Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century BritainAlthough much has been written about the vigorous debates over science and religion in the Victorian era, little attention has been paid to their continuing importance in early twentieth-century Britain. Reconciling Science and Religion provides a comprehensive survey of the interplay between British science and religion from the late nineteenth century to World War II. Peter J. Bowler argues that unlike the United States, where a strong fundamentalist opposition to evolutionism developed in the 1920s (most famously expressed in the Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925), in Britain there was a concerted effort to reconcile science and religion. Intellectually conservative scientists championed the reconciliation and were supported by liberal theologians in the Free Churches and the Church of England, especially the Anglican "Modernists." Popular writers such as Julian Huxley and George Bernard Shaw sought to create a non-Christian religion similar in some respects to the Modernist position. Younger scientists and secularists—including Rationalists such as H. G. Wells and the Marxists—tended to oppose these efforts, as did conservative Christians, who saw the liberal position as a betrayal of the true spirit of their religion. With the increased social tensions of the 1930s, as the churches moved toward a neo-orthodoxy unfriendly to natural theology and biologists adopted the "Modern Synthesis" of genetics and evolutionary theory, the proposed reconciliation fell apart. Because the tensions between science and religion—and efforts at reconciling the two—are still very much with us today, Bowler's book will be important for everyone interested in these issues. |
Contents
| 1 | |
PART ONE THE SCIENCES AND RELIGION | 25 |
PART TWO THE CHURCHES AND SCIENCE | 191 |
PART THREE THE WIDER DEBATE | 329 |
EPILOGUE | 407 |
BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX | 421 |
| 429 | |
| 471 | |
Other editions - View all
Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain Peter J. Bowler No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
accepted active Anglican Anglo-Catholic animal argued Arthur attack Barnes Belloc Bergson biologists biology British C. S. Lewis Cambridge University Press Catholic chap Christ Christian claim College creation creative Darwinian Darwinism debate divine Eddington edited Emergent Evolution ence Essays ether eugenics evangelical evolutionary evolutionism faith force G. K. Chesterton Gifford Lectures Gore History human Ibid idea idealism influence insisted J. B. S. Haldane Jeans Joseph Needham Julian Huxley Keith Lankester liberal Lodge London Marxist materialism materialistic mechanistic mind Modern Modernist moral natural selection natural theology Needham nineteenth century organic origin Oxford philosophy physicists physics popular position progress psychic psychology purpose R. A. Fisher rationalists Raven Ray Lankester reality reconciliation religious thinkers role Russell science and religion scientific scientists sense social spiritual stressed supernatural T. H. Huxley theologians theory Thomson thought tion traditional twentieth century Victorian vision William worldview writings wrote
References to this book
From Here to Eternity: Ernst Haeckel and Scientific Faith Mario A. Di Gregorio No preview available - 2005 |