Wow, 24 pages. Truly, if you want to upset people tell them you think the earth is flat.

Indeed, this makes them more upset than blasphemy or heresy.

Or tell them the earth is round.

I'm not upset though. I only get upset at the devilish mockery coming from supposedly pious Catholics.

With regard to the first statement, there was no consensus one way or another among the Fathers about the shape of the earth.  That leaves it an open question.  Nevertheless, I recall your arguing at one point (from Leo XIII) that even if there WERE a consensus among the Fathers about something scientific, well, since it's science, it could be mistaken.  But in either case, the point is that this is not a matter of doctrine, but of science ... except perhaps some details, like the firmament, which all the Fathers unequivocally believed in, since it's clearly taught in Sacred Scripture.  Do you believe that there's a solid firmament above the earth?

There have been various understandings of exactly what was meant by "firmament" throughout Catholic history, even in the Patristic period alone.  Given that there is no de fide teaching on it, I consider it an open question.   I am not attached to any position on it.

You did refer to spherical earth as Catholic teaching, but then added the qualification that it's not "dogmatic".  My point is that it's not Catholic teaching in any sense, dogmatic or otherwise.  Historically, SOME Catholics believed this.  Even above you say that Catholics "taught" this.  No, they didn't "teach" this.  Xavier here does the same thing, use the term "teach" loosely.  But when we speak of Catholic "teaching", that has a different sense than if, say, a Catholic were "teaching" a science class in school vs. Catholic "teaching" in the strict sense, so it's important to distinguish.

I made a point to qualify the word "teaching" virtually every time I used it, in order to indicate this sort of distinction.  When I said it was not "dogmatic", I was expressing that it did not concern faith.  I contrasted this with "historical"  to express that this was something generally taught and believed by Catholics of the past as a matter of science.  Possibly I could have been clearer, but I think that a good-willed person could have figured out what I was trying to say.  Historically the vast majority of educated Catholics believed, as a matter of science, not faith, that the earth is a sphere. This is especially true after the time of St. Bede.  Since the uneducated left few records of their beliefs, it is not as clear what they thought although there is some reason to think that they too agreed it was a sphere.  The Catholics of Christendom did indeed teach this as science.  It is incorrect to claim that past Catholics in general taught or believed the earth was flat.  It was never a widespread teaching, either in terms of faith or science.

I contrasted this with "historical"  to express that this was something generally taught and believed by Catholics of the past as a matter of science. ..This is especially true after the time of St. Bede. 

This is just not true.  You're like a bad infomercial - you keep repeating the same half-truths over and over again.

You act as if all these people taught "sphere theory" in the exact same way.  But they didn't.  That's dishonesty through defect.  You're not telling the whole story. 

Glad to know I can write you off as a untrustful source.  Too bad too many others will be confused by your hazy history.

You have no idea what all these people taught.  You have not read the source materials.  You have taken my comments about them and twisted them to claim that there were significant differences between them.  You are the one being dishonest by stating your wild suppositions and assumptions as if they were facts.

For the purposes of this discussion, they all would be on the "sphere earth" side of this debate.

We know what books were used to teach astronomy at Catholic universities and these books can be read to this day.  I posted a link to an English translation of the most popular of these books.  Just read it and stop making things up.

Wow, 24 pages. Truly, if you want to upset people tell them you think the earth is flat.

What upsets me is people claiming that flat earth was the historical Catholic position.  That is an outright falsehood fabricated by anti-Catholics in order to defame the Church.

I am fairly indifferent to people discussing the science of it.  Mostly I just find it boring.

What upsets me is your claiming St Bede mentioning sphere earth "almost in passing" is a teaching (which implies an undebatable, you-have-to-accept-this, fact).  Instead of the word "teaching" you should use the phrase "proposed theory".  Even then, a theory which is only mentioned in passing is quite worthless as a teaching tool.

Almost everyone was taught from the same textbook for centuries.

The Church never considered it a fact, so it's wrong to use the word "teaching".  It was a theory open for debate.  The Middle Ages was all about the Scholastic Method and debate.  Something which is debated is not a "teaching".

Schooling today is basically indoctrination - here is what is true, memorize it, no discussion.  That was NOT how the Middle Ages worked.  They used their minds to actually think, not just memorize.  Teachers in the Middle Ages didn't read from a book while students just sat there passively.  Teachers would propose ideas, students would debate and argue and it would go on and on until something was proven.  This is why the Dominicans came to blows against the Franciscans over the Immaculate Conception debate - things got heated; there was not passive learning like we have today.

What upsets me is your claiming St Bede mentioning sphere earth "almost in passing" is a teaching (which implies an undebatable, you-have-to-accept-this, fact).  Instead of the word "teaching" you should use the phrase "proposed theory".  Even then, a theory which is only mentioned in passing is quite worthless as a teaching tool.

Why are you being so insistent about what St. Bede wrote when you have not actually read it? Unfortunately I have never been able to find an online English translation.  If your Latin is good enough, I could give a link for the Latin version.  

St. Bede taught that the earth is a sphere and gave proofs in support of this.  It was not the main point of the treatise, but it was clearly there.