A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Vol. II (in Two Volumes)
A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, Vol. II (in Two Volumes)

Author: Andrew D. White

Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 496

ISBN-13: 1616402741

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The battle between science and religion in American popular life is as old as America itself. By the late 19th century, it had reached a fever pitch, culminating in the two-volume 1896 work A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. The result of thirty years of research by historian and educator ANDREW DICKSON WHITE (1832-1918), a founder of Cornell University, this is White's attack on intellectually stifling religious dogma and his explication of the "conflict thesis" of outright warfare between science and religion. While scholars today generally see the situation as more nuanced, the conflict thesis remains a popular metaphor in the mind of the general public, and White's work continues to speak to us today. H.L. Mencken called this "one of the noblest monuments of American scholarship," and it will fascinate anyone who is troubled by the ongoing influence by religious authorities into secular science. In Volume II, White looks at the shift "from miracles to medicine," "from demonic possession to insanity," and other modern transformations of humanity's understanding of the world and ourselves.

A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom
A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom

Author: J.M. Cohen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 1351535145

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Given the powerful and forthright title of Andrew Dickson White's classic study, it is best to make clear his own sense of the whole as given in the original 1896 edition: "My conviction is that science, though it has evidently conquered dogmatic theology based on biblical texts and ancient modes of thought, will go hand in hand with religion, and that although theological control will continue to diminish, religion as seen in the recognition of a 'power in the universe, not ourselves, which makes for righteousness' and in the love of God and of our neighbor, will steadily grow stronger and stronger, not only in the American institutions of learning, but in the world at large." White began to assemble his magnum opus, a two volume work first published in 1896 as A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom. In correspondence he wrote that he intended the work to stake out a position between such religious orthodoxy as John Henry Newman's on one side and such secular scoffing as Robert Ingersoll's on the other. Historian Paul Carter declared that this book did as much as any other published work "toward routing orthodoxy in the name of science." Insofar as science and religion came to be widely viewed as enemies, with science holding the moral high ground, White inadvertently, became one of the most effective and influential advocates for unbelief.

Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition
Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition

Author: James C. Ungureanu

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2019-10-29

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780822945819

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The story of the “conflict thesis” between science and religion—the notion of perennial conflict or warfare between the two—is part of our modern self-understanding. As the story goes, John William Draper (1811–1882) and Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918) constructed dramatic narratives in the nineteenth century that cast religion as the relentless enemy of scientific progress. And yet, despite its resilience in popular culture, historians today have largely debunked the conflict thesis. Unravelling its origins, James Ungureanu argues that Draper and White actually hoped their narratives would preserve religious belief. For them, science was ultimately a scapegoat for a much larger and more important argument dating back to the Protestant Reformation, where one theological tradition was pitted against another—a more progressive, liberal, and diffusive Christianity against a more traditional, conservative, and orthodox Christianity. By the mid-nineteenth century, narratives of conflict between “science and religion” were largely deployed between contending theological schools of thought. However, these narratives were later appropriated by secularists, freethinkers, and atheists as weapons against all religion. By revisiting its origins, development, and popularization, Ungureanu ultimately reveals that the “conflict thesis” was just one of the many unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation.

Science and Religion
Science and Religion

Author: John Hedley Brooke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-05-15

Total Pages: 577

ISBN-13: 1139952986

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John Hedley Brooke offers an introduction and critical guide to one of the most fascinating and enduring issues in the development of the modern world: the relationship between scientific thought and religious belief. It is common knowledge that in western societies there have been periods of crisis when new science has threatened established authority. The trial of Galileo in 1633 and the uproar caused by Darwin's Origin of Species (1859) are two of the most famous examples. Taking account of recent scholarship in the history of science, Brooke takes a fresh look at these and similar episodes, showing that science and religion have been mutually relevant in so rich a variety of ways that no simple generalizations are possible.

For the Glory of God
For the Glory of God

Author: Rodney Stark

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2004-08-29

Total Pages: 504

ISBN-13: 0691119503

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Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. Continuing his project of identifying the widespread consequences of monotheism, Stark shows that the Christian conception of God resulted--almost inevitably and for the same reasons--in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery. In the process, he explains why Christian and Islamic images of God yielded such different cultural results, leading Christians but not Muslims to foster science, burn "witches," and denounce slavery. With his usual clarity and skepticism toward the received wisdom, Stark finds the origins of these disparate phenomena within monotheistic religious organizations. Endemic in such organizations are pressures to maintain religious intensity, which lead to intense conflicts and schisms that have far-reaching social results. Along the way, Stark debunks many commonly accepted ideas. He interprets the sixteenth-century flowering of science not as a sudden revolution that burst religious barriers, but as the normal, gradual, and direct outgrowth of medieval theology. He also shows that the very ideas about God that sustained the rise of science led also to intense witch-hunting by otherwise clear-headed Europeans, including some celebrated scientists. This conception of God likewise yielded the Christian denunciation of slavery as an abomination--and some of the fiercest witch-hunters were devoted participants in successful abolitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Glory of God is an engrossing narrative that accounts for the very different histories of the Christian and Muslim worlds. It fundamentally changes our understanding of religion's role in history and the forces behind much of what we point to as secular progress.