23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A bumpy ride, September 9, 2005
If God doesn't exist, one doesn't lose much by belief in God; however, if God does exist and one doesn't believe, the cost can be dramatic. Therefore, one should believe in God, for the odds are then in one's favour. This is sometimes called Pascal's Wager, after the dissident Catholic physicist, mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal. It has been argued that Pascal introduced game theory in order to help prove God's existence, or at least justify a belief in this. This is but one story highlighted in the history of the rocky relationship between science and religion from the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the last century.
Often when one discusses this issue, a good historical starting point is Copernicus, who was the first major astronomer since classical times to `demote' the favoured position of the world to being but one of several planets orbiting the sun; the demotion of the sun from being the centre of the universe would come later, but the implication was all too clear from the start. This scientific upheaval coincided with political and religious unrest in Europe, and in a world where the idea that church and state would be separate is not even a distant dream, certainly the separation of the natural sciences from theology, the `queen of the sciences' was inconceivable.
The mistrust between science and religion persists to this day, continuing in its strongest vein the arguments against the Darwinian Theory of Evolution (even though the Theory of Evolution has itself `evolved' from the time of Darwin's observations and publication of `The Origin of Species'). There are some who try to assert one over the other - this happens both with scientists over religion as with religious people over scientists. There are others who look for an arrangement of `respectful noninterference' - scientist Stephen Jay Gould is quoted here as saying, `I do not understand why the two enterprises should experience any conflict.' He argues for a `non-overlapping magisteria' that deal in utterly different realms of human experience.
Author Richard Olson argues that neither the conflict model nor the non-engagement/disjunction model reflect the reality of the historical situation in total - there has been a strong traditional of religious institutions supporting scientific endeavours. Olson's purpose in this volume is to examine the areas of conflict and the areas of cooperation, taking out some of the invective and seeing the situation in a more objective sense; Olson's purpose with this series is to give the issue a more global sense, examining not just the interplay of Christianity and science, but other religious traditions at different historical periods, too.
This volume covers issues beginning with the time of Copernicus and Galileo, continuing through times of continental and English scientific awakenings (Descarte, Pascal, Newton). He then looks at some of the scientific ponderings on religious matters, including philosophical and anthropological studies by figures such as Kant, Hegel, Schleiermacher and Feuerbach. He concludes with chapters on geology and biology, as these have some of the dating issues that seem to be so much at odds with certain religious interpretations in the modern American arena today.
Beginning with Galileo and ending with Darwin, Olson frames the history with what he calls `the most notorious episodes in the supposed ongoing conflict between science and religion,' but states that even from his brief description of each, the issues are far more complicated than those who would look for simple condemnations can reasonably hold. The complex landscape of this relationship, not unrelated to the larger framework of social, economic and political upheavals and restructuring during this time, leads to a very rich and interesting topic for study.
Olson includes excerpts from many primary sources, including the writings of Richard Hooker, Robert Boyle, David Hume and John Draper. He has an extensive annotated bibliography (a great feature of Greenwood Guides), and a useful index. This is a good text for providing worthwhile information and historical context to current debates and conversations.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Equal Footing, January 4, 2007
This review is from: Science and Religion, 1450-1900: From Copernicus to Darwin (Paperback)
Olson is well qualified to write on the history of science and religion, having published at least two previous books (Science Deified and Science Defied, vols. 1 and 2). I enjoyed those books, but this one is even better. Packed with interesting details, well researched, and well written, it maintains a calm, balanced historian's perspective. In particular, Olson uses broad historical scholarship to demonstrate the range of religious and other cultural responses to the advance of science -- everything from the typical images of irrational resistance to the eager adoption of scientific knowledge as a SOURCE or DEFENSE of religious ideas.
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