Christianity and astrology
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Christianity and astrology are seen as incompatible by modern orthodox Christian doctrine.[citation needed] Additionally, astrology stands juxtaposed against the roots of modern scientific reasoning, which most modern Christian denominations prefer.[citation needed] In modern Western thinking, astrology is a pseudoscience, and therefore it receives only fringe support from a modern society indoctrinated in the scientific method.
[edit] Astrology within the Church
Western church leaders throughout history have at times given different amounts of credibility to astrological investigations, predictions, and learning. Astrology had small amounts of support in early Christianity, but support waned during the Dark Ages. Support for it grew again in the West during the Renaissance. A major Western orthodox witness to this, the Catholic Encyclopedia, says:
In 321 Constantine issued an edict threatening all Chaldeans, Magi, and their followers with death. Astrology now disappeared for centuries from the Christian parts of Western Europe.
...[E]arly Christian legend distinguished between astronomy and astrology by ascribing the introduction of the former to the good angels and to Abraham while the latter was ascribed to Cham. In particular St. Augustine [...] fought against astrology and sought to prevent its amalgamation with pure natural science.
Emperors and popes became votaries of astrology—Charles IV and V, and Popes Sixtus IV, Julius II, Leo X and Paul III. When these rulers lived astrology was, so to say, the regulator of official life; it is a fact characteristic of the age, that at the papal and imperial courts ambassadors were not received in audience until the court astrologer had been consulted. Regiomontanus, the distinguished Bavarian mathematician practised astrology, which from that time on assumed the character of a bread-winning profession, and as such was not beneath the dignity of so lofty an intellect as Kepler. Thus had astrology once more become the foster-mother of all astronomers. In the judgment of the men of the Renaissance—and this was the age of a Nicholas Copernicus—the most profound astronomical researches and theories were only profitable insofar as they aided in the development of astrology. Among the zealous patrons of the art were the Medici. Catherine de' Medici made astrology popular in France. She erected an astrological observatory for herself near Paris, and her court astrologer was the celebrated "magician" Michel de Notredame (Nostradamus) who in 1555 published his principal work on astrology—a work still regarded as authoritative among the followers of his art. Another well-known man was Lucas Gauricus the court astrologer of Popes Leo X and Clement VII who published a large number of astrological treatises.[1]
Subsequently, this source described the eventual disintegration of astrology in popular, educated Western Christianity due to the perceived superiority of the Copernican system, the rise of experimental investigation in the natural sciences, and disillusionment of the people abused by the "pseudo-prophetic wisdom" of this "astrological humbug."[2] However, as the nineteenth century waned and the twentieth century began, a renewed interest was sparked in "the peasant" and astrology became quite popular again despite its unscientific mysticism.
Once more astrology fell to the level of a vulgar superstition cutting a sorry figure among the classes that still had faith in the occult arts. The peasant held fast to his belief in natural astrology, and to this belief the progress of the art of printing and the spread of popular education contributed largely. For not only were there disseminated among the rural poor "farmer's almanacs", which contained information substantiated by the peasant's own experience, but the printing presses also supplied the peasant with a great mass of cheap and easily understood books containing much fantastic astrological nonsense. The remarkable physical discoveries of recent decades in combination with the growing desire for an elevated philosophico-religious conception of the world and the intensified sensitiveness of the modern cultured man—all these together have caused astrology to emerge from its hiding place among paltry superstitions. The growth of occultistic ideas, which should, perhaps, not be entirely rejected, is reintroducing astrology into society.[3] [emphasis added]
From this lengthy quote, with the final emphasis made to draw a point, it is obvious that, at the time of writing, although the Roman Catholic opinion of astrology was not enthusiastic, there was a small amount of leeway provided to make legitimate use of astrology. Perhaps the intent was to allow astrology to be studied by scholars, theologians, and members of the clergy. It is clearly not in support of modern astrology for divination, personal horary predictions, or for supporting superstitions. At the same time, it does not seem to be anathema to Catholicism (see heterodoxy). Indeed, the gist of the article seems to be that astrology is merely anathema to modern scientific reasoning and therefore makes its usefulness in Western Christianity a tenuous one.
[edit] Astrology within the Bible
The Biblical Magi – There is one positive account of astrologers in the Bible. In the Gospel of Matthew, the author records in the second chapter that an unspecified number of magi (or wise men, as some have translated it) from the East attempt to discover the location of the King of the Jews, recently born. (The word "magi" here is normally† taken to mean simply "astrologers.") They begin their search in Jerusalem, and Herod "the king" hears of their inquiries. Herod subsequently inquires of the Jewish priests and scribes the prophesied location of the birth of the Messiah. The small town of Bethlehem, a few miles from Jerusalem, is indicated to have been the birthplace. Given these directions, the Eastern magi find the young Jesus and his mother, Mary. Upon discovering the child, the magi worship him and present him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
†The Greek word for "magi" can mean a number of different things, as evidenced by the Book of Acts' reference to a man named Simon (known as Simon Magus or Simon the Sorcerer). Since Simon was from Samaria and not the East, the word "magus" in Acts probably refers to sorcery or divination and not astrology as a profession.
Astrologers from a faraway land visiting the young Jesus is a curious entry into the Christian Bible. This poses a problem for those against astrology as a profession, since the Matthew account clearly states that the magi worshiped the young boy. And since Luke's parallel account of the birth records no one else as having done so, Gentile magi are the first on record to worship Jesus as God.
The Matthew account makes it clear that the magi visit the child because of astrological study. Matthew describes them following a star[4] to the child's location, indicating that the magi cast horoscopes to determine the child's location. Their gifts to the child indicate foreknowledge of his status as king (who is given gold), a priest (who is given frankincense), and one who would die (who requires myrrh). The fact that they worshiped him as God indicates their confidence in their astrological observations and predictions.
Furthermore, the magi had little direct knowledge of the approaching time of the King of the Jews. They had apparently never consulted the prophesies of the Bible concerning the Messiah, and so did not know his birthplace or where to find him. All indications are that the magi had only a single source of information concerning Jesus while in their Eastern observatory: the movement of the planets and the interpretive art of astrology.
[edit] References
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, Volume II, pp 18-25, Article on Astrology.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, Volume II, pp 18-25, Article on Astrology.
- ^ "Following a star" is not a literal description of what astrologers do for prediction. It can therefore be argued that such a phrase is more of a euphemism or simplified expression designating a very technical (and perhaps secret) astrological process. This would normally consist of observations of the planets, calculating and extrapolating their locations in the sky, identifying the significance of each location in the starry constellations, accurate timekeeping, and making a prediction using the ancient witnesses to the art. This process is more succinctly called casting a horoscope, but it could be likened to following a star if it is used for locating a person. It is assumed that Matthew would know very little of the art, and therefore his words concerning the magi were terse and ambiguous. Indeed, even to this day, many people mistake Matthew's reference to a "star" to mean a literal star using modern terminology, whereas Matthew refers to what magi astrologers did: they observed the motion of the wandering stars we call the planets, moon, and sun in reference to the "fixed" constellations of stars.
- Astrologer William Lilly's book Christian Astrology (1647) is a major work in the field.
- See Signs for a Messiah: The First and Last Evidence for Jesus, Rolland McCleary, 2003, Hazard Press. This book attempts to describe the exact birth date and time of Jesus Christ, using the Bible as a source document, historical astrology as insight into the magi, and computer ephemeris data to cast a horoscope.
