Geocentric model

In astronomy, the geocentric model (also known as geocentrism, or the Ptolemaic system) is a description of the cosmos where Earth is at the orbital center of all celestial bodies. This model served as the predominant cosmological system in many ancient civilizations such as ancient Greece including the noteworthy systems of Aristotle (see Aristotelian physics) and Ptolemy. As such, they believed that the Sun, Moon, stars, and naked eye planets circled Earth.

Two commonly made observations supported the idea that Earth was the center of the Universe. The stars, the sun, and planets appear to revolve around Earth each day, making Earth the center of that system. The stars were thought to be on a celestial sphere, with the earth at its center, that rotated each day, using a line through the north and south pole as an axis. The stars closest to the equator appeared to rise and fall the greatest distance, but each star circled back to its rising point each day. The second observation supporting the geocentric model was that the Earth does not seem to move from the perspective of an Earth-bound observer, and that it is solid, stable, and unmoving.

The Principle

The Principle is a 2014 American documentary film produced by Rick Delano and Robert Sungenis questioning the Copernican principle and discussing geocentricism. The film opened in Chicago on October 24, 2014. The film is narrated by Kate Mulgrew and features scientists such as Lawrence M. Krauss and Michio Kaku. Mulgrew and some of the scientists who were interviewed have since repudiated the ideas advanced in the film and have alleged that their involvement was the result of being misled by the filmmaker. The repudiation occurred before the film was released, and without the scientists or Mulgrew having viewed the film.

Summary

The film's producers state that the documentary concerns recent observations challenging the Copernican principle. Some authors speculate that the film aims to support the theory that the Earth is motionless at the center of the universe.

Release

The release date of the film was October 24, 2014, when it was screened at the Marcus Addison Cinema in Addison, Illinois, according to the distributor Rocky Mountain Pictures.

Robert Sungenis

Robert A. Sungenis (born 1955) is an American Catholic author of apologetic and polemical works critiquing the Protestant doctrines of Faith Alone and Scripture Alone. He is the founder and director of Catholic Apologetics International Publishing and executive producer of the film The Principle. Sungenis is known for his advocacy of geocentrism and his controversial beliefs about Jews, Judaism and the Holocaust.

Biography

Robert Sungenis was raised in a Catholic family, but became a Protestant at age 19. He obtained his B.A. in religion from George Washington University in 1979, an M.A. in theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1982 and a Ph.D. in religious studies from the Calamus International University (CIU), a private, unaccredited distance-learning institution located in the Republic of Vanuatu that has been characterized as a diploma mill. His dissertation was on the subject of geocentrism and was then edited and self-published as the two-volume set, Galileo Was Wrong: The Church Was Right.