Customer Reviews

History of the Conflict Between Religion and Science

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I found this to be an amazing book, comparable to HG Well's Outline of History. Before I read it I checked on the biography of the author, as I wanted to make sure he had the intellectual standing to write such a book before I invested my time in it. He does. You can check him on Wikipedia. He is contemporary (1881) with great events regarding the relationship between science and religion, yet everything he covers is applicable in today's world. He recognized the importance of the conflicts that were emerging and investigated the history of the relationship between science and religion, observed their present state, and makes what turns out to be very accurate predictions of exactly the situation we are in today. I am a student of history and I could find no fault with his presentation of historical facts, though he presents them in a context is unique to him at that time.
With the publication of Stephen Hawkin's book, "The Grand Design" we are seeing a replay of the same conflict again between a static belief system and a system that is constantly expanding, making Draper's book all the more relevant in understanding just what is happening and why.
As a plus, the author is an excellent writer of his time and I enjoyed his civility, and how he uses his words. A great relief from the "yell at you" style that seems popular now. If anyone is interested in a well thought out and intelligently presented explanation of why civilization finds itself in the conflicts we see everyday in the news, I recommend this work.
BTW the University of Va. has a copy of this book in it's online library. I'd recommend reading the preface there to see if you'd like it. May be able to get a sample on the Kindle also.

What a refreshing encapsulation of the history of religion and how it stifled science! I was shocked to find that the author is from the mid-19th century. I have picked up many new insights into all religions and the politics of religion. Well written, though sometimes tough to follow author's thoughts (due to (unavoidable) inaccuracies in transcription). Will read more by author and further investigate some of his claims regarding very early astronomy - just the kind of action that reading a good book should generate! I loved it!

This book should be called "A history of religion and philosophers". I got it to research the attitudes of those opposed to science in history, and there was not much I could lift from it. However it's quite interesting, just not much about science.

Now, after seeing one review on here, I have to make my thoughts known. This is an absolutely amazing book. How anyone doesn't think that it clarifies exactly what the title dictates, is beyond me. There is a disturbing story that brought tears to my eyes: monks took an educated woman, the bishop was jealous of, stripped her naked - dragged her into the church, where Peter the reader bludgeoned her to death - then scraped the flesh from her bones and burned it all in the fire. I totally see how the conflict between science and religion started, escalated and continues on. It is a great book and extremely well written.

I found this to be an amazing book, comparable to HG Well's Outline of History its a whiz bang book

There are two problems with this book: First, its title and introduction lead one to believe that it will be an objective depiction of the anatomy of a conflict. Instead, it is a polemic against Christianity (mostly Roman Catholicism) and an endorsement of Science. Second, although its conspicuous copyrite year is 2010, the book was actually written in the late 19th century.

The book presents very detailed historical material of the evolution of science and Christianity from the time of their origins up to the late 1800s, and concludes that Christianity, during most that time, severely hampered the vigor and freedom of scientific inquiry. The essence of the author's thesis is that in trying to explain everything about everything Christianity had, in large part, stepped on ground that would have been better served by observation and experimentation. In its determnation to maintain the upper hand, and in vacating the ideational ground upon which Christ stood, Christianity ultimately killed people, stifled free thinking and stymied the progress of civilization for at least a millenium before the Protestant Reformation. At least the author implies as much.

This seems axiomatic from the standpoint of the 21st century and it might be true that Christianity lost its way within a short period after Christ's death. But, in the author's 19th century zeal to extol the virtues of science he omits an examination of what Christianity did accomplish on ground that it rightly stood. For instance, "Seminal Christianity" is not designed to be scientific but rather to be interpretive; it's not to explain what the universe is but why it is there; it doesn't speak to the human mind but to the human heart. To paint Chrisitrianity, in general, negatively in contrast to the neoreligion of science might have worked in a culture bathing in the first glow of Darwinism. However, those brush strokes don't impress the modern mind that knows religion and science try to do different things, knows that any religion is not monolithic, notwithstanding the indiscriminate carpet-bombings of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al. As one tradition steps on the ground of the other, it is wrong.

Draper was drunk with the miracles of late 19th century science and was understandably myopic. This reader, by virtue of the times he lives in, is not.

This book isn't really about science or religion per se, though it says a lot about both subjects, it's more a handbook of opinions and how to not write authoritatively. After reading it, I wonder if the FOX channel knows about it. Bigotry and Ignorance are part and parcell of this man's writings.