Evangelicals and Science in Historical Perspective

by Livingstone, David N.; Hart, D. G.; Noll, Mark A.

• ISBN13: 9780195115574
• ISBN10: 0195115570
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-04-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book offers the first wide-ranging survey of the history of theencounter between evangelical Protestantism and science. Comprising papers bysuch distinguished scholars as John Headly Brooke, James R. Moore, RonaldNumbers, and George Marsden, this collection shows that the questions of sciencehave been central to the history of evangelicalism in the United States, as wellas in Britian and Canada. It is an invaluable resource for understanding thehistorical context of contemporary political sqabbles such as the debate overthe status of "creation science" and the teaching of evolution.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Placing Evangelical Encounters with Science	3	(14)
PART I. Overview	17	(26)
1 The History of Science and Religion: Some Evangelical Dimensions	17	(26)
John Hedley Brooke
PART II. Orientations	43	(56)
2 The Puritan Thesis Revisited	43	(32)
John Morgan
3 Christianity and Early Modern Science: The Foster Thesis Reconsidered	75	(24)
Edward B. Davis
PART III. Theological Engagements	99	(78)
4 Science, Theology, and Society: From Cotton Mather to William Jennings Bryan	99	(21)
Mark A. Noll
5 Science and Evangelical Theology in Britain from Wesley to Orr	120	(22)
David W. Bebbington
6 Science, Natural Theology, and Evangelicalism in Early Nineteenth-Century Scotland: Thomas Chalmers and the Evidence Controversy	142	(35)
Jonathan R. Topham
PART IV. Specific Encounters	177	(90)
7 Scriptural Geology in America	177	(16)
Rodney L. Stiling
8 Situating Evangelical Responses to Evolution	193	(27)
David N. Livingstone
9 Telling Tales: Evangelicals and the Darwin Legend	220	(14)
James Moore
10 Creating Creationism: Meanings and Uses since the Age of Agassiz	234	(10)
Ronald L. Numbers
11 A Sign for an Unbelieving Age: Evangelicals and the Search for Noah's Ark	244	(23)
Larry Eskridge
PART V. Wider Domains	267	(62)
12 "The Science of Duty": Moral Philosophy and the Epistemology of Science in Nineteenth-Century America	267	(23)
Allen C. Guelzo
13 Toward a Christian Social Science in Canada, 1890-1930	290	(16)
Michael Gauvreau
Nancy Christie
14 Evangelicals, Biblical Scholarship, and the Politics of the Modern American Academy	306	(23)
D. G. Hart
Afterword	329	(12)
15 The Meaning of Science for Christians: A New Dialogue on Olympus	329	(12)
George Marsden
Index	341