Astrology and Christianity

This post is especially (but not only) for my Pisces brother who remains an agnostic Christian while believing in astrology. The following is from a paper entitled: Astrology: Between Religion and the Empirical by Dr. Gustav-Adolf Schoener

Let us return now to European astrology. For here astrology has stood in close interrelation with Christianity for two thousand years. How do they act in regards to one another, if Christianity proclaims the one God who created the world including the heavenly bodies, while astrology views the heavenly bodies and nature as full of magical gods and powers?

History

The Bible addresses astrology indirectly in some places without, however, clearly explaining in detail. Many are surely familiar with the "star of Bethlehem" which is reported in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 2). There the story is told of three "Magi from the east" who have seen a special star. The Magi understood this star as a sign which announced the birth of a new "king of the Jews." Now they sought him in Jerusalem and finally found him in the baby Jesus. If this story is historically true, then the Magi were very probably priests who were followers of astrology from the Persian region. For these were well-known throughout Roman Empire at the time of Jesus. But even if it is not true, the authors of the Gospel according to Matthew knew of the "Magi from the east" and built them into the birth story of Jesus.

The Christian theologian Tertullian (ca. 160-220 AD) advocated because of this traditional story the view that astrology and magic were valid until the time of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. However, now that God had shown himself in the person of Jesus, astrology became superfluous. Since the three Magi’s homage to the baby Jesus—according to Tertullian—it is no longer necessary to revere or consult the gods of the heavenly bodies [64].


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But all in all, astrology was very controversial in the beginnings of Christianity. A large number of the early Christians rejected astrology. Many, like Justinus (ca. 100-165 AD), for example, saw in the gods of the heavenly bodies foreign gods or angels that had fallen from God [65]. Others criticized the far too unreliable horoscope interpretation. For the most part, however, astrology was rejected because it was classified among the non-Christian, "heathen" religions and their practices, and the "new" religion, Christianity, no longer needed it.

However, there was also a thoroughly positive attitude towards astrology. This had less to do with horoscope interpretation as rather with the symbolism and image-world of astrology. Many astrological symbols were already common in some currents of Judaism and flowed quite naturally into Christianity. The largest number of astrological symbols are found in the Revelation of John. Thus, the astrologically important numbers four, seven, and twelve occur in quite central passages. Right in the first chapter, seven stars are mentioned which are represented as seven angels (Rev. 1:20). The septet of stars referred in the ancient world to the seven known planets: sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. In chapter 12, a woman is mentioned who appears in the sky, clad in the sun, beneath her feet the moon and on her head a crown with twelve stars. She is quite reminiscent, down to the details, of the Mesopotamian Ishtar, who corresponds to the planet Venus and the Egyptian Isis, and who is also connected with the moon. Hermann Gunkel and Hugo Gressmann, two representatives of the "religious history school" (Religionsgeschichtliche Schule) in Göttingen, have dealt with the influence of Mesopotamian astrology on the New Testament and especially on the Revelation of John [66].

It has also been handed down to us that in the early period of the church, but also in the Middle Ages and early modern period, the twelve disciples of Christ are identified with the twelve signs of the zodiac [67]. We still find traces of this in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of "The Last Supper," which was produced between 1495 and 1498. Here the twelve disciples are represented with characteristic markings and gestures of the twelve zodiac signs [68].

In the Middle Ages, astrology was considered – under Aristotelian influence in theology, as well – a science. Great Christian theologians, like Hildegard von Bingen (d. 1179), Meister Eckhard (1260-1327), or the Franciscan Roger Bacon (1214-1294), included astrology in their teachings. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) explained the relationship of Christianity and astrology most clearly. According to him, the heavenly bodies affect the physical condition of humans and the sensual inclinations. Whether physical passions or inclinations regarding profession—every worldly bond is determined by the heavenly bodies. However, every human has also the possibility to avoid the influences of the celestial bodies. The more he overcomes sensual inclinations, makes use of his reason, and devotes himself to God, the better is he able to master the passions and with them the influence of the stars. Thomas did not think that the vast majority of mankind was capable of this. Events such as war were proof enough of that for Thomas [69].

A basic stance of the church regarding astrology resulted. As long as astrologers practiced a "judicial" (judgment-passing) astrology for individuals, it was not allowed and was combated as a heathen faith. Here the powers of the heavenly bodies stood clearly opposed to the Christian Creator-God and the individual’s free decision in favor of this God. But as long as a "natural" astrology – the astrologia naturalis – gave information about weather or found application in medicine, it was allowed.


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The Renaissance brought once again an enormous boom in popularity for astrology in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This was because interest in science and art, and especially in the ancient world increased. Pope Leo X valued astrology so highly that he established a professorship of astrology at the papal university in 1520. Protestant theologians as well, such as Philipp Melanchthon (1496-1565), ardently practiced astrology. But despite this great sympathy on both the Roman Catholic as well as the Protestant sides, there were also critics. And this criticism was hardly different from that of the early Christian period. Above all Martin Luther (1483-1546) saw a danger in the belief in the powers of the heavenly bodies. Luther did not want to accept any other powers next to the one God who took human form in Jesus Christ [70]. In addition, there were some astrological forecasts which were not fulfilled, and thus Luther made some mocking remarks about astrology.

But sometimes Luther was not so sure after all. For he wrote a very detailed foreword in 1527 for a very detailed and religio-politically important forecast by the astrologer Johann Lichtenberger [71]. In it he said that, though the heavenly bodies cannot effect anything, they can yet announce events. 

It speaks for the vast influence of astrology in both great confessions that Luther’s horoscope led to a heated debate between Protestant and Roman Catholic astrologers. The reason for this was his indefinite time of birth [72].