The Spaceships of Ezekiel
Encyclopedia
The Spaceships of Ezekiel (1974) is a book by Josef F. Blumrich (March 17, 1913 - February 10, 2002) written while he was chief of NASA
's systems layout branch of the program development office at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
, but a description of several encounters with ancient astronaut
s in a shuttlecraft
from another planet.
Ezekiel
was an Old Testament
prophet who wrote about several visions he had in which he said God showed him the future and gave him various messages to deliver. Ezekiel describes seeing God riding in a chariot-like vehicle attended by angels.
Blumrich analyzes six different translations of the Bible in conjunction with his experience in engineering and presents one possible version of the story as seen by a modern, technological society. In the appendices to his book he presents technical specifications of his hypothesized spacecraft.
Blumrich also published an article on his belief, "The spaceships of the prophet Ezekiel" in the UNESCO journal Impact of Science on Society.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's systems layout branch of the program development office at the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Content
In The Spaceships of Ezekiel Blumrich asserts that Ezekiel's account in the Bible was not a description of a meeting with God in a prophetic visionProphecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
, but a description of several encounters with ancient astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s in a shuttlecraft
Shuttlecraft
Shuttlecraft may refer to any smaller spacecraft, usually capable of atmospheric transport, such as:* Shuttlecraft , small space vehicles in the fictional universe of Star Trek...
from another planet.
Ezekiel
Ezekiel
Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet...
was an Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
prophet who wrote about several visions he had in which he said God showed him the future and gave him various messages to deliver. Ezekiel describes seeing God riding in a chariot-like vehicle attended by angels.
Blumrich analyzes six different translations of the Bible in conjunction with his experience in engineering and presents one possible version of the story as seen by a modern, technological society. In the appendices to his book he presents technical specifications of his hypothesized spacecraft.
Blumrich also published an article on his belief, "The spaceships of the prophet Ezekiel" in the UNESCO journal Impact of Science on Society.
Criticism
Ronald Story in his book Guardians of the Universe? stated "Blumrich doctors up his Biblical quotes just a smidgen to make them conform a little better to his spaceship interpretation", and "The Spaceships of Ezekiel, in all honesty, can only be described as an extreme form of rationalisation, with a good supply of technical jargon, charts, and diagrams, carefully designed to impress the general reader. The book does contain a good collection of impressive drawings which prove nothing more than that whoever prepared them is a good draughtsman."External links
- About Josef F. Blumrich, NASA Engineer and Author http://www.spaceshipsofezekiel.com/html/josef-blumrich-bio.html
- Original of "Figure 3. An example of the traditional version" (Spaceships p. 16) with original's German poem and English translation