We continue, considering portions of an interview between Bill Moyer and Neil deGrasse Tyson, Neil deGrasse Tyson Tells Bill Moyers Why Faith and Reason are Irreconcilable. The segments of which this consideration will consist, in toto, are:
On the Bible and the Qur’an / Koran
The historical meaning of – star
The biblical meaning of – star
On science proving the Bible wrong
The faith of the Atheist (Dogmatheism)
HISTORICALLY GRAMMATICAL CONTEXT
During his long career, surely Neil deGrasse Tyson has referred to Pluto as a planet. However, Pluto is no longer considered to be a planet. The question is; would it be ethical, logical, historically grammatically contextual to quote Tyson to the effect of that Pluto is a planet from statements made before Pluto was demoted and, anachronistically, claim that Tyson does not even know what Pluto or planets are and no concept of what the actual universe is?
No, because the historical context would inform us that his reference to Pluto as a planet was accurate at the time he made it. The point is that the nature of terminology is that terms change meaning, how we define then changes and therefore to what they are applicable, changes.
The early New Testament manuscripts are written in Greek so the question becomes how was the Greek term aster for star (Strong’s G792) was used, what did it mean during that time in history? This is something that Neil deGrasse Tyson did not consider, may never consider or simply ignores.
Let us do that which Tyson did not do nor, apparently, anyone who applauds his statements in this regard would imagine doing.
Some readily accessible example come to us from a consideration of the fact that the ancient Greeks employed two terms for (the planet) Venus because since (the planet) Venus at times appears in the morning and at other times in the evening; they thought it was two different celestial bodies. Hesperos refers to (the planet) Venus as the evening star and Eosphoros aka Phosphoros is (the planet) Venus as the morning star. They categorized what we call a planet by the term star.
But this may be too much for those simply interested in playing hit and run pseudo-debate. Well then, has Tyson, et al., never heard of that which we, today, term shooting star? This refers to a path left by a meteoroid when it enters the atmosphere and becomes what we term a meteor. Now, will Neil deGrasse Tyson refer to anyone employing the term shooting star in our modern day, as we do employ it, as not knowing what a star is, in terms of a celestial body such as our Sun? That is how poor is his basic logic.
Here is some historical evidence to back these points.
Philo Judaeus (c. 25 BC-c. 50 AD), The Decalogue, Section 54:
…for they call the earth Proserpine, and Ceres, and Pluto. And the sea they call Neptune, inventing besides a number of marine deities as subservient to him, and vast companies of attendants, both male and female. The air they call Juno; fire, Vulcan; and the sun, Apollo; the moon, Diana; and the evening star, Venus.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43 BC), De Natura Deorum / On the Nature of the Gods, Book 2, Section 20.53:
The lowest of the five wandering stars, and the one nearest the earth, is the planet of Venus, which is called Phosphoros in Greek, and Lucifer in Latin, when it is preceding the sun, but Hesperos when it is following it; it completes its course in a year, traversing the zodiac both latitudinally and longitudinally, as is also done by the planets above it, and on whichever side of the sun it is, it never departs more than two signs’ distance from it.
Homer (c. 8-9 century BC), The Iliad:
But at the hour when the star of morning goeth forth to herald light over the face of the earth—the star after which followeth saffronrobed Dawn and spreadeth over the sea—even then grew the burning faint, and the flame thereof died down. And the winds went back again to return to their home over the Thracian sea, and it roared with surging flood…Thus far, at least, I asseverate with certainty: I say, once more, that there are eight of them, and that while three of the eight have been told, five yet remain. The fourth in motion and transit together, and the fifth, are almost equal to the sun in speed, and on the whole are neither slower nor swifter.
Plato (427-347 BC), Epinomis, 986e:
These being three, must be so regarded by him who has sufficient mind. So let us speak of them as powers of the sun and of Lucifer, and of a third, such that we cannot express it in a name because it is not known.
Hesiod (active 750 and 650 BC), Theogony, 375-380:
And Eos bore to Astraeus the strong-hearted winds, brightening Zephyrus, and Boreas, headlong in his course, and Notus,—a goddess mating in love with a god. And after these Erigeneia bare the star Eosphorus, and the gleaming stars with which heaven is crowned.
Gaius Plinius Secundus aka Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), Natural History, Book II, Chapter 6, §36 and Chapter 16, §79:
Below the sun revolves a very large star named Venus, which varies its course alternately, and whose alternative names in themselves indicate its rivalry with the sun and moon—when in advance and rising before dawn it receives the name of Lucifer, as being another sun and bringing the dawn, whereas when it shines after sunset it is named Vesper, as prolonging the daylight, or as being a deputy for the moon.
This property of Venus was first discovered by Pythagoras of Samos about the 42nd Olympiad, [612-609 BC] 142 years after the foundation of Rome. Further it surpasses all the other stars in magnitude, and is so brilliant that alone among stars it casts a shadow by its rays….
The colours of the planets vary with their altitudes, inasmuch as they are assimilated to the stars into whose atmosphere they come in rising, and the circuit of another’s path modifies their colour in either direction as they approach, a colder circuit to pallor, a hotter one to redness, a windy one to a leaden colour, the sun and the intersection of its orbit with theirs, and also the extremities of their paths, changing them to black darkness.
It is true that each has its own special hue—Saturn white, Jupiter transparent, Mars fiery, Lucifer bright white, Vesper glaring, Mercury radiant, the moon soft, the sun when rising glowing and afterwards radiant; with these being causally connected also the appearance of the fixed stars.
Seneca (4 BC-65 AD), Apocolocyntosis, §3.379:
Like as the daystar from on high scatters the stars of night, As, when the stars return again, clear Hesper brings his light, Or as the ruddy dawn drives out the dark, and brings the day, As the bright sun looks on the world, and speeds along its way His rising car from morning’s gates: so Caesar doth arise, So Nero shows his face to Rome before the people’s eyes, His bright and shining countenance illumines all the air, While down upon his graceful neck fall rippling waves of hair.” Thus Apollo.
These, mere examples, are sufficient to demonstrate that Tyson, Moyer, et al. have not considered the historically grammatical context.
In the next segment, we will consider the biblical meaning “star.”