Theological viewpoints

See also: Christianity and astrology, Jewish views on astrology and Muslim views on astrology
Ancient
St. Augustine (3!"!3#$ %elieved that the determinism o& astrology con&licted with the Christian
doctrines o& man's &ree will and responsi%ility, and (od not %eing the cause o& evil,)*+, %ut he also
grounded his opposition philosophically, citing the &ailure o& astrology to e-plain twins who %ehave
di&&erently although conceived at the same moment and %orn at appro-imately the same time.)*.,
Medi/val
Some o& the practices o& astrology were contested on theological grounds %y medieval Muslim
astronomers such as Al"0ara%i (Alphara%ius$, 1%n al"2aytham (Alha3en$ and Avicenna. They said
that the methods o& astrologers con&licted with orthodo- religious views o& 1slamic scholars, %y
suggesting that the 4ill o& (od can %e 5nown and predicted in advance.)*3, 0or e-ample,
Avicenna's '6e&utation against astrology', 6is7la &8 i%t 97l ah9 57m al"no:;m, argues against the
practice o& astrology while supporting the principle that planets may act as agents o& divine
causation. Avicenna considered that the movement o& the planets in&luenced li&e on earth in a
deterministic way, %ut argued against the possi%ility o& determining the e-act in&luence o& the
stars.)*!, <ssentially, Avicenna did not deny the core dogma o& astrology, %ut denied our a%ility to
understand it to the e-tent that precise and &atalistic predictions could %e made &rom it.)*, 1%n
=ayyim Al"Jaw3iyya (+.*.>+3#$, in his Mi&tah ?ar al"SaCadah, also used physical arguments in
astronomy to @uestion the practice o& :udicial astrology.)*A, 2e recogni3ed that the stars are much
larger than the planets, and argued:
And i& you astrologers answer that it is precisely %ecause o& this distance and smallness that
their in&luences are negligi%le, then why is it that you claim a great in&luence &or the smallest
heavenly %ody, MercuryB 4hy is it that you have given an in&luence to al"6a's and al"?hana%,
which are two imaginary points )ascending and descending nodes,B
C1%n =ayyim Al"Jaw3iyya)*A,