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The Qurʾan is the primary source of inspiration for Muslims across the ages. As Muslims, the task is to make the Qurʾan relevant to our own context. That task is however challenged every time the conception of the world changes. The change from a medieval Aristotelian to a modern heliocentric view of the world represented just such a challenge. But regardless of the differing worldviews, the Qurʾan’s descriptions of natural phenomena remained relevant. Accordingly, the aim of this article is to demonstrate the correspondence between the Qurʾanic description of natural phenomena and various scientific paradigms. It claims that the Qurʾan is relevant to both past and present scientific paradigms, even if these paradigms conflict with one another. This claim is illustrated through the example of cosmographies. It shows that the Qurʾan’s cosmographical verses can be read considering both ancient and modern paradigms. This multiplicity of correspondences is achieved: (1) by means of subjective descriptions, which are open to interpretation, (2) by means of negative affirmations, which allude to certain paradigms without fully endorsing them, and (3) through a silence about key elements that would unambiguously validate or refute a specific scientific paradigm. The Qurʾan’s interpretatively open cosmographical verses also include particularly apt word choices and morphology when it comes to considering them in the light of modern scientific paradigms. The philosophical and theological consequences of this multiplicity of correspondence are also discussed.

Known as a time of revolutions in science, the early modern era in Europe was characterized by the emergence of new disciplines and ways of thinking. Taking this conceit a step further, Sacred Habitat shows how Spanish friars and missionaries used new scholarly approaches, methods, and empirical data from their studies of ecology to promote Catholic goals and incorporate American nature into centuries-old church traditions. Ran Segev examines the interrelated connections between Catholicism and geography, cosmography, and natural history-fields of study that gained particular prominence during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries-and shows how these new bodies of knowledge provided innovative ways of conceptualizing and transmitting religious ideologies in the post-Reformation era. Weaving together historical narratives on Spain and its colonies with scholarship on the Catholic Reformation, Atlantic science, and environmental history, Segev contends that knowledge about American nature allowed pious Catholics to reconnect with their religious traditions and enabled them to apply their beliefs to a foreign land. Sacred Habitat presents a fresh perspective on Catholic renewal. Scholars of religion and historians of Spain, colonial Latin America, and early modern science will welcome this provocative intervention in the history of empire, science, knowledge, and early modern Catholicism.

Ad reverendissimo Domino Archiepiscopum Panonnitanum, Francisci, monachi ordinis Franciscani, epistola sane quam luculenta. In qua Ptolemaei, caeterorumque superiorum geographorum hallucinatio refellitur; aliaque praeterea de recens inventis terris, mari, insulis. De ditione Papae Joannis. De situ Paradisi et dimensione miliarium ad proportionem graduum coeli, praeclara et memoratu digna recensentur. Cum Privilegio Invictissimi Romanorum imperatoris Caroli quinti, ad quinquennium, ne quis vel typis excudeat, vel excudendos curet hos codices geographicos, una cum globis, sub mulcta ammitendorum exemplarium aliaque poena principis severitate inferenda.

Ad reverendissimo Domino Archiepiscopum Panonnitanum, Francisci, monachi ordinis Franciscani, epistola sane quam luculenta. In qua Ptolemaei, caeterorumque superiorum geographorum hallucinatio refellitur; aliaque praeterea de recens inventis terris, mari, insulis. De ditione Papae Joannis. De situ Paradisi et dimensione miliarium ad proportionem graduum coeli, praeclara et memoratu digna recensentur. Cum Privilegio Invictissimi Romanorum imperatoris Caroli quinti, ad quinquennium, ne quis vel typis excudeat, vel excudendos curet hos codices geographicos, una cum globis, sub mulcta ammitendorum exemplarium aliaque poena principis severitate inferenda.

Gamma-ray bursts are the most powerful explosions in the universe and are mainly placed at very large redshifts, up to z≃9. In this short review, we first discuss gamma-ray burst classification and morphological properties. We then report the likely relations between gamma-ray bursts and other astronomical objects, such as black holes, supernovae, neutron stars, etc., discussing in detail gamma-ray burst progenitors. We classify long and short gamma-ray bursts, working out their timescales, and introduce the standard fireball model. Afterwards, we focus on direct applications of gamma-ray bursts to cosmology and underline under which conditions such sources would act as perfect standard candles if correlations between photometric and spectroscopic properties were not jeopardized by the circularity problem. In this respect, we underline how the shortage of low-z gamma-ray bursts prevents anchor gamma-ray bursts with primary distance indicators. Moreover, we analyze in detail the most adopted gamma-ray burst correlations, highlighting their main differences. We therefore show calibration techniques, comparing such treatments with non-calibration scenarios. For completeness, we discuss the physical properties of the correlation scatters and systematics occurring during experimental computations. Finally, we develop the most recent statistical methods, star formation rate, and high-redshift gamma-ray burst excess and show the most recent constraints obtained from experimental analyses.

In the twelfth century, certain thinkers in the north of Europe were exalting human reason in a manner that had not been seen since the time of the ancient philosophers. Adelard of Bath, William of Conches, Thierry of Chartres and Peter Abelard all championed ratio in a way that seemed to challenge the hegemony of learning that rested securely with the authority of scripture, the testament of the Fathers and the canons of the established councils. In so doing, it represented a significantly different approach from the firmly established ‘authors’ (auctores) as certain scholars pursued their learning, and indeed even divine ascent, via other avenues. Even the visionary Hildegard von Bingen set enormous stock in rationality. This paper will discuss the use of reason for the anagogic ascent to the divine in order to trace its roots to a Platonic understanding of the universe in tandem with a highly positive anthropology that allowed for a bold reassessment of human capabilities, as well as a new appreciation of nature.

The problem of reproducing dark energy effects is reviewed here with particular interest devoted to cosmography. We summarize some of the most relevant cosmological models, based on the assumption that the corresponding barotropic equations of state evolve as the universe expands, giving rise to the accelerated expansion. We describe in detail the ΛCDM (Λ-Cold Dark Matter) and ωCDM models, considering also some specific examples, e.g., Chevallier–Polarsky–Linder, the Chaplygin gas and the Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati cosmological model. Finally, we consider the cosmological consequences of f(R) and f(T) gravities and their impact on the framework of cosmography. Keeping these considerations in mind, we point out the model-independent procedure related to cosmography, showing how to match the series of cosmological observables to the free parameters of each model. We critically discuss the role played by cosmography, as a selection criterion to check whether a particular model passes or does not present cosmological constraints. In so doing, we find out cosmological bounds by fitting the luminosity distance expansion of the redshift, z, adopting the recent Union 2.1 dataset of supernovae, combined with the baryonic acoustic oscillation and the cosmic microwave background measurements. We perform cosmographic analyses, imposing different priors on the Hubble rate present value. In addition, we compare our results with recent PLANCK limits, showing that the ΛCDM and ωCDM models seem to be the favorite with respect to other dark energy models. However, we show that cosmographic constraints on f(R) and f(T) cannot discriminate between extensions of General Relativity and dark energy models, leading to a disadvantageous degeneracy problem.

The similarities between the anonymous Paris Gilt Globe, the Stuttgart globe gores attributed to Johannes Schoener, and the lost globe described by Franciscus Monachus have long been noted. It is argued here that the Gilt Globe and Stuttgart Gores may be the globe described by Franciscus. There has never been a complete translation made of Franciscus' De Orbis Situ out of its sixteenth century Latin and the present article is based on the author's own translation (published separately in this issue). Particular attention is given to his treatment of the southern continent and its impact on other geographers and map-makers of his own time and subsequently.