11 h 32 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 32 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What did the Bible’s writers see when they looked up at the night sky?
In The Astronomy of the Bible, E. Walter Maunder follows Scripture’s sky passages with the eye of a trained observer. He explores the sun and moon, stars and constellations, asking what a shepherd or priest could see without a telescope. His starting point is simple: this is the sky of the naked eye.
Maunder brings patient attention to names such as Orion and the Pleiades, the thin crescent that marks a Hebrew month, and the long day described in Joshua. He asks what the Hebrew words most likely mean and reads the heavens of Genesis and the psalms as ancient descriptions of how the world looks.
What you’ll discover
- The sky without telescopes Look at familiar scriptural passages through the visible world their writers describe.
- A calendar in the heavens Follow the moon’s thin evening crescent into Maunder’s account of the Hebrew calendar.
- Stars with puzzling names Explore Orion, Arcturus, the Pleiades, and the difficult term Mazzaroth in Job and Amos.
- Creation as a visible world Consider how Maunder reads the vault and lights described in Genesis and the psalms.
- Unusual signs, careful questions Examine Maunder’s discussion of Joshua’s long day, when the text says the sun stands still.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who love both the night sky and the Bible, who enjoy ancient calendars, star lore and Babylonian tablets, and who like to see a scientist test old texts against observation.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Genesis frees nature from the gods
- Genesis did not borrow from Babylon
- The firmament is an expanse, not a shell
- Sun and moon serve as lights and clocks
- Stars, comets and eclipses speak of order
- Astrology is the enemy of astronomy
- The constellations are older than Israel
- Job's star names point to real star groups
- The calendar rests on sun, moon and Jubilee
- Three marvels call for careful reading
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Die Astronomie der Bibel
by E. Walter Maunder · 1908
An astronomer reads Joshua's long day, Job's star names and the Jubilee by the light of the real sky.
Medium level10–20 hours to readDeutsch
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In short
Why would an astronomer write a commentary on the Bible? E.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Genesis frees nature from the gods
Maunder opens with a total eclipse of the sun in India. Astronomers from England, America and Japan have two minutes under a clear sky to photograph the silver halo around the dark disc. Along the sacred river, a vast crowd weeps in terror for their suffering god. One sky is seen in two ways.
The difference, he says, is spiritual first. If the sun and moon are gods, dissecting them is profane, and many gods mean many laws. Science needs one law, the law of causality: the same causes bring the same results. Observation teaches nothing unless this law holds.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- Deutsch
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Maunder, E. Walter. The Astronomy of the Bible. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-astronomy-of-the-bible.
Maunder, E. W. (2026). The astronomy of the Bible. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-astronomy-of-the-bible (Original work published 1908)
Maunder, E. Walter. The Astronomy of the Bible. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-astronomy-of-the-bible.
@book{maunder2026astronomy,
author = {Maunder, E. Walter},
title = {The Astronomy of the Bible},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-astronomy-of-the-bible},
note = {First published 1908}
}
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What is The Astronomy of the Bible about?
It looks at every place where Scripture touches the sky: creation, clouds, sun, moon, stars, eclipses, constellations, calendars, and three miracles. Maunder explains each reference as an astronomer would, asking what the writers saw and what each verse teaches.
What does the Hebrew word raqia, firmament, mean?
Maunder says raqia means an expanse, something stretched out, not a solid dome. He backs this with Isaiah's image of the heavens stretched like a curtain and with verses that place the waters above in the clouds.
What explanation does Maunder give for Joshua's long day?
He reads the sun over Gibeon as noon, takes Joshua's cry as a prayer for relief from heat, and notes that the army covered a day's march between noon and sunset. The marched miles were its only clock.
The author
E. Walter Maunder
1851–1928 · English astronomer
Edward Walter Maunder (1851–1928) was an English astronomer who lived and worked in London. He worked at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and studied sunspots and changes in the Sun’s activity. He also wrote books about astronomy, including The Astronomy of the Bible, which was published in 1908.
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