"Ptolemy?"
"According to the Bible, the shape of the earth is like a Tabernacle. The earth and sky together form an arch, a hall with a magnificent dome and floor. In short, it's a giant box, not a sphere.
The ignorant also believe that even if the earth isn't a box, it's a vast, flat plane, and the seawater at the edge will fall down to who knows where.
But not only the great ancient philosophers, or the father of astronomy, Ptolemy, but even Saint Isidore confirmed that the earth is a sphere. Isidore, with a certainty befitting a Christian, even set the diameter of the equator at eight thousand Stad.
Saint Augustine once stated that even heretical philosophers can have their points—that the earth is a sphere and the Tabernacle mentioned in the Bible is just a metaphor.
But despite Saint Augustine's tolerance, he believed that knowing the shape of the earth was of no help in solving the only serious problem: how to save one's soul.
