol as including, again there is little consistency. At times, Sheol is personified, with a belly or womb and a mouth (Jonah 2:3-Eng 2:2); Prov. 1:23; Prov. 30:16; and Ps. 141:7), while at others Sheol is rather more architecturally portrayed (Is. 38:10; Job 7:9-10; Job 14:20-22; Job 17:13; Job 18:17-18), as a dark and forgetful land or city (Stadlmann 1970: 1666-76).^[1]

Endnotes

1. [back]  Anchor Bible Dictionary, at 1:1167-68, s.v. "Cosmogony, Cosmology."

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

Holy Bible wiki articles

• Bible basics
• "Adding to" or "taking away" from the Bible
• Archeology and the Bible
• Being "born again"—what does the Bible mean?
• Completeness and sufficiency
• Cosmology of the Bible
• Bible says the Christian gospel is "a mystery" not to be known before Christ?
• Flood, global or local
• Genealogy, condemnation of
• Hebrews 7 and the Aaronic Priesthood
• Inerrancy and the Bible
• Isaiah, multiple authors of
• Lost scripture
• Open canon vs. closed canon
• Noah's flood / Noachian deluge
• Textual criticism
• Three degrees of glory not biblical
• Translations

FAIR web site

FAIR Holy Bible materials

• FAIR Topical Guide: Biblical completeness FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Biblical inerrancy FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: LDS view of the Bible FAIR link
  
• John A. Tvedtnes, "The Bible Code and Biblical Inerrancy," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR) FAIR link

External links

• Bible cosmology illustrations:
  • The Three-Story Universe
  • Ancient Cosmologies
  • Cosmology of the Old Testament
  • Genesis 1 for Today

On-line Holy Bible materials

• Alma Allred, "Coin of the Realm: Beware of Specious Specie (Review of: "Scripture," In The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 137–174. off-site PDF link
• Danel W. Bachman, "The Other Side of the Coin: A Source Review of Norman Geisler's Chapter (Review of: "Scripture," In The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism)," FARMS Review of Books 12/1 (2000): 175–214. off-site PDF link
• John Gee, "The Old Testament as Reliable History, Review of On the Reliability of the Old Testament by Kenneth A. Kitchen," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 425–430. off-site PDF link wiki
• William J. Hamblin and Daniel C. Peterson, "The Evangelical Is Our Brother (Review of How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation)," FARMS Review of Books 11/2 (1999): 178–209. off-site PDF link
• Blake T. Ostler, "Bridging the Gulf (Review of How Wide the Divide? A Mormon and an Evangelical in Conversation)," FARMS Review of Books 11/2 (1999): 103–177. off-site PDF link
• Daniel C. Peterson and Stephen D. Ricks, "Comparing LDS Beliefs with First-Century Christianity, (Provo, Utah: FARMS, no date). off-site
• Stephen E. Robinson, Are Mormons Christians? (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1993), {{{start}}}–{{{end}}}. off-site FAIR link GospeLink off-site
• John A. Tvedtnes and Matthew Roper, "'A Bible! A Bible!' The Canon and Ongoing Revelation (Review of Luke P. Wilson's "Lost Books & Latter-Day Revelation: A Response to Mormon Views of the New Testament Canon") off-site

Printed material

Holy Bible print materials

• Alan Denison & D.L. Barksdale, Guess Who Wants To Have You For Lunch?, 2nd edition, (Redding, California: FAIR, 2002[1999]), 37–57. ISBN 1893036057. FAIR link
• Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible, 2nd Rev edition (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Publishers, 2001[1999]), 1. ISBN {{{isbn}}}.
• Leon Vaganay and Christian-Bernard Amphoux, An Introduction to New Testament Criticism, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 1. ISBN {{{isbn}}}.