Danny Faulkner Straw Mans Augustine's View on the Shape of the Earth

Misrepresents a conditional clause as a statement of settled science

It’s been a struggle trying to figure out how to present all the ideas whirling around in my head — while keeping the entries at a reasonable length. If I were to put all my thoughts on this subject into one post, it might take a week to read. So, I plan to break them down into short and hopefully sweet installments.

I’ve recently shared the writings of two early church leaders that Danny Faulkner admits taught a Flat Earth: Lactantius and Cosmas Indicopluestes.

I will revisit Lactantius and Cosmas when I dig into Faulkner’s Missing History of Flat Earth. Investigating this topic has been eye-opening.

Today, I want to address Faulkner’s claims about Augustine and his alleged belief in a spherical earth.

As a reminder, I am reviewing Danny Faulkner’s Falling Flat. Based on the information uncovered in the first seven installments, I’m surprised Faulkner still has a platform in the Christian community. Faulkner doesn’t use sound reason to defend his globe. Instead, he uses sophistry.

Sophistry, noun

1. “Fallacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only” — Websters Dictionary 1828.

2. “The clever use of arguments that seem true but are really false, in order to deceive people” — Cambridge English Dictionary.

3. “‘Sophistry’ is today used as a pejorative for a superficially sound but intellectually dishonest argument in support of a foregone conclusion” — Wikipedia.

And sadly, Christians who trust Faulkner without investigating his claims — are the brunt of one big joke.

You can access the first seven installments of my review below.

1. “Falling Flat” by Danny Faulkner: A Cover-to-Cover Review

2. Top Twelve Flat Earth Claims to Hold Faulkner's Feet to the Fire

3. Does Danny Faulkner Rewrite Flat Earth History from Page One?

4. Danny Faulkner Accidentally Admits Flat Earth Requires a Creator

5. Danny Faulkner’s Contrived Flat Earth

6. Danny Faulkner’s Malicious Flat Earth God and Reified Moon

7. Faked Space: Faulkner Thought of It First

This eighth entry will dig into Faulkner’s misrepresentation of Augustine’s beliefs on the antipodes and the spherical earth.

In Chapter One of Falling Flat, Faulkner discusses two early church leaders who, as mentioned previously, taught a Flat Earth. He also references a third figure, Augustine of Hippo. Faulkner asserts that Augustine affirmed a spherical earth, while admitting that critics argue he supported a Flat Earth.

Faulkner writes, “The critics even claim that Augustine taught that the earth was flat when he clearly thought otherwise.” ¹ Elsewhere, Faulkner states that Augustine accepted that it was a “scientifically established fact that earth is spherical.” ²

These are the claims we will investigate.

Did Augustine “clearly” believe that the earth was spherical?

Before we start, I will provide some background information.

Who Is Augustine?

Augustine, also known as Saint Augustine, was a North African Christian theologian, philosopher, and bishop whose writings profoundly shaped Western Christianity and philosophy. Born on November 13, 354, he was raised by a devout Christian mother and a pagan father. Before converting to Christianity in 386, Augustine was deeply influenced by Manichaeism and Neoplatonism. He recounts his spiritual journey and conversion to Christianity in his widely acclaimed work, The Confessions of St. Augustine. He became Bishop of Hippo in 395, a role he held until his death.

Besides Confessions, Augustine is known for The City of God and his writings On Genesis, where he speaks against the pagan philosophies that plagued him in his youth. In both works, he discusses his view on Biblical Cosmology.

In the City of God, Augustine discusses the topic of antipodes and a spherical earth.

What Are Antipodes?

Faulkner provides a good definition for antipodes, though he confuses the matter when discussing Augustine.

The word “antipode” means “opposite feet” coming from the idea that people on the opposite side of the earth would have their feet oriented opposite to him. ³

Opposite feet is what the word means, and it is also how Lactantius used the word in The Divine Institutes. He writes, “How is it with those who imagine that there are antipodes opposite to our footsteps?”⁴ I have no doubt Augustine was aware of Lactantius’ writings.

Why?

Because he wrote much on the creation account and was a student of the Bible and Christian writers.

Did Augustine Understand Lactantius’ Antipodes?

Faulkner attempts to trivialize the work and life of Lactantius (and Cosmas). He writes, “Neither Lactantius nor Cosmas are known for anything else. If not for their odd ideas about the earth’s shape, they would be more obscure than they already are.”

I could write an entire article about this false claim. See the footnote for one example concerning Cosmas.⁵

Here, I will focus on Lactantius because he wrote The Divine Institutes before Augustine converted to Christianity. Cosmas, on the other hand, postdates Augustine by about two centuries.

