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Comets
Oct 27, 2008 14:23:17 GMT
Post by Jack on Oct 27, 2008 14:23:17 GMT
As a note to the tale of the Pope and Halley's Comet: the author appears to minimize the belief among the clergy that comets were an omen in the statement, Of course, no doubt there were people who thought Halley's Comet had something to do with the siege of Belgrade. It's possible that more of those people existed among the Catholic clergy than among commoners. A number of Catholic clergy were astrologers (see Copernicus) and the following is, from memory, a quote from the writings of St. Francis DeSale's text, which I read in a collection published by TAN Books and Publishers as "The Catholic Controversy":I read this around twelve years ago, and I no longer own the book, so please forgive me if I have the words wrong, but I vividly recall raising my eyebrows upon reading it. I also remember sharing a laugh on the quote with my (fellow orthodox Catholic) school administrator.
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Comets
Oct 27, 2008 15:14:31 GMT
Post by jim_s on Oct 27, 2008 15:14:31 GMT
That's a fair criticism. I wasn't trying to make any general statement about belief in astrology, or such belief among the clergy, but rather the specific belief that Halley's Comet had something to do with the siege of Belgrade as opposed to some other event. But you're right, I shouldn't have passed over it so blithely.
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Comets
Oct 27, 2008 18:45:55 GMT
Post by rfmoo on Oct 27, 2008 18:45:55 GMT
I don't find a belief in astrology very scandalous until the post enlightenment period.
Wikipedia gives the following as examples of eminent men connected with astrology:
Many prominent thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Paracelsus, Girolamo Cardan, Nicholas Copernicus, Taqi al-Din, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Carl Jung and others, practiced or significantly contributed to astrology.[26][2]
As for, e.g., alchemy, the same source lists these adherents:
Up to the 16th century, alchemy was considered serious science in Europe; for instance, Isaac Newton devoted considerably more of his time and writing to the study of alchemy (see Isaac Newton's occult studies) than he did to either optics or physics, for which he is famous. Other eminent alchemists of the Western world are Roger Bacon, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Tycho Brahe, Thomas Browne, and Parmigianino.
As for God using comets as portents to communicate with humanity, I seriously doubt it, but mindful of Niels Bohr's caveat to Einstein about his distaste for the indeterminacy of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory, I will not tell God what to do.
Best,
Richard Moorton
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Comets
Oct 27, 2008 21:47:24 GMT
Post by bjorn on Oct 27, 2008 21:47:24 GMT
The main question here is not whether comets were an omen (which it undoubtedly was considered among a lot), it was whether the pope excommunicated it. Which he definitely didn't
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Comets
Oct 28, 2008 4:25:46 GMT
Post by eckadimmock on Oct 28, 2008 4:25:46 GMT
So the comet can still attend communion if it wants?
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