I am now going to put my boot in. Winchester's book is very flawed indeed
and is very hostile to Christians and comes out with a vast number of
inaccurate statements about the church opposing geology. I touch on some in
my review below.
The semi-educated person who thinks he is reading good history will be given
more arguments against Christ and this will simply reinforce the prejudice
that Christianity has always opposed science.
This book is one of the new genre of what I call "pop history of science"
which goes in for exageration, hero worship and simply perpetuates the false
conflict thesis of science and religion.
Another writer who is moving into this area is Steve Jones who lards his
recent books and TV programmes with inaccurate historical statements. He
often accuses the church of opposing any geology as they were wedded to
4004BC and all that. In his TV series (and less in the book) In the Blood,
Jones states that William Buckland beleived that the earth was only
thousands in the 1820s. That is a crass error, and as repeats similar
comments in his re-hash of the Origin of Species (Almost like a Whale) .
(for goodness sake read Darwin, the science is better, the writing is better
and it does not attack Christianity!) Three years ago I , Along with Jim
Moore and Jim Secord, had the misfortune of giving him historical advice for
a programme on Darwin in Wales. He got it all wrong and I was given £50 for
several days work.
This style of argument has the same intellectual worth as Morris's attempt
to prove Craeation Scienctists from of old and should be treated as such.
At the end of his letter Gordon winder wrote this.
> I continue to maintain that the ALMIGHTY has one big problem on HIS
> > plate. It's simple -- all based on Scripture - let me point to a single
> > line - 'DELIVER US FROM <THIS> EVIL'. This 14 decade old argument is
> > EVIL - it's 'a thorn in the 'flesh' of Christianity!!' HE will - just
> > ask!!!!! But be prepared to act when the SPIRIT so directs!!
This is not true, Thsi YEC nonsense appeared in 1961 - 4 decades ago .
Before that most Christians supported the age of the earth etc etc and many
Christian geologists were active in the birth of geology - Sedgwick,
buckland, Silliman, Hitchcock, Conybeare, Townsend, Fleming etc etc . Those
who imply otherwise are either liars or invincibally ignorant.
We have a double problem ; first creationism and second ill-informed secular
writers who determined to push a conflict thesis of science and religion in
contradiction to all competent historians of science.
This presents people with a choice ;
either 6 day creationism as the true faith
or agnostic anti-christian evolution.
Most people have not got the knowledge to assess the problems and then make
a simplistic choice.
Michael
Simon. B. A. Winchester
The Map that changed the world (The tale of William Smith and the birth of a
science
London: Viking, 2001. 338pp. hb. £12.99. ISBN 0-670-88407-3
Over the last few years there have been several popular works on the history
of science and Simon Winchester has produced a very readable life of William
Smith, the "Father of English Geology". The author is both a geologist and a
journalist and brings both skills to his book. (His geological background is
almost identical to mine as he was two years my senior at university and
began work in a Ugandan mine.)
William Smith is one of the many neglected scientists, whose significance
is not widely known. His story is accurately and well told and makes a
gripping read, how a canal engineer laid down the basis of geological
correlation thus enabling the strata to be put into historical order. Smith
was a canal engineer and developed his understanding of fossils in the
strata in the coal seams and canals near Bath, before travelling the length
of England. The book details his travails in publishing his map in 1815, his
spell in a debtors' prison and how his work was plagiarised by George
Greenough. At the end of the 1820s Smith was befriended by clerical
geologists such as Sedgwick and Buckland, who enabled him to be given the
recognition he deserved. To know more simply read the book.
However Winchester's book suffers from two weaknesses. First, he makes too
much of a hero of Smith and ignores his contemporaries thus giving the
impression that Smith is the father of geology and not only the "Father of
English Geology". The crucial decades for the growth of geology was from
1780 to 1800, as advances were made simultaneously throughout Europe.
Winchester gives a little recognition to Hutton and the much-maligned Werner
(whose work is now being recognised and who also attempted a map of his
homeland), but does not refer to de Saussure of Geneva and the Frenchmen,
Soulavie, Cuvier and Brogniart. Consequently the subtitle The tale of
William Smith and the birth of a science gives insufficient recognition to
the other numerous midwives of geology.
Secondly, Winchester has a totally inaccurate understanding of the British
churches in relation to the rise of geology and simply repeats, with
exaggerations, the old myths that there was a mighty war of Genesis and
geology in the early 19th Century. He refers to the "church" negatively some
thirty times and it gets tedious. His prejudice surfaces most blatantly on
p29, 'The hunch that God might not have done precisely as Bishop Ussher had
suggested,., was beginning to be tested by real thinkers, by rationalists,
by radically inclined scientists who were bold enough to challenge both the
dogma and the law, the clerics and the courts.'' Or to put not to fine a
point on it, only those who were not Christians in any way. Here Winchester
is writing of the 1790s a mere one hundred years after the Revd John Ray and
Edward Lhwyd were questioning the age of the earth. In fact throughout the
previous century most thinkers Christian or deist thought the earth was
older than Ussher's estimate. What is the dogma and the law which forbade
suggestions of an old earth? Granted some clerics did hold to Ussher's age
but the vast majority did not. Lastly, who was under any threat from the law
for holding to millions of years? How does Winchester explain that it was
clerics Richardson and Townsend who spread Smith's ideas and Playfair Hutton
's? In his discussion of the clerical trio Buckland, Sedgwick and Conybeare
he manages not to mention that they were ordained and any reader of the book
could be forgiven if he did not realise that Sedgwick was a devout
evangelical cleric! Winchester simply cannot accept that a clergyman could
actually accept geological ages without challenging his faith, as is
evidenced by his comments on Lewis, who helped Murchison unravel the
Silurian in 1831. He wrote,'Many of the . fossilists were .called divines -
a curious happenstance, considering the assault that any intelligent
understanding of fossils would later have on divinity's most firmly held
notions, like the Creation and the Flood. The Reverend Thomas Lewis of
Ross-on-Wye is characteristic of the type:' (p115) This can only be
described as complete and utter nonsense, if not bigotry. The author has
absolutely no knowledge of the doctrine of Creation or the Flood and is
ignorant of how the clerical geologists actually thought. His section
dealing with Ussher (p16-21) is both flippant and inaccurate and even gets
the first day of creation on Monday 23 October (day one) and the creation of
animals on the Thursday 26 October(day six)! Actually Ussher wrote, 'Sexto
die, Octobris vigesimo octavo' and it was Friday the day before the Sabbath!
