Synopses & Reviews
Although 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), Britain saw 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 secularistsand#8212;including Rationalists such as H. G. Wells and the Marxistsand#8212;tended to oppose these efforts, as did conservative Christians, who saw the liberal position as a betrayal of the true spirit of their faith. 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 religionand#8212;and efforts at reconciling the twoand#8212;are still very much with us today, Bowler's book will be important for everyone interested in these issues.
Review
and#8220;Concentrating on two towering intellectual figures, James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas Henry Huxley, Stanley offers an innovative perspective on late nineteenth-century British science in which he deploys an original argument to challenge the controversial view that science and religion wereand#8212;and still areand#8212;in conflict. Instead, through a careful reading of Maxwell, Huxley, and several of their contemporaries, Stanley shows that there were major areas of agreement between those who adopted a theistic approach to science and the rising band of naturalists, who viewed the natural world as governed by nothing other than a collection of laws. By emphasizing points of agreementand#8212;for example, over the uniformity of natureand#8212;Stanley also throws the differences between these two approaches into clearer relief. Moreover, he provides a nuanced, sensitive, and firmly grounded understanding of both Huxley and Maxwell, and one that not only undermines the conflict thesis but also provides the reader with a deeper understanding of the interrelations between science and religion. An impressive achievement!and#8221;
Review
and#8220;In his penetrating study of the methodological values of Victorian scientists, Stanley has carefully traced the process whereby religious ideas and values were pushed out of scientific practice. He argues that science became naturalistic with relatively little bloodshed despite the heated controversies over evolutionary theory. Naturalistic scientists like Thomas Henry Huxley shrewdly adapted the methodological values of theistic science, which included such principles as the uniformity of nature, the limits of scientific knowledge, the moral value of science, and intellectual freedom. Then, through the use of institutional strategies, they gained control of science and thoroughly naturalized how research was conducted. They succeeded so well that today it is difficult to conceive of science as anything other than naturalistic. Stanleyand#8217;s provocative book offers a fresh perspective on the complex relationship between naturalism and theism both now and in the nineteenth century.and#8221;
Review
Nothing characterizes modern science more than its rejection of appeals to God in explaining the workings of nature. Nevertheless, historians have written relatively little about the development of this methodological practice. Stanleyand#8217;s Huxleyand#8217;s Church and Maxwelland#8217;s Demon vividly describes how nineteenth-century British naturalists won the victory over their theistic rivals. It stands as a major contribution to the literature on the history of science and religion.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Matthew Stanley has written an absorbing, meticulously researched book that usefully complicates our understanding of the exclusion of God as an explanatory agent from the sciences.and#160; Using James Clerk Maxwell and Thomas H. Huxley as representative figures, he shows that for much of the nineteenth century proponents of theistic science and scientific naturalism in Great Britain worked side by side and shared similar views of the uniformity of nature, the limits of scientific investigation, and the values and goals of science education.and#160; Stanley rejects the notion that the triumph of and#8220;methodological naturalismand#8221; in science was the result of a victory of enlightenment over obscurantism; it was rather the result of shrewd strategic decisions on the part of scientific naturalists.and#160; A stimulating and persuasive account of Victorian scientific theory and practice.and#8221;
Review
andquot;Matthew Stanleyandrsquo;s wonderful new book introduces us to Maxwell and Huxley as they embodied theistic and naturalistic science, respectively, in Victorian Britain. Moving well beyond the widespread assumption that modern science and religion are and always have been fundamentally antithetical to one another, Huxleyandrsquo;s Church and Maxwellandrsquo;s Demon offers a history of scientific naturalism that illustrates the deep and fundamental commonalities between positions on the proper practice of science that began to diverge relatively late and in very particular historical circumstances.andquot;
Review
andquot;Stanley has produced a book that will challenge the general reader, stimulate academic discussion, and contribute much to understanding the subtleties and diversities of past and present scientific practice and religious debate.andquot;
Synopsis
