Science and Religion, 1450–1900

Richard G. Olson is a professor of history at Harvey Mudd College. He is the author of The Emergence of the Social Sciences, 1642-1792 (Twayne Press, 1993) and Science Deified and Science Defied (University of California Press, 1990).

• IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsChronology of Events1. Introduction: Galileo and the Church-Or, How Do Science and Religion Interact?The Conflict ModelThe Case of the Galileo AffairThree Additional Special Cases of ConflictModern Claims That Religion Supports Science2. Religion and the Transition to "Modern" Science: Christian Demands for Useful KnowledgeThe Starting Point: Late Medieval ScienceChallenge to Medieval ScienceChristian Humanism and the Hermtic CorpusThe Life and Works of ParacelsusChristian Utopias and the Institutions for Modern Science3. Science and Catholicism in the Scientific Revolution, 1550-1770Science and the Council of TrentJesuit ScienceCatholics and the Mechanical Philosophy: Mersenne, Descartes, and GassendiThe Special Case of Blaise Pascal4. Science and Religion in England, 1590-1740The Anglican Focus on Natural TheologyThe Puritan Approach to Natural KnowledgeThe Origins of Anglican Mechanical PhilosophyThe Anti-Materialist Response to Hobbes5. Newton's Religion, Newtonian Religions, and Eighteenth-Century ReactionsNewton's Science and ReputationNewton and Prophecy InterpretationNewtonian ReligionJohn Locke and the Rise of DeismReactions against Newtonian Natural Theology6. Scientific Understanding of Religion and Religious Understanding of Science, 1700-1859Early Anthropological Approaches to ReligionReligion and the EmotionsImmanuel Kant's Separation of Scientific Knowledge from Religious FaithThe Post-Kantian Tradition in German Theology- Schleiermacher and HegelA New Anthropology of Religion- FeuerbachDavid Strauss and the Use of Science to Reject Evangelical ChristianityAuguste Comte's "Religion of Humanity"Scottish Common Sense Philosophy Calls for a Scientific Religion and a Religious Science7. Back to the Beginnings-of the Earth, of Life, and of Humankind, 1680-1859Mosaid GeologySecular Geology and the Age of the EarthAccounting for Change Over TimeBuffonLamarckThe Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation8. What to Do about Darwin?The Character of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of SpeciesInitial Anglo-American Religious Responses to DarwinDarwinism and Concerns about Scientific NaturalismAnglo-American Protestant Responses to Darwin after 1875Anglo-American Catholic and Jewish Responses to EvolutionConclusionPrimary Sources1. Hermes Trismagistus, Hermetica2. Richard Hooker, The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity in Eight Books3. Robert Boyle, "A Free Inquiry into the Vulgarly Conceived Notion of Nature"4. John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creations5. Thomas Burnet, The Theory of the Earth6. David Hume, The Natural History of Religion7. Ludwig Feuerbach, The Essence of Christianity8. John William Draper, History of the Conflict between Religion and Science9. James McCosh, The Religious Aspect of EvolutionAnnotated BibliographyIndex

Highly recommended. Readers with an interest in science, at the lower-undergraduate level and above. Choice Provide[s] a rich historical background to the interaction between science and religion. -- Seymour H. Mauskopf Nuncius 2007 Should appeal to aficionados of science and religion interested in the interaction of culture with the development of science. -- Fraser F. Fleming Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 2007 An interesting, insightful, and clearly argued overview. -- Edward B. Davis Isis 2007 Olson's meticulous treatment of the rich variety of interconnections between science and religion was a refreshing revelation. The book does an excellent job of documenting the complex tangle of interconnections between religious thought and scientific work during this time period. Journal of the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences 2008 The book can be warmly recommended to anyone interested in the various ways in which religion interacted with science from the beginning of the Scientific Revolution to the end of the 19th century. -- William R. Shea Archives Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences 2007