Gerardus Bouw PhD – science refutes Copernicanism, defends Geocentricity; Part 13a

      This continues from Part 12, a series on Copernicanism and Geocentricity (see Intro & Contents in Part 1) in response to a letter from a young person ("Josh") who asked if I believed Geocentricity ... and did not ridicule me in his question.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Gerardus Bouw (2005)
PhD Astronomy

      I move from the theology of the fathers of the Synodical Conference to the present day scientists who defend against Copernicanism and for Geocentricity.  

      In several previous blog posts, the name of Gerardus Bouw kept popping up in relation to the science of Geocentricity.  Dr. Danny Faulkner says that Bouw

"...has a Ph.D. in astronomy from Case Western Reserve University, so he certainly is in a position to know and understand the issues and literature involved."

This is high praise for the credentials of Bouw, coming from one who also has a similar high degree yet refutes Geocentricity.  And Malcolm Bowden credited Bouw for much of the science presented in his YouTube videos on Geocentricity.  So I decided to purchase Dr. Bouw's latest book:

Geocentricity :
Christianity in the Woodshed
Gerardus D. Bouw

Geocentricity: Christianity in the Woodshed. Daystar Publishing, ©2013

Go ahead, try to find it available at Amazon or even to find one review on Amazon... there are none; or in a library anywhere (there is currently only 1 on WorldCat) .  One will note that there are other publications of Dr. Bouw on WorldCat, so are any other books of his in any libraries?  One finds that a previous book Geocentricity: the Biblical Cosmology is held by quite a number of libraries, many of which are Christian colleges.  But there is a curious appearance of one library in particular that shows up as a holder of many of of Dr. Bouw's works: University of Wisconsin - Madison!  Oh, they are the ones who hold that other collection about... "pseudo-science".  I see now why Wisconsin is so interested in Dr. Bouw.  Maybe they consider themselves the guardians against "pseudo-science"... like that of Martin Luther's Small Catechism?  [I wonder why Cornell University's library is so far behind on this... shouldn't they also be watching out against any "ancient" believing "text-worshipers", i.e. Christians?]

      So I purchased Dr. Bouw's book through the only means available, the geocentriciy.com website – in it's Tycho Brahe Shop.  The book:

• is quite large, 799 pages! Yet it is only $35.50, shipping included, a good value.
• has 40 chapters, 
• 5 Appendices, 
• copious reference notes, 
• Scripture index, and
• very complete General Index

Curiously, although there is a link on their website that indicates there is a Summary for each chapter, it rather only presents a few endorsements.  I would like to present the Chapter titles for anyone interested in purchasing the book:

Preface. Introduction; Importance of Geocentricity; The Bible and the Flat Earth; The Motions of the World; Motions of the Earth; The Biblical Firmament; The Sun To Rule by Day; Joshua's Long Day; Hezekiah's Sign; Christological Sun Passages; Sunrise and Sunset; The Throne;  Up and Down;  Alleged Heliocentric Verses;  Sweet Influences; Mazzaroth;  The Ordinances of Heaven;  He Hangeth the Earth Upon Nothing; Early Geocentric Models;  The Birth of Heliocentrism;  The Reformation and Heliocentrism;  The Early Copernicans;  Heliocentrism Takes Over;  The Restoration of Astronomy Project;  Geocentrists From 1650 to 1950;  Newton and Berkeley;  Force-Based Proofs of the Newtonians;  Proofs Based on Centrifugal Force;  Proofs Based on the Coriolis Force;  Introduction to Optical Proofs;  Aberration;  Aberration—Airy's Failure;  Aberration—The Gospel of Relativity;   Aberration—The Michelson-Morley Experiment;  Rotation;  Lesser Evidences;  The Axis of Evil;  Modern Geocentrists;  Geocentrists and Their Critics;  In the Woodshed

      One gets a good introduction to this book by watching Bowden's YouTube videos and reading all the available materials on the website geocentricity.com.  Although I had wanted to present some kind of summary of the science presented, I have despaired of doing so because of its massive content.  Perhaps one quote from an earlier edition Geocentricity – the Biblical Cosmology presents a fair summation, page 333:

The last misconception we shall look at now is the one which claims that the laws of physics should be different in a geocentric universe than in a heliocentric universe. Time and time again this has been shown to be false. Basically what this misconception claims is that phenomena such as the Foucault pendulum, the stationary satellite, the flight of ballistic missiles, indeed, the very equations on which the space program is based are all different in a geocentric universe. This is the very misconception which Ernst Mach tried to counter in the last century.

But the book itself goes into greater detail in the scientific aspects, especially starting with the chapter "The Early Copernicans".  Suffice to say, I found his science fascinating as I remember my physics courses in high school and university – truly a refresher course in this field of science.  But it is also quite an introduction to what is today called "theoretical physics".  Indeed, I would call this portion an antidote to many of the theories of today, including... Einstein's Relativity theories.  Could it be that he can explain why Franz Pieper mentioned that newspapers were in his day claiming "Einstein's relativity theory will take the life out of Copernicanism"?  (see a future blog post)

      I will be referring on occasion in future blog posts to Dr. Bouw's book.  And indeed, I am still digesting the science he covers.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

      But the early chapters of Dr. Bouw's book present a large section that is not yet about the matters of science, but of the testimony of Scripture.   And in later chapters, he also at times touches on matters of theology.  And what do we notice about Dr. Bouw?  He is not a Lutheran, but rather a Baptist (Mantua Country Baptist Church).  Christians are to judge for themselves regarding matters of theology and not assume that Dr. Bouw, with his extensive and impressive knowledge of science, is necessarily their superior in matters of Christian doctrine.  In the next Part 13b, we praise much of his theology and find other portions problematic.