Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to present Christian attitudes towards astrology from the beginning of the Christian Era to the present day. In connection with this focus, there are two specific questions:

- Is astrology, in the beginning of the 21st century, a danger to Christianity?

- Does a Christian who attends an astrological consultation disrespect any fundamental precept of Christian doctrine?

In Chapter 1 I intend to show some of the major Biblical references to astrology. Those references do not intend to be exhaustive, but only to give a general idea of the way in which astrology is presented in the Bible.

In Chapter 2 I will present some important statements of the Church Fathers in connection to astrology and astral religion. I will concentrate more deeply on Augustine writings because they were a major influence on the relationship between the Church and astrology.

In Chapter 3 we can see how the Church deals with astrology in a new way. This was because of the translation into Latin of several classical Greek major works, in particular, the works of Aristotle. The Church felt the need to find a compromise between the Christian revelation and the secular world, Greek philosophy and science and Christian faith, nature and spirit. St Albertus Magnus and St Thomas Aquinas – both Dominicans who brought new vitality and new values to medieval Christianity – presented a different way of understanding the astrological influences in Christian terms.

Chapter 4 covers a long period in the history of western science and philosophy, with some radical changes such as the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Certainly the relationship of the Church to astrology changed from a social point of view, but the doctrine and the major philosophical principles were the same, as established in the beginning of the Christian Era by the Church Fathers and, in particularly, Augustine; and later by Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The direct reference to astrology in the Catechism of the Catholic Church is of particular interest, but again “it is interesting to note in this context that Cardinal Ratzinger himself asserted that the Catechism did not intend to teach “new doctrine”. In other words, it purports to be a summary of those truths which are part of the Church’s history, over the two thousand years of its existence.”

Chapter 5 intends to present a hermeneutic analysis of the major Christian attitudes to astrology as presented in the previous chapters; it tries to understand the underlying meanings of the different Christian perspectives. In that sense the aim is to clarify the relationship between the Church, the believing Christians and contemporary astrological theory and practice.