This kind of lampoon is fine for Peter Simple in the Daily Telegraph but not
for a serious Guardian journalist. Winchester has simply not grown out of
the outworn conflict thesis of science and religion, which by now should
have been rejected by any who dabbles in the history of science and
Christianity. However it is a persistent myth which is propagated through a
popular misunderstanding. This myth encourages both unbelief and
creationism.
This book is a veritable curate's egg, on Smith as a geologist it is
excellent, but as soon as he puts matters into religious context rotten as
only a rotten egg can be! This could have been an excellent book.
Michael Roberts, Vicar of Cockerham, Glasson and Winmarleigh (Lancaster)
----- Original Message -----
From: <John@dordt.edu>
To: "c.g. winder" <cwinder@uwo.ca>
Cc: <acg-l@cc.dordt.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 12:25 AM
Subject: Re: The Map that Changed the World
> i too think it should be required reading not just for all geologists &
all
> students, but for all!!
> i "stumbled" on it as i was looking for audio tapes for my travels - why
> hadn't i heard of it? none of my geologist friends had mentioned it...,
indeed
> many hadn't even heard of it. & i was told ther was a review a few yrs
back in
> Geotimes..... i missed that. it deals w/ more than geology, it is as the
> geographers are starting to do, "de-constructs the map" .... if you
haven't
> already read it get it! & pass it along as i am doing w/ my copy of the
tapes
> - most of us here in the Wash DC area are commuters.... & i am after a
copy of
> the tape...
> peace, <>< -+ nhoj(;=))=
>
> c.g.@dordt.edu wrote:
>
> > This is the title of a book by Simon Winchester, which describes the
life
> > and activities of William "Strata" Smith, the Englishman who started
> > stratigraphic paleontology and the methodology of establishing relative
> > time using fossils. As a self-trained surveyor, he mapped coal mines
> > around Bath, England, and plotted the courses for canals so coal could
be
> > delivered by barge to London and beyond. While working he collected
> > ammonites, realized they occur in a fixed order, and eventually could
> > predict, that when he found one, where to look for another, either up or
> > down the section. He also plotted the rock types on maps and eventually
> > published the first geologic map of England, published in 1815. A
> > feature of this book is a folded copy of Smith's map as the dust cover
for
> > the book. Some of the fossils he cited are illustated on chapter title
> > pages with names in an appendix. BUT what problems he had to
survive!!! -
> > at one point he went to prison for nine months for non-payment of debt!!
> > Today one of the prestigeous medals of the Geological Society of London
is
> > named in his honour.
> >
> > In Canada, the book has been on the best seller list for 24 weeks. Need
I
> > write more. I would advocate this as required reading for every student
in
> > historical geology. It's easy to read, comprehensive and educational.
One
> > error - Adam Sedwick was the godfather of the Cambrian, not the
> > Ordovician. It would be interesting to have comments from some of our
> > 'young'ster friends.
> >
> > My activity continues with attention to the Geological Association of
> > Canada and The Presbyterian Church in Canada. Some months ago the GAC
> > newsletter GEOLOG published a letter by a member who wrote an
> > 'arm-waving diatribe', stating briefly - "-- we(GAC members) have FAILED
> > in our societal responsibility." -- "Let the GAC take on this meaningful
> > challenge" -- to educate the public that the earth is very old.
> >
> > I responded with a lengthy letter in the next GEOLOG issue under the
title
> > <"The earth is old", the churches must be told>. Will send the text by
> > e-mail if you request. Some letters of support went to the GAC executive
> > and council. At this time, the 'Execs' have not said "yes" and they have
> > not said "no". Patience is being practised!! The foray also initiated
> > correspondence with a Canadian 'young'ster professional geologist and
> > engineer who attempted to entangle me in 'swampy' obfuscation. The
> > exchanges are sufficiently illustrative I have been thinking of
> > summarizing and distributing so that the unsuspecting can be prepared
for
> > appropriate action.
> >
> > I also have prepared a FACTS sheet on the age of the earth, composed
> > specifically for The Presbyterian Church in Canada. One FACT explains
why
> > the first three 'days' of Genesis are NOT 24 hour days, and
> > therefore the others are NOT 24 hours. Also available by e-mail if
> > requested.
> >
> > I continue to maintain that the ALMIGHTY has one big problem on HIS
> > plate. It's simple -- all based on Scripture - let me point to a single
> > line - 'DELIVER US FROM <THIS> EVIL'. This 14 decade old argument is
> > EVIL - it's 'a thorn in the 'flesh' of Christianity!!' HE will - just
> > ask!!!!! But be prepared to act when the SPIRIT so directs!!
> >
> > In CHRIST
> > C. Gordon Winder, UWO Earth Science, London Canada
> > www.uwo.ca/earth/winder.htm
> >
> > P.S. This morning's news briefs reports that OHIO EDUCATION is engaged
in
> > the same old malfeasance!!!! HO HUM!!!!
> >
>
>
>
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