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The Warfare between Science and Religion

The Idea That Wouldn't Die

edited by Jeff Hardin, Ronald L. Numbers, and Ronald A. Binzley

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Why is the idea of conflict between science and religion so popular in the public imagination?

The "conflict thesis"—the idea that an inevitable and irreconcilable conflict exists between science and religion—has long been part of the popular imagination. In The Warfare between Science and Religion, Jeff Hardin, Ronald L. Numbers, and Ronald A. Binzley have assembled a group of distinguished historians who explore the origin of the thesis, its reception, the responses it drew from various faith traditions, and its continued prominence in public discourse.

Several essays in the book examine the...

Why is the idea of conflict between science and religion so popular in the public imagination?

The "conflict thesis"—the idea that an inevitable and irreconcilable conflict exists between science and religion—has long been part of the popular imagination. In The Warfare between Science and Religion, Jeff Hardin, Ronald L. Numbers, and Ronald A. Binzley have assembled a group of distinguished historians who explore the origin of the thesis, its reception, the responses it drew from various faith traditions, and its continued prominence in public discourse.

Several essays in the book examine the personal circumstances and theological idiosyncrasies of important intellectuals, including John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, who through their polemical writings championed the conflict thesis relentlessly. Other essays consider what the thesis meant to different religious communities, including evangelicals, liberal Protestants, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Finally, essays both historical and sociological explore the place of the conflict thesis in popular culture and intellectual discourse today.

Based on original research and written in an accessible style, the essays in The Warfare between Science and Religion take an interdisciplinary approach to question the historical relationship between science and religion. This volume, which brings much-needed perspective to an often bitter controversy, will appeal to scholars and students of the histories of science and religion, sociology, and philosophy.

Contributors: Thomas H. Aechtner, Ronald A. Binzley, John Hedley Brooke, Elaine Howard Ecklund, Noah Efron, John H. Evans, Maurice A. Finocchiaro, Frederick Gregory, Bradley J. Gundlach, Monte Harrell Hampton, Jeff Hardin, Peter Harrison, Bernard Lightman, David N. Livingstone, David Mislin, Efthymios Nicolaidis, Mark A. Noll, Ronald L. Numbers, Lawrence M. Principe, Jon H. Roberts, Christopher P. Scheitle, M. Alper Yalçinkaya

Reviews

Reviews

This is a book worthy of reading, digesting, and emulating in its close analysis of science and religion. The Warfare between Science and Religion will give the reader a trustworthy account of the most recent scholarship about the religion science nexus.

The history of the assertion that science and religion are inevitably in conflict is dominated by two late nineteenth-century narratives; John William Draper's History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896). The present very welcome volume contains seventeen essays that examine these classic texts, their reception by contemporaries and the subsequent history of the conflict thesis.

The questions whether, why, and to what extent science and religion are in conflict has been one of the abiding motifs of Western culture. This collection by an international group of scholars covers the subject from a rich variety of angles... Those who are interested in the science-and-religion debate, and the impact of science as a cultural force, will find this book a fascinating read.

Accessible, historically illuminating, meticulous.

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Book Details

Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x
9
Pages
368
ISBN
9781421426181
Illustration Description
2 line drawings
Table of Contents

Introduction
Mark A. Noll and David N. Livingstone
1. The Warfare Thesis
Lawrence M. Principe
2. The Galileo Affair
Maurice A. Finocchiaro
3. Rumors of War
Monte Harrell Hampton
4. The Victorians

Introduction
Mark A. Noll and David N. Livingstone
1. The Warfare Thesis
Lawrence M. Principe
2. The Galileo Affair
Maurice A. Finocchiaro
3. Rumors of War
Monte Harrell Hampton
4. The Victorians: Tyndall and Draper
Bernard Lightman
5. Continental Europe
Frederick Gregory
6. Roman Catholics
David Mislin
7. Eastern Orthodox Christians
Efthymios Nicolaidis
8. Liberal Protestants
Jon H. Roberts
9. Protestant Evangelicals
Bradley J. Gundlach
10. Jews
Noah Efron
11. Muslims
M. Alper Yalçınkaya
12. New Atheists
Ronald L. Numbers and Jeff Hardin
13. Neo-Harmonists
Peter Harrison
14. Historians
John Hedley Brooke
15. Scientists
Elaine Howard Ecklund and Christopher P. Scheitle
16. Social Scientists
Thomas H. Aechtner
17. The View on the Street
John H. Evans
Contributors
Index

Author Bios
Featured Contributor

Jeff Hardin, PhD

Jeff Hardin is the Raymond E. Keller Professor and chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Wisconsin.
Featured Contributor

Ronald L. Numbers

Ronald L. Numbers is the Hilldale Professor of the History of Science and Medicine Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is the editor of Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion.
Featured Contributor

Ronald A. Binzley, PhD

Independent scholar Ronald A. Binzley, who holds a doctorate in American religious history, is an environmental engineer at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.