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What is now needed is a new generation of historians of science capable of following the truth as dispassionately as their scientific colleagues believe themselves to be doing, unafraid of where their inquiries may lead them. 

For the Christian, the use of history for apologetic purposes is surely as legitimate as arguments based on anything else (nature, aesthetics, moral imperatives etc.). 

But such history must be marked by honesty, integrity painstaking attention to detail and a scrupulous regard for alternative interpretations.

 Nothing else is worthy of the Lord of nature who is also Lord of history.
Colin Russell--1993

ASA Classic Monograph   | ASA history  | bibliography   | dialogue  |  Home|  introduction  | links  | mini-symposium | papers  

Studies in the History of Science and Christianity

INTRODUCTION

The Christian church has had a continuing concern for the relation between God, man, and nature. Since Western science emerged in cultures  dominated by Christianity we might ask how Christianity influenced attitudes toward nature and the practice of what was later to be called science (earlier, natural philosophy). It is also important to discover the ways that an increasing knowledge of nature has influenced Christian thought.

Our keynote paper by English, Chemist-Historian Colin Russell aptly focuses on the value of  history in understanding toady's science/faith concerns. American historians of science David Lindberg and Ronald Numbers offer a seminal statement on the 'conflict thesis' in Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science.

We offer a selection of papers from Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith (PSCF) and other sources that illustrate the wide-ranging scope of the subject, plus a dialogue on Desmond and Moore's best-selling Darwin, a mini-symposium on the science interests of British evangelical pioneer John Wesley, a selection of papers on ASA history and a bibliography from which the field may be explored in detail.

An ASA Classic Monograph, Wheaton College biologist and ASA pioneer Russell Mixter (1967) provides a mid-20th C view of evolution .

Links to an exhaustive array of historical resources are found at the ECHO site of the History Center at George Mason University. 

PAPERS

John R. Armstrong,  "Rediscovering John Ray (1627-1705)," PSCF 41.2:105-107
(6/1989)

William Buckland

John R. Armstrong, "William Buckland in Retrospect"  PSCF 42.1:34-38 (3/1990)

Richard P. Aulie, "Al-Ghazali Against Aristotle: An Unforeseen Overture to
Science in Eleventh-CenturyBaghdad," PSCF 46.1:26-46 (3/1994)

David C. Bossard, "The Stones Cry Out: How Early Christian Geologists Enlarged their Understanding of the Creation Account," IBRI Research Report #57 (2006)

Harry Cook, "Wonderful Life: Burgess Shale and the History of Biology," Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith 47 (September 1995): 159 - 163.

Edward B. Davis, "A Whale of a Tale: Fundamentalist Fish Stories," PSCF, 43 (December 1991): 224. 

Edward O. Dodson,   "Toldot Adam: A  Little-Known Chapter in the History
of Darwinism"  PSCF 52.1:47-54 (3/2000)

Philip Eichman, The Christian Character  of Michael Faraday as Revealed in His
 Personal Life and  Recorded Sermons  PSCF 43.2:92-95 (6/1991)

Karl Giberson & Donald Yerxa,  Inherit the Monkey Trial  Scopes Trial historian Ed Larson explains why Christians should be taught evolution. Christianity Today  Archive with useful links on the trial.

Haas, John W., Jr., Essay Review: Bowler, Peter J. Reconciling Science and Religion: The Debate in Early-Twentieth-Century Britain PSCF 55.1:45-51 (3/2003)

Lamoureux, Denis O., Theological Insights from Charles Darwin PSCF 56.1:2-12 (3/2004)

Christopher B. Kaiser, "The Creationist Tradition in the History of Science," PSCF 45 (June 1993): 80 -89.

Lindberg, David C. & Numbers, Ronald L., "Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter between Christianity and Science" PSCF 39.3:140-149 (9/1987)

Mark A. Kalthoff, "John Henry Newman on Christianity, Science and Intelligent Design," PSCF 53 (March 2001): 14 - 23.

David Livingston, "Science and Religion: Towards a New Cartography" Christian Scholar's Review XXVI:3 (Spring 1997) 270 - 292. (web link)

Russell Maatmann, "The Galileo Incident," PSCF 46 (September 1994): 179 - 182.

George L. Murphy, "Possible Influences of Biblical Beliefs upon Physics,"
PSCF, 48 (June 1996): 82 

Sara Joan Miles,  Charles Darwin and Asa Gray Discuss Teleology and  Design  
PSCF 53.3:196-201 (9/2001)

Sara Joan Miles, "From Being to Becoming: Science and Theology in the Eighteenth Century," PSCF, 43 (December 1991): 

Terry G. Pence, Charles S. Pierce, Scientific Method, and God  PSCF 49.3:
156-161 (9/1997

Micahel B. Roberts,  Design Up to Scratch? A Comparison of Design in  Buckland 
(1832) and Behe PSCF 51.4:244-257 (12/1999

Michael B. Roberts, Was Darwin a Christian? PSCF 52.2:84-85 (6/2000)

Michael B. Roberts: Genesis and Geology Unearthed 15 December 2002

Colin  Russell, "Without a Memory," PSCF 45 (March 1993): 219-221.

Jeffrey Burton Russell, "The myth of the flat earth," Paper presented at the American Scientific Affiliation Annual Meeting, August 4, 1997 at Westmont College 

Joseph L. Spradley,  Tradition and 
Faith in the Copernican Revolution   
PSCF 43.1:36-42 (3/1991)

Stephen David Snobelen, Newton Reconsidered (2005) Comments on recent scholarship on Newton's theological views.

