Science, Religion, and the Protestant Tradition (eBook)

Retracing the Origins of Conflict

James C. Ungureanu (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2019
555 Seiten
University of Pittsburgh Press (Verlag)
978-0-8229-8711-6 (ISBN)

Infos

<b>Revisiting the Origins, Development, and Popularization of the “Conflict Thesis”</b>

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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.

Autor

<b>James C. Ungureanu </b>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.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 29.10.2019
• Reihe/Serie: Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century
• Verlagsort: PIttsburgh
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften
• Themenwelt: Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
• Schlagworte: Andrew Dickson White • conflict between science and religion • conflict thesis • History of Science • James C. Ungureanu • John William Draper • nineteenth-century religion • Protestant Church • Protestant church and science • Protestant Reformation • science in the 19th century • University of Pittsburgh Press
• ISBN-10: 0-8229-8711-2 / 0822987112
• ISBN-13: 978-0-8229-8711-6 / 9780822987116