FIRST BOOK

Doubt.

...in such a way that this ninth heaven is made of the waters that remained above. However, it seems one could have a doubt about this, asking: How can it be true that there are waters above the heaven, since water is naturally heavy and every heavy body tends downward? Furthermore, one should not say that God keeps them there by a miracle, but rather by natural means; for there is no reason to say they are there miraculously. Explanation of Nicholas of Lyra. The explanation from Nicholas of LyraA highly influential 14th-century Franciscan biblical scholar whose commentaries were standard for Renaissance students., in the commentary he made on the first chapter of Genesis, responds thus: that the word "waters" is used here equivocallymeaning the word has a different meaning in this context than its usual one.. For those waters which are above the firmament are of a celestial nature—that is to say, of the same quality and nature as the heavens—while those below the firmament are of an elemental nature composed of the four heavy elements: earth, water, air, and fire.. Of the former, Song of the Royal Psalmist, David. the Royal Prophet sings: "Waters that are above the heavens, bless the Lord" original: "Eaues qui estes par dessus les cieux, benissez le Seigneur"; a reference to Psalm 148:4.. This heaven is called the watery or crystalline heaven, for the reason that it appears to look like clear water and is as shining as crystal. We have no specific teaching concerning the ninth and tenth heavens because there is no visible mark of them; likewise, our sight does not pass beyond the eighth heaven, where the fixed stars are located.

CHAPTER VII.

Concerning the eighth heaven, called the Firmament, or the heaven of the stars.

A decorative initial letter 'L' is set within a square frame decorated with ornate patterns of leaves and vines. THE eighth heaven, which belongs to the stars, is called the FirmamentFrom the Latin 'firmamentum', meaning a support; it was believed to be a solid sphere that held the stars in place., for the reason that the stars are fixed and firm within it, so that none can move on its own, but rather they all move together. Regarding this, it must be known that although we see them shining, none of them has light of its own; rather, the Sun illuminates them all, for it alone possesses light, and no other celestial body does. God created this light on the first day, as is written in the first chapter of Genesis, where the text says: "God saw the light, that it was good." Saint Augustine. A notable thing. Saint Augustine speaks of light and says that it is a bodily substance, sovereign and simple, greatly multiplied in power and highly transparent, without resistance; it is easily shared and very pleasant. Therefore, there is no body so profitable, so peaceful, and so virtuous as light. The stars have no light other than that which they receive from the Sun. Light spreads from the heaven down to the earth. It is the beauty of every visible creature and is the reason why the other bodies of the world are praised. Therefore, I say that the stars have no light of their own other than that which they receive from the Sun, as Great AlbertAlbertus Magnus (c. 1200–1280), a medieval scholar who was a primary authority on natural philosophy and astronomy in Medina's time. says in the second book of On the Heavens and the World, chapter...