IllustrationsPrefaceIntroduction: A Legacy of Conflict?Confrontation, Cooperation, or Coexistence?Victorian BackgroundScience and Religion in the New CenturyPart One: The Sciences and Religion1. The Religion of ScientistsChanging Patterns of BeliefScientists and ChristianityScientists and TheismMethod and MeaningScience and Values2. Scientists against SuperstitionScience and RationalismReligion without RevelationMarxists and Other RadicalsScience, Religion, and the History of Science3. Physics and CosmologyEther and SpiritThe New PhysicsThe Earth and the Universe4. Evolution and the New Natural TheologyScience and CreationEvolution and ProgressThe Role of LamarckismDarwinism Revived5. Matter, Life, and MindThe Origin of LifeVitalism and OrganicismMind and BodyPsychology and ReligionPart Two: The Churches and Science6. The Churches in the New CenturyThe Challenge of the NewThe Churches' Response7. The New Theology in the Free ChurchesPrecursors of the New TheologyCampbell and the New TheologyModernism in the Free Churches8. Anglican ModernismModernism and the New Natural TheologyCharles F. D'ArcyE. W. BarnesW. R. IngeCharles Raven9. The Reaction against ModernismEvangelicals against EvolutionLiberal CatholicismThe Menace of the New PsychologyScience and Modern LifeTheology in the ThirtiesRoman CatholicismPart Three: The Wider Debate10. Science and SecularismAgainst IdealismPopular RationalismThe Social Reformers11. Religion's DefendersFrom Idealism to SpiritualismCreative and Emergent EvolutionEvolution and the Human SpiritProgress through StruggleThe Christian ResponseEpilogueBiographical AppendixBibliographyIndex
Synopsis
During the Victorian period, the practice of science shifted from a religious context to a naturalistic one. It is generally assumed that this shift occurred because naturalistic science was distinct from and superior to theistic science. Yet as
Huxleyand#8217;s Church and Maxwelland#8217;s Demon reveals, most of the methodological values underlying scientific practice were virtually identical for the theists and the naturalists: each agreed on the importance of the uniformity of natural laws, the use of hypothesis and theory, the moral value of science, and intellectual freedom. But if scientific naturalism did not rise to dominance because of its methodological superiority, then how did it triumph?
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;
Matthew Stanley explores the overlap and shift between theistic and naturalistic science through a parallel study of two major scientific figures: James Clerk Maxwell, a devout Christian physicist, and Thomas Henry Huxley, the iconoclast biologist who coined the word agnostic. Both were deeply engaged in the methodological, institutional, and political issues that were crucial to the theistic-naturalistic transformation. What Stanleyand#8217;s analysis of these figures reveals is that the scientific naturalists executed a number of strategies over a generation to gain control of the institutions of scientific education and to reimagine the history of their discipline. Rather than a sudden revolution, the similarity between theistic and naturalistic science allowed for a relatively smooth transition in practice from the old guard to the new.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 429-470) and index.
About the Author
Peter J. Bowler is a professor of the history of science at the Queen's University of Belfast. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including Life's Splendid Drama: Evolutionary Biology and the Reconstruction of Life's Ancestry, 1860-1940, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Introduction: A Legacy of Conflict?
Confrontation, Cooperation, or Coexistence?
Victorian Background
Science and Religion in the New Century
Part One: The Sciences and Religion
1. The Religion of Scientists
Changing Patterns of Belief
Scientists and Christianity
Scientists and Theism
Method and Meaning
Science and Values
2. Scientists against Superstition
Science and Rationalism
Religion without Revelation
Marxists and Other Radicals
Science, Religion, and the History of Science
3. Physics and Cosmology
Ether and Spirit
The New Physics
The Earth and the Universe
4. Evolution and the New Natural Theology
Science and Creation
Evolution and Progress
The Role of Lamarckism
Darwinism Revived
5. Matter, Life, and Mind
The Origin of Life
Vitalism and Organicism
Mind and Body
Psychology and Religion
Part Two: The Churches and Science
6. The Churches in the New Century
The Challenge of the New
The Churchesand#8217; Response
7. The New Theology in the Free Churches
Precursors of the New Theology
Campbell and the New Theology
Modernism in the Free Churches
8. Anglican Modernism
Modernism and the New Natural Theology
Charles F. Dand#8217;Arcy
E. W. Barnes
W. R. Inge
Charles Raven
9. The Reaction against Modernism
Evangelicals against Evolution
Liberal Catholicism
The Menace of the New Psychology
Science and Modern Life
Theology in the Thirties
Roman Catholicism
Part Three: The Wider Debate
10. Science and Secularism
Against Idealism
Popular Rationalism
The Social Reformers
11. Religionand#8217;s Defenders
From Idealism to Spiritualism
Creative and Emergent Evolution
Evolution and the Human Spirit
Progress through Struggle
The Christian Response
Epilogue
Biographical Appendix
Bibliography
Index