General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Lunar Eclipse flat-Earthers have never seen. [View all]Hekate
(90,633 posts)I think people not involved in mathematics just believed the evidence of their eyes and "common sense."
Two cultures that did go in for math and geometry in a big way were the Greeks and the Egyptians, but they had a tiny leisure class that could spend time thinking about it and a larger professional class that could put it to practical use. Columbus didn't "discover" the shape of the Earth, he just used the knowledge as a mariner.
Most people throughout history were just busy getting on with their lives herding sheep and farming small plots with their own manual labor. They didn't have time for much speculation. The Earth looked "flat" (with mountains), so why waste time arguing about it?
Elaborate Christian theology arose in Medieval times, and cast a long shadow having as much to do with politics and power as anything else. American "evangelical" religion is a case by itself -- adherents tend to be ignorant of anything a European Christian would recognize as actual theology.
Since the Enlightenment, I think Western cultures have counted on public education to build on whatever scientific advances had happened and were happening. You didn't have to be an elite at the pinnacle of education to be taught the basics, and if the culture around you trusted in the basics -- well you get the point.
Current American education and current American popular culture have proven how fragile that can actually be, and how fragile democracy can be.
But back to my original point -- it's been some years since I sat down to read the Bible, but I don't recall the shape of the Earth being actually discussed therein. People tend to project, and tend to interpret.