Synopses & Reviews
The Victorian era was the first great and#8220;Age of Doubtand#8221; and a critical moment in the history of Western ideas. Leading nineteenth-century intellectuals battled the Church and struggled to absorb radical scientific discoveries that upended everything the Bible had taught them about the world. In
The Age of Doubt, distinguished scholar Christopher Lane tells the fascinating story of a society under strain as virtually all aspects of life changed abruptly.
In deft portraits of scientific, literary, and intellectual icons who challenged the prevailing religious orthodoxy, from Robert Chambers and Anne Brontand#235; to Charles Darwin and Thomas H. Huxley, Lane demonstrates how they and other Victorians succeeded in turning doubt from a religious sin into an ethical necessity.
The dramatic adjustment of Victorian society has echoes today as technology, science, and religion grapple with moral issues that seemed unimaginable even a decade ago. Yet the Victoriansand#8217; crisis of faith generated a far more searching engagement with religious belief than the and#8220;new atheismand#8221; that has evolved today. More profoundly than any generation before them, the Victorians came to view doubt as inseparable from belief, thought, and debate, as well as a much-needed antidote to fanaticism and unbridled certainty. By contrast, a look at todayand#8217;s extremesand#8212;from the biblical literalists behind the Creation Museum to the dogmatic rigidity of Richard Dawkinsand#8217;s atheismand#8212;highlights our modern-day inability to embrace doubt.
Review
"The charm of The Age of Doubt is that it returns us to Victorian England, when the absence of God was a new ideaand#8212;a new idea, at any rate, to a number of intelligent people raised in the Anglican Church who would happily have continued subscribing to their realm's official faith if science hadn't lately posed so many inconvenient contradictions."and#8212;Michael Miner, The Chicago Reader
Review
and#8220;[This] is a well-written work, stylistically speaking: very clear and honest. The argument is well structured and, more to the point, he never loses his theme for a moment. The hardcover is beautifully published, tied into a neat cover, . . . providing a feast for the eye and the mind. Highly recommended, without hesitation.and#8221;and#8212;Karel Dand#8217;huyvetters,and#160;Kroniek
Review
"A welcome and timely entry into the discussion . . . The Age of Doubt is important reading for all who want to better understand the way our culture has unfolded while uncovering the roots of our religious skepticism.and#160;Lane creates a very readable volume in which these struggles of faith and doubt come to lifeand#160;. . . compelling reading."and#8212;Bryan Berghoef, Englewood Review of Books
Review
andquot;Lane asks the right questions of the doubting pundits, past and present. Easy to read and render[ing] complicated ideas accessible, [his book] is an altogether admirable studyandmdash;and ends with an amusing tour of the intellectual trivialities at American Creationist 'museums.andmdash;Edward Norman, Literary Review
Review
and#8220;Lane has hit upon something interesting. While many people believe that human history is the story of 2,000 years of blanket Christianity followed by a recent emergence of atheism, the book stresses the very important fact that theological and philosophical squabbles over these subjects are nothing new (and indeed, far more fierce than some of our debates today)...and#160;The Age of Doubt is a call for others to examine this material.and#8221;and#8212;Christopher Holden, PopMatters
Review
and#8220;The story of Victorian doubt is both fascinating and important for understanding why we continue to be mired in fierce cultural battles over the status of evolution and the value of religious faith. This provocative book is well worth the read.and#8221;and#8212;Bernard Lightman, York University
Review
and#8220;Laneand#8217;s stimulating analysis asks whether acknowledging how science, religion, and society have produced a growing chasm between faith and doubt, and even destroyed belief, can offer a way forward.and#8221;and#8212;Keith Thomson, author of Before Darwin and The Young Charles Darwin
Review
andquot;A fresh and nuanced examination of how the major scientific assumptions of the nineteenth century informed and were shaped by doubt.andquot;andmdash;Jude V. Nixon, Professor of English and Dean of Arts and Sciences, Salem State University, and Editor of Victorian Religious Discourse
Review
“Connecting the critical and scholarly engagement of religious skepticism to the current Evangelical stance/debate on evolution and biblical literalism, including the political and pop-cultural, Lane offers a fresh and nuanced examination of how the major scientific assumptions of the nineteenth century informed and were shaped by doubt.”—Jude V. Nixon, Professor of English & Dean of Arts & Sciences, Salem State University, and Editor of
Victorian Religious Discourse
Keith Thomson
Review
"Drawing on works of literature, science, philosophy, and art, Christopher Lane has elegantly shown how doubt became central to modern culture. The story of Victorian doubt is both fascinating and important for understanding why we continue to be mired in fierce cultural battles over the status of evolution and the value of religious faith. This is a provocative book well worth the read."— Bernard Lightman, York University Jude V. Nixon
Review
"A stimulating history and analysis of the way that changes in science, religion, and society in general combined, over the past two centuries, to produce a growing chasm between faith and doubt with the result, as Virginia Woolf wrote, that “science and religion have between them destroyed belief.” Lane asks whether a frank willingness to acknowledge is the beginning of a way forward."—Keith Thomson, author of
Before Darwin and
The Young Charles Darwin Bernard Lightman
Review
Visit the author's website Jude V. Nixon
Review
Read Christopher Lane's essay on Christian Darwinism on the Yale Press Log Keith Thomson
Review
In this elegantly written book, Christopher Lane tells the story of Victorian doubt by exploring the public and private writing of figures such as Thomas Carlyle, Charles Lyell, Robert Chambers, J. A. Froude, Alfred Tennyson, George Eliot, Herbert Spencer, and Leslie Stephen. While some of their personal stories are better known than others, in each case Lane finds something insightful to say about the nature of belief and andldquo;what it felt like to lose oneandrsquo;s religious faithandmdash;as an individual and, more broadly, as a people and societyandrdquo;andmdash;Mark Knight, University of Toronto
About the Author
Christopher Lane is the Pearce Miller Research Professor of Literature at Northwestern University and a recent Guggenheim fellow. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Slate, and many other newspapers and periodicals. He is the author of numerous essays and several books on literature, belief, and psychology, including Shyness, published by Yale University Press. He lives in Chicago.