Agloe, and How to Get Rid of It

2021 ◽  
pp. 198-224
Author(s):  
David Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Richard Dawkins ◽  
History Of ◽  
John William Draper ◽  
Modern Form ◽  
George Sarton

This chapter looks at the modern form of the conflict thesis: that people must choose a side between God and science. Polemicists such as Richard Dawkins, popularizers such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and novelists such as Dan Brown are all considered as proponents of this view to one extent or another, and the content of their arguments is often very reminiscent of that of John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White. By now, though, nearly all of these two men’s points have been debunked in the literature, as has the conflict thesis—so why does it still have such a strong hold? The history of its development is followed, with particular attention paid to the great historian of science George Sarton, a disciple of White. The book finishes with a call for much needed reconciliation between science and religion, and with examples of people who are working toward such a goal.

Who Wrote What When: The Bible, Science and Criticism

2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-315
Author(s):  
Geert Lernout
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
John William Draper ◽  
Century Science

According to the traditional (or ‘whig’) interpretation of history, sometime in the seventeenth century science was born in the form that we know today, in a new spirit that can best be summed up by the motto of the Royal Society: nullius in verba, take nobody's word for it. In the next few centuries this new critical way of looking at reality was instrumental in the creation of a coherent view of the world, and of that world's history, which was found to be increasingly at odds with traditional claims, most famously in the case of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. By the end of the nineteenth century, the divide between science and religion was described by means of words such as ‘conflict’ and ‘warfare,’ the terms used by John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White in the titles of their respective books: History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874) and History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896).

Science and Religion in the Anglo-American Periodical Press, 1860–1900: A Failed Reconciliation

2019 ◽  
Vol 88 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-149
Author(s):  
James C. Ungureanu
Keyword(s):  
Science And Religion ◽  
Unintended Consequence ◽  
Historical Narratives ◽  
Human Knowledge ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
John William Draper ◽  
Selection Of

Historians of science and religion usually trace the origins of the “conflict thesis,” the notion that science and religion have been in perennial “conflict” or “warfare,” to the historical narratives of John William Draper (1811–1882) and Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918). While Draper and White have been designated cofounders of the conflict thesis, there has been little research on how contemporaries responded to their narratives. This paper examines the early reception of these narratives by considering the extensive commentary they received in British and American periodicals from 1856 to 1900. Sampling a selection of this material suggests that while many rejected Draper and White's interpretation of the past, many others agreed with them in affirming that theological dogmatism came into conflict with the advance of human knowledge. This essay also suggests that Draper and White may have had a more nuanced position about the history of science and religion than has been contended by modern scholars. Whatever their intentions, however, their historical narratives had the unintended consequence of creating in the minds of their contemporaries and later generations the belief that science and religion have been and are at war.

Of Popes and Unicorns

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hutchings ◽  
James C. Ungureanu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
John William Draper

This book is a popular-level study of the conflict thesis: the notion that science and religion have been at war with each other throughout history, and that humanity must ultimately make its choice between the two. The origins of the conflict thesis are usually given as two works by nineteenth-century Americans, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, who wrote History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1876) and A History of the Warfare Between Science and Theology in Christendom (1896), respectively. In these volumes, Draper and White relate stories such as the Church’s suppression of the sphericity of the Earth and of heliocentrism; its banning of dissection, anesthetic, and inoculation; its persecution of scientists; its dedication to irrationality in the face of reason; and much more. Yet their thesis has been thoroughly debunked in the literature, and their tales largely found to be myths. Despite this, they still circulate today, and many still believe that we must pick a side: God or science. This book uses accessible stories and anecdotes to analyze Draper, White, their true motivations, their books, their thorough debunking, the modern persistence of their flawed views, and the possibility of moving beyond them—toward true reconciliation. It is a history of science and religion, and of how, despite the common acceptance of the contrary, the latter has actually been of great benefit to the former. Rumors of a centuries-old war between God and science, it turns out, have been greatly exaggerated.

Fooling the World

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
David Hutchings
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Christian Faith ◽  
Religion And Science ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Science And Theology ◽  
John William Draper

This chapter recounts how two nineteenth-century gentlemen, John William Draper and Andrew Dickson White, managed to fool much of the world by insisting in two landmark books that science and religion have always been opposed to one another, and that humanity must therefore make its choice between the two. Their books are History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science (1876) and A History of the Warfare Between Science and Theology in Christendom (1896), respectively. These texts are largely responsible for launching the conflict thesis: the now commonplace idea usually characterized as “God versus science.” And yet bizarrely, both men had intended to do precisely the opposite: they sought to reconcile their own Christian faith with science. This chapter tells the men’s stories, and asks how on earth they ended up getting things so wrong.

George Gabriel Stokes

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Mathematical Analysis ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Natural Philosophers

George Gabriel Stokes was one of the most significant mathematicians and natural philosophers of the nineteenth century. Serving as Lucasian professor at Cambridge he made wide-ranging contributions to optics, fluid dynamics and mathematical analysis. As Secretary of the Royal Society he played a major role in the direction of British science acting as both a sounding board and a gatekeeper. Outside his own area he was a distinguished public servant and MP for Cambridge University. He was keenly interested in the relation between science and religion and wrote extensively on the matter. This edited collection of essays brings together experts in mathematics, physics and the history of science to cover the many facets of Stokes’s life in a scholarly but accessible way.

scholarly journals Dialectics or politics? Atheism and the return to religion

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Hyman
Keyword(s):  
Slavoj Zizek ◽  
Richard Dawkins ◽  
Slavoj Žižek ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contemporary Context ◽  
Scholarly Attention

Much scholarly attention has been given to the vast differences in understandings of theism throughout the history of the theological tradition. Rather less attention has been given to differences in understandings of atheism. That there are and have been such differences, however, is obvious. This may be seen in the contemporary context if we juxtapose the ‘newly visible’ atheisms of, for instance, Richard Dawkins and Slavoj Žižek. In previous work, I and several other scholars have drawn attention to the ways in which the existence of different forms of atheism may be explained by the fact that they are responding to and negating very different forms of theism. But there may well be more at stake in differences between atheisms than this.

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