Christian views on astrology

Astrology had support in early Christianity, but support declined during the Middle Ages. Support for it grew again in the West during the Renaissance.

Ancient

St. Augustine (354-430) believed that the determinism of astrology conflicted with the Christian doctrines of man's free will and responsibility, and God not being the cause of evil, but he also grounded his opposition philosophically, citing the failure of astrology to explain twins who behave differently although conceived at the same moment and born at approximately the same time.

Medieval

The first astrological book published in Europe was the ''Liber Planetis et Mundi Climatibus'' ("Book of the Planets and Regions of the World"), which appeared between 1010 and 1027 AD, and may have been authored by Gerbert of Aurillac.Campion, 1982. p. 44. Ptolemy's second century AD ''Tetrabiblos'' was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1138. The Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas followed Aristotle in proposing that the stars ruled the imperfect 'sublunary' body, while attempting to reconcile astrology with Christianity by stating that God ruled the soul.Campion, 1982. p. 45. The thirteenth century mathematician Campanus of Novara is said to have devised a system of astrological houses that divides the prime vertical into 'houses' of equal 30° arcs,Campion, 1982. p. 46. though the system was used earlier in the East. The thirteenth century astronomer Guido Bonatti wrote a textbook, the ''Liber Astronomicus'', a copy of which King Henry VII of England owned at the end of the fifteenth century.

In '' Paradiso'', the final part of the ''Divine Comedy'', the Italian poet Dante Alighieri referred "in countless details" to the astrological planets, though he adapted traditional astrology to suit his Christian viewpoint, for example using astrological thinking in his prophecies of the reform of Christendom.

Objections

In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville argued in his ''Etymologiae'' that astronomy described the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two parts: one was scientific, describing the movements of the sun, the moon and the stars, while the other, making predictions, was theologically erroneous.Wood, 1970. p. 5 In contrast, John Gower in the fourteenth century defined astrology as essentially limited to the making of predictions. The influence of the stars was in turn divided into natural astrology, with for example effects on tides and the growth of plants, and judicial astrology, with supposedly predictable effects on people.Wood, 1970. p. 6 The fourteenth century skeptic Nicole Oresme however included astronomy as a part of astrology in his ''Livre de divinacions''.Wood, 1970. pp. 8–11 Oresme argued that current approaches to prediction of events such as plagues, wars, and weather were inappropriate, but that such prediction was a valid field of inquiry. However, he attacked the use of astrology to choose the timing of actions (so-called interrogation and election) as wholly false, and rejected the determination of human action by the stars on grounds of free will. The friar Laurens Pignon (c. 1368–1449) similarly rejected all forms of divination and determinism, including by the stars, in his 1411 ''Contre les Devineurs''. This was in opposition to the tradition carried by the Arab astronomer Albumasar (787-886) whose ''Introductorium in Astronomiam'' and ''De Magnis Coniunctionibus'' argued the view that both individual actions and larger scale history are determined by the stars.

Early modern period

Martin Luther denounced astrology in his ''Table Talk''. He asked why twins like Esau and Jacob had two different natures yet were born at the same time. Luther also compared astrologers to those who say their dice will always land on a certain number. Although the dice may roll on the number a couple of times, the predictor is silent for all the times the dice fails to land on that number.

Luther also went on to say:

Renaissance

Renaissance scholars often practised astrology to pay for their research into other subjects.Campion, 1982. p. 47. Gerolamo Cardano cast the horoscope of king Edward VI of England, while John Dee was the personal astrologer to queen Elizabeth I of England. Catherine de Medici paid Michael Nostradamus in 1566 to verify the prediction of the death of her husband, king Henry II of France made by her astrologer Lucus Gauricus. Major astronomers who practised as court astrologers included Tycho Brahe in the royal court of Denmark, Johannes Kepler to the Habsburgs and Galileo Galilei to the Medici. The astronomer and spiritual astrologer Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in 1600.

Ephemerides with complex astrological calculations, and almanacs interpreting celestial events for use in medicine and for choosing times to plant crops, were popular in Elizabethan England. In 1597, the English mathematician and physician Thomas Hood made a set of paper instruments that used revolving overlays to help students work out relationships between fixed stars or constellations, the midheaven, and the twelve astrological houses. Hood's instruments also illustrated, for pedagogical purposes, the supposed relationships between the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and the parts of the human body adherents believed were governed by the planets and signs. While Hood's presentation was innovative, his astrological information was largely standard and was taken from Gerard Mercator's astrological disc made in 1551, or a source used by Mercator.

English astrology had reached its zenith by the 17th century. Astrologers were theorists, researchers, and social engineers, as well as providing individual advice to everyone from monarchs downwards. Among other things, astrologers could advise on the best time to take a journey or harvest a crop, diagnose and prescribe for physical or mental illnesses, and predict natural disasters. This underpinned a system in which everything—people, the world, the universe—was understood to be interconnected, and astrology co-existed happily with religion, magic and science.

Enlightenment period

During the Enlightenment, belief in astrology amongst intellectuals fell away, though it had a popular following supported by almanacs. One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the age by printing a derisive ''Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology'', while in France Pierre Bayle's ''Dictionnaire'' of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile. The Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift ridiculed the Whig political astrologer John Partridge.

Modern

Astrology saw a popular revival starting in the 19th century, as part of a general revival of spiritualism and, later, New Age philosophy, and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes. Early in the 20th century the psychiatrist Carl Jung developed some concepts concerning astrology, which led to the development of psychological astrology.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that divination, including predictive astrology, is incompatible with modern Catholic beliefs such as free will:

See also

* Astrology and science
* Christian mysticism
* Christianity and paganism
* Esoteric Christianity
* Jesus Christ in comparative mythology
* Jewish views on astrology
* Muslim views on astrology
* Sol Invictus

Notes

* Astrologer William Lilly's book ''Christian Astrology'' (1647) is a noted work.

References

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Christianity-related controversies
Esoteric Christianity