Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict (Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century)

Ungureanu, James C.

ISBN 10: 0822967413 / ISBN 13: 9780822967415

Edité par University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024

A propos de cet article

N° de réf. du vendeur 18401711625

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition: Retracing the Origins of Conflict (Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century)
• Éditeur: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Date de parution: 2024
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0822967413
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780822967415
• Reliure: Couverture souple
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

The story of the “conflict thesis” between science and religion—the notion of perennial conflict or warfare between the two—is part of our modern self-understanding. As the story goes, John William Draper (1811–1882) and Andrew Dickson White (1832–1918) constructed dramatic narratives in the nineteenth century that cast religion as the relentless enemy of scientific progress. And yet, despite its resilience in popular culture, historians today have largely debunked the conflict thesis. Unravelling its origins, James Ungureanu argues that Draper and White actually hoped their narratives would preserve religious belief. For them, science was ultimately a scapegoat for a much larger and more important argument dating back to the Protestant Reformation, where one theological tradition was pitted against another—a more progressive, liberal, and diffusive Christianity against a more traditional, conservative, and orthodox Christianity. By the mid-nineteenth century, narratives of conflict between “science and religion” were largely deployed between contending theological schools of thought. However, these narratives were later appropriated by secularists, freethinkers, and atheists as weapons against all religion. By revisiting its origins, development, and popularization, Ungureanu ultimately reveals that the “conflict thesis” was just one of the many unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation.

À propos de l'auteur

James C. Ungureanu is Upper School humanities teacher at The Stony Brook School in New York. He also serves as unit coordinator of religion and science for the Upper Midwest Region of the American Academy of Religion.