Re: [asa] Rudwick does it again

David,
Sorry, I forgot the obvious.? It's published by University of Chicago Press.? See http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=251087

Karl
**************************
Karl V. Evans
cmekve@aol.com

-----Original Message-----
From: David Campbell <pleuronaia@gmail.com>
To: cmekve@aol.com <cmekve@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:58 pm
Subject: Re: [asa] Rudwick does it again

Who's the publisher?

On 8/15/08, cmekve@aol.com <cmekve@aol.com> wrote:
> Martin Rudwick, the dean of earth science historians -- and formerly a
> research paleontologist -- has recently published his sequel to his previous
> tome Bursting the Limits of Time. The new book "Worlds Before Adam: The
> Reconstruction of Geohistory in the Age of Reform" is at least as good and
> covers the time from 1817 to 1845 -- or approximately Cuvier and Buckland to
> Lyell and the early Darwin (i.e., Darwin the geologist).
>
> Fortunately, like his subjects, Rudwick is multilingual and so the history
> does not focus solely on Britain. The interplay between European 'savants'
> is fascinating and the geologic problems discussed are accessible to
> virtually anyone, not just geologists.
>
> Of particular interest to this list will be his last chapter, entitled
> "Concluding (Un)scientific Postscript" [with proper recognition and
> apologies to Soren Kierkegaard !]. This more philosophical chapter
> emphasizes, among other things, the marginal nature of the so-called
> 'conflict' between science and religion. And marginal [Rudwick's italics]
> not only to us in hindsight, but marginal to the participants at the time.
> This is something that Michael Roberts has repeatedly emphasized on this
> list, but I think even Michael would admit that Rudwick says it more
> elegantly.
>
> As an example:
>
> "On the issue of the earth's timescale there was therefore no significant
> conflict between geology and Genesis, or between geologists and a "Church"
> that in reality was far from monolithic. The only conflict -- sometimes and
> locally -- was between scientific savants (including those who were
> religious believers) on the one hand, and specific sections of the wider
> public on the other." [p. 564-565]
>
> "... I have suggested...that the Judeo-Christian cultural tradition had a
> far more profound role in the shaping of the new practice of geohistory, and
> a strongly positive one at that." [p.565]
>
> "The great fallacy in th
e "conflict thesis" -- a fallacy sedulously fostered
> by those modern commentators who can fairly be described as crusading
> atheistic fundamentalists -- is that it treats both sides of the supposed
> conflict as reified and ahistorical entities: "Science" and "Religion". In
> reality, everything depended, then as now, on when, where, and who." [p.
> 564]
>
> This is a magnificent book. If you can't buy it, borrow it. But be sure to
> read it.
>
> Karl
> **********************
> Karl V. Evans
> cmekve@aol.com
> ________________________________
> It's time to go back to school! Get the latest trends and gadgets that make
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-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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