Lactantius wrote against pagan philosophy and was well-respected by his peers and the early church leaders.

Lactantius has always held a very high place among the Christian Fathers, not only on account of the subject-matter of his writings, but also on account of the varied erudition, the sweetness of expression, and the grace and elegance of style, by which they are characterized.

— Rev. William Fletcher, D.D., 1886⁶

Peter Garnsey, Cambridge professor, claims Augustine was well acquainted with Lactantius’ writings.

In the Representations of Empire: Rome and the Mediterranean World, Garnsey contributes an essay titled Lactantius and Augustine. Garnsey argues that Augustine not only read Lactantius’ Divine Institutes, but also embraced them. ⁷

That Augustine embraced Lactantius' Divine Institutes does not automatically imply that he subscribed to Lactantius’ Flat Earth view. Yet, it demonstrates that he knew Lactantius’ position on the antipodes.

In The City of God, Augustine writes [note I am using Dod’s translation as used by Faulkner]:

But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible. And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other: hence they say that the part which is beneath must also be inhabited. But they do not remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled. ⁸

Here, Augustine uses an identical definition of antipodes to that of Faulkner and Lactantius. Specifically, Augustine says of the antipodes, “men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours.”

Yet, Faulkner argues that Augustine’s antipodes are somehow different from Lactantius’ antipodes because Lactantius, according to Faulkner, “mocked those who believed that the earth was spherical” ⁹ while Augustine argued that it was a “scientifically established fact.”

Therefore, according to Faulkner, Augustine validated the spherical earth when discussing antipodes, arguing that even though it was a scientifically established fact the earth was spherical, there still could not be people living upside down on the other side of the globe.

Now we must ask the question: Did Augustine really state that it was a scientifically established fact that the earth is spherical? Here is Faulkner’s complete sentence for context:

Augustine went on to state that the argument for the existence of antipodes was conjecture based upon the scientifically established fact that the earth is spherical.

As a reminder, Faulkner introduced this topic by saying Augustine “clearly” thought the earth was a globe. Here’s his exact quote again:

“The critics even claim that Augustine taught that the earth was flat when he clearly thought otherwise.”

Augustine’s Conditional Clause

Let’s break down Augustine’s words to see if he accepted the globe earth as a scientifically established fact, as Faulkner claims.

First, Augustine says it is an incredible fable that there are people with feet opposite ours on a globe.

But as to the fable that there are Antipodes, that is to say, men on the opposite side of the earth, where the sun rises when it sets to us, men who walk with their feet opposite ours, that is on no ground credible.

He also maintains that the so-called knowledge of antipodes was not learned by “historical knowledge” but rather “scientific conjecture” based on pagan philosophies.

And, indeed, it is not affirmed that this has been learned by historical knowledge, but by scientific conjecture, on the ground that the earth is suspended within the concavity of the sky, and that it has as much room on the one side of it as on the other: hence they say that the part which is beneath must also be inhabited.

Next, Augustine provides a conditional clause, which Faulkner turns into an absolute statement.

But they do not remark that, although it be supposed or scientifically demonstrated that the world is of a round and spherical form, yet it does not follow that the other side of the earth is bare of water; nor even, though it be bare, does it immediately follow that it is peopled.

This is a classic IF/THEN statement.

Augustine is not declaring a belief in a spherical earth here. Instead, he’s saying, “Even if it were spherical, it wouldn’t imply inhabited antipodes.”

Let’s examine some alternate translations that make this point even more apparent.

The New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia translates this passage as such:

They fail to notice that, even should it be believed or demonstrated that the world is round or spherical in form, it does not follow that the part of the earth opposite to us is not completely covered with water, or that any conjectured dry land there should be inhabited by men. ¹⁰

The Penguin Book edition, translated by Henry Bettenson, reads:

They ignore the fact that even if the world is supposed to be a spherical mass, or if some rational proof should be offered for supposition, it does not follow that the land on that side is covered by “the gathering together of waters.”

It is also worthy to note that the full title of Augustine’s book under discussion is On The City of God Against Pagans. Augustine does not support the pagan teaching of a spherical earth. Rather, he argues against the pagan idea of people living at the bottom of a sphere.

Furthermore, in the Introduction to Bettenson’s translation of City of God, John O'Meara, an expert on Augustine, maintains that the mainstream view during Augustine’s lifetime was a Flat Earth, even among the Greeks.

