Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction

Written by distinguished historians of science and religion, the thirty essays in this volume survey the relationship of Western religious traditions to science from the beginning of the Christian era to the late twentieth century. This wide-ranging collection also introduces a variety of approaches to understanding their intersection, suggesting a model not of inalterable conflict, but of complex interaction.

Tracing the rise of science from its birth in the medieval West through the scientific revolution, the contributors describe major shifts that were marked by discoveries such as those of Copernicus, Galileo, and Isaac Newton and the Catholic and Protestant reactions to them. They assess changes in scientific understanding brought about by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century transformations in geology, cosmology, and biology, together with the responses of both mainstream religious groups and such newer movements as evangelicalism and fundamentalism. The book also treats the theological implications of contemporary science and evaluates recent approaches such as environmentalism, gender studies, social construction, and postmodernism, which are at the center of current debates in the historiography, understanding, and application of science.

Contributors: Colin A. Russell, David B. Wilson, Edward Grant, David C. Lindberg, Alnoor Dhanani, Owen Gingerich, Richard J. Blackwell, Edward B. Davis, Michael P. Winship, John Henry, Margaret J. Osler, Richard S. Westfall, John Hedley Brooke, Nicolaas A. Rupke, Peter M. Hess, James Moore, Peter J. Bowler, Ronald L. Numbers, Steven J. Harris, Mark A. Noll, Edward J. Larson, Richard Olson, Craig Sean McConnell, Robin Collins, William A. Dembski, David N. Livingstone, Sara Miles, and Stephen P. Weldon.

Most of the scholars who have contributed to this anthology adopt a Complexity Thesis to account for the historical relation between science and religion - as opposed to a Warfare model or other military metaphors which were popular in late Victorian anti-clerical literature.

It's refreshing reading for anyone whose understanding of science and religion has been influenced by, say, Prometheus Press.


Insightful and clearly written   August 23, 2003
 11 out of 12 found this review helpful

wow! The scope of this book, and the clarity of each of the articles, is fascinating. I haven't read something this good in a long, long time. Each of the essays is densely packed with lots of insights on the ever-growing realm of people, ideas and how they relate to science and religion.
The articles are fairly short, 3-5 pages. Yet each article is packed with references if you're really interested. What i enjoyed was learning the names of the many philosophers and scientists in this field. I'm interested in science (trained as one at University), and I spend too much time thinking about religion. I guess i'm not the only one.
It's a perfect overview.