Missed the question. Re: Darwin's influence on Stalin

It is likely that the naturalistic metaphysics underlying Darwin's own
version of evolution, when coupled with the efforts of Huxley and others to
keep religion out of scientific and university discourse, was an important
factor in the secularization of intellectual life.

It is another thing entirely, to generalize too broadly and to claim (e.g.)
that science was the main cause of secularization. That doesn't hold water,
as historians like Owen Chadwick and others have shown. John Brooke
addresses this point in his Science and Religion (Cambridge U Press).

The rise of the German research university model in the final decades of
the 19th century was a very important factor in secularizing American
colleges and universities. This is linked with the acceptance of White's
warfare thesis (White himself being president of what became one of the
major research universities, namely Cornell). Furthermore, German
universities were strong promoters of naturalism--not only in science, but
also in biblical scholarship and theology. In my opinion it would not be
germane to draw a distinction between MN and ontological naturalism on this
particular point; the fact that naturalism of both sorts was stressed by
German academics, when combined with the fact that lots and lots of American
scientists and theologians were educated (graduate school) in Germany,
undoubtedly had its effects on American institutions. IMO, the naturalism
that is so evident in 20th century folks like Bultmann and Americans like
Shailer Mathews has its roots in this phenomenon. It would be interesting
to know the sociology of knowledge relevant to this issue--that is, for
example, whether theologians and biblical scholars who believed in the
bodily resurrection, the virgin birth, and other biblical miracles were able
to be appointed to top jobs in German and American universities from (say)
1880 to 1940. I don't have that data, if anyone does I'd love to see it.

Ted
Received on Mon Jul 25 16:31:18 2005