O’Meara writes:

Thus whereas the theory of the spherical nature of the earth put forward by Eudoxus of Cnidus (c. 408-337 B.C.) was accepted by Plato and Aristotle and their successors down to the second century A.D., there was a reversion in the third and fourth centuries A.D. to the earlier Homeric and Biblical theory of the earth as a flat disc surrounded by Ocean. And so whereas Plato and Cicero accepted the existence of the antipodes, Augustine demurred (Bk xvi, 9). He is careful, however, to indicate the possibility that the world might be a suspended sphere, and that the existence of the antipodes was simply not proved rationally. His reason for rejecting the theory of the antipodes was that it seemed to threaten the unity of the human race - which was the teaching of the Bible. ¹¹

This same idea appears in other editions and writings of Augustine. For example, in the Penguin edition of City of God, the editor writes in the footnotes:

The Antipodes. The Pythagoreans assumed another world on the opposite side, to which they gave the name of the ‘Antiworld’ (Ar., De Cael., 2,13). The word ‘antipodes’ appears first in Cic., Acad. Post., 2, 39,123. By the third century A.D. the picture of the earth as a flat disc had displaced the spherical theory of the earlier Greeks (cf. Bk vim, 2nn.), and Lactantius (fl. c. 290) ridiculed the theory, together with the supposition of the antipodes (Inst. Div., 3, 24). ¹²

Additionally, in St. Augustine On Genesis, Against the Manichees, Book I, the editor notes, “By Augustine’s time the Greek view of the earth as round had given way to the view that it was flat; cf. the note by F.-J. Thonnard on DCD 16.9 in BA 36.712-715.” ¹³

Concluding Faulkner’s Misrepresentation

The preponderance of evidence shows that Faulkner has misrepresented Augustine’s beliefs on the shape of the earth.

Faulkner fails the logic test when he says that Augustine maintained the “scientifically established fact that the earth is spherical” and “clearly” believed so. Faulkner fallaciously took a hypothetical premise and stated it as fact.

In truth, Augustine does not declare the earth’s sphericity as an established scientific fact. Instead, he introduces the idea conditionally — “even should it be believed or demonstrated that the world is round or spherical in form” — antipodes are nothing more than a fable or myth. Augustine’s rhetoric is a classic example of conditional reasoning, where a premise is granted hypothetically for the sake of critique, not as a statement of belief.

The assertion by Faulkner that Augustine believed in a spherical earth because he discussed it in The City of God commits at least two interwoven fallacies: a non sequitur and a straw man. First, it is a non sequitur because the conclusion — that Augustine accepted the earth’s sphericity — does not logically follow from the premise. Augustine explicitly frames the idea conditionally — “even should it be believed or demonstrated” — not as a personal conviction, but as a rhetorical device to refute belief in the existence of antipodes. Second, it constitutes a straw man by misrepresenting Augustine’s actual position. Faulkner misreads Augustine and projects modern assumptions into a patristic context, treating a theological argument as if it were a scientific endorsement. Both fallacies arise from the same fundamental error: misinterpreting a conditional clause as a declaration of fact.

Is Faulkner merely deceived, or is he intentionally deceiving?

Job 12:16 reminds us that both the deceived and the deceiver are in God’s hands. Has God raised up Faulkner to test the church to see if we will mindlessly follow the teachings of men and pagans instead of His sure word?

Prayer: Lord God, please have compassion on Your people. Set Your church free from the lies of the evil one. Have mercy and remove the blinders from the eyes of our pastors, spouses, family, friends, and loved ones. Expose the agenda of evil men and liars, who work in cahoots with Satan to steal, kill, and destroy. Pour out Your Spirit of Truth upon the nations until all the ends of the earth fear Your great name.

God be merciful to us and bless us,
And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
That Your way may be known on earth,
Your salvation among all nations.

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!
For You shall judge the people righteously,
And govern the nations on earth. Selah

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us,
And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Psalm 67

You can access the next installment here: Danny Faulkner's Missing History of Flat Earth P-1.

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1. Falling Flat, Page 31

2. Falling Flat, Page 32

3. Ibid.

4. Lactantius on Antipodes

5. For example, see other contributions Cosmas made here concerning the Throne of Adulis.

6. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07.iii.i.html

7. https://academic.oup.com/british-academy-scholarship-online/book/28512/chapter-abstract/230183325?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

8. Falling Flat, Page 31, taken from The City of God by Augustine, Book 16, Chapter Nine.

9. Falling Flat, Page 30

10. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01581a.htm

11. https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.505298/mode/2up?q=antipodes&view=theater Page 664

12. https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.505298/page/663/mode/2up?view=theater&q=antipodes Page 664

13. https://archive.org/details/OnGenesisAugustineSt.TeskeRoland5059_201903/page/n83/mode/2up?q=thonnard&view=theater Page 70