Astronomy in the service of christianity

Abstract

Medieval European scholars drew on ancient traditions of astronomical knowledge to develop astronomical practices that served the needs of religious institutions by defining the sacred time and sacred space of religious ritual. Techniques employing the luni-solar calendar to determine the date of Easter, observations of the stars and Sun to determine the time of prayer, and orienting churches astronomically to face the symbolically important direction, east, were widely practiced. These varieties of religious astronomy were employed by persons of varying levels of education, working within a variety of contexts.​