Daniel E. Wonderly, "Fanciful Bible-Science Stories' Harm: A Call to Action," PSCF 44 (June 1992): 131 - 135.

David L. Woodall, "The Relationship between Science and Scripture in the
Thought of Robert Boyle," PSCF, 49 (March 1997): 32 - 39.

Yerxa, "Donald A., Phillip Johnson and the Origins of the Intelligent Design Movement, 1977-1991, PSCF 54 (March 2002): 47 [PDF]

Davis Young, "History of the Collapse of "Flood Geology" and a Young Earth," (adapted from The Biblical Flood: A Case Study of the Church's Response to Extrabiblical Evidence Eerdmans, 1995)

Media Presentations

DIALOGUE

The Young Charles Darwin

Sara Miles, "Darwin: A Man of His Times - A Theory of Its Time?" PSCF, 45 (September 1993): 191 - 195.

David N. Livingstone, "A Commentary on Darwin," ,PSCF, 46 (June 1994): 123 - 127.

James Moore. "Cutting Both Ways - Darwin Among the Devout: A Response to David Livingstone, Sara Miles, and Mark Noll," PSCF 46 (September 1994): 169 - 172.

MINI-SYMPOSIUM             

The Rev. John Wesley and Science

Laura Bartels Felleman, "John Wesley's Survey of the Wisdom of God in Creation: A Methodological Inquiry," PSCF 58 (March 2006): 68-73.

J. W. Haas, Jr., "John Wesley's Vision of Science in the Service of Christ," PSCF 47 (December 1995): 234 - 243.

H. Newton Malony, "John Wesley and the Eighteenth Century Therapeutic Uses of Electricity," PSCF 47 (December 1995): 244 - 254.

ASA History

Dorothy F. Chappell,  Christian, Teacher, Scientist, Mentor: Dr. Russell L. Mixter
: Visionary for the Role of Science in Christian Higher Education 
PSCF 44.1:10-16 (3/1992)

John W., Jr. Haas,  Irwin A. Moon, F. Alton Everest and Will H. Houghton: Early 
Links between the Moody Bible Institute and the American Scientific Affiliation  
PSCF 43.4:249-258 (12/1991)

D. G. Hart,  The Fundamentalist Origins of the American Scientific Affiliation PSCF
  43.4:238-248 (12/1991)

Mark A. Kalthoff,  The Harmonious Dissonance of Evangelical Scientists: Rhetoric 
and Reality in the Early Decades of the ASA PSCF 43.4:259-272 (12/1991)

Joseph L. Spradley,  Changing Views of Science and Scripture: Bernard Ramm & 
the ASA PSCF  44.1:2-9 (3/1992)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Peter Bowler, Reconcilling Science and Religion: The Debate In Early Twentieth-Century Britain, University of Chicago Press, 2001

John Hedley Brooke, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives, Cambridge University Press NY, 1991.

Michael Faraday

G. A. Cantor, Michael Faraday: Sandemanian and Scientist, Macmillan Publishers, London, 1991.

Adrian Desmond & James Moore, Darwin: the Life of a Tormented Evolutionist, Warner Books NY, 1991.

Adrian Desmond, Huxley: From Devil's Disciple to Evolution's High Priest, Addison-Wesley, Reading MA, 1994.

Charles Hummel, The Galileo Connection: Resolving Conflicts between Science & the Bible, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove  IL 1986.

Dan Graves, Scientists of Faith: Forty-Eight Biographies of Historic Scientists and their Christian Faith, Kregel Resources, Grand Rapids MI, 1996.

Frederick Gregory, Nature Lost?: Natural Science and the German Theological Traditions of the Nineteenth Century,   Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1992.

Christopher Kaiser, Creation and the History of Science, W. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids MI, 1991.

David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, eds., God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter between Christianity and Science, University of California Press, Berkeley CA, 1986.

David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers eds., When Science & Christianity Meet, University of Chicago Press, 2003.

David C. Lindberg and Robert S. Westman, eds., Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, Cambridge University Press  NY, 1990.

Ronald L. Numbers. The Creationists: the Evolution of Scientific Creationism, Alfred A. Knoff  NY, 1992.

Ronald L. Numbers, Darwinism Comes to America, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 1998.

John Ray (1628-1705) The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of Creation,  1691 (ebook )

Colin A. Russell, Cross-currents: Interactions Between Science & Faith, W. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids MI, 1985

James Strick, Sparks of Life: Darwinism and the Victorian Debates Over Spontaneous Generation, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, 2000.

Andrew White,  The Warfare Of Science With Theology, (1896) (ebook).

LINKS

The Alfred Russel Wallace Page Web site dedicated to celebrating the life and work of the English naturalist, evolutionist, and social critic Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)!

John Ray Web Site (1628-1705)  

Robert A. Hatch, "THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION HOMEPAGE" A diverse page on all aspects of the Scientific Revolution containing a vast quantity of links to primary readings, secondary readings, a glossary of terminology, a timeline from Copernicus to Newton, biographies, biblio...more. 

Victorian Science & Religion Aileen Fyfe, Dept. of History, National University of Ireland, Galway and John van Wyhe, Fellow, NUS; Researcher, History & philosophy of science, Cambridge University.

If you have comments or questions please contact Jack Haas  haas.john@comcast.net       

 Most recent addition: 03/04/2008

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