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Ronald L. Numbers

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion Paperback – November 8, 2010

by Ronald L. Numbers (Editor)

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If we want nonscientists and opinion-makers in the press, the lab, and the pulpit to take a fresh look at the relationship between science and religion, Ronald Numbers suggests that we must first dispense with the hoary myths that have masqueraded too long as historical truths.

Until about the 1970s, the dominant narrative in the history of science had long been that of science triumphant, and science at war with religion. But a new generation of historians both of science and of the church began to examine episodes in the history of science and religion through the values and knowledge of the actors themselves. Now Ronald Numbers has recruited the leading scholars in this new history of science to puncture the myths, from Galileo’s incarceration to Darwin’s deathbed conversion to Einstein’s belief in a personal God who “didn’t play dice with the universe.” The picture of science and religion at each other’s throats persists in mainstream media and scholarly journals, but each chapter in Galileo Goes to Jail shows how much we have to gain by seeing beyond the myths.

Print length

320 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvard University Press
Publication date

November 8, 2010
Dimensions

5.4 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches
ISBN-10

0674057414
ISBN-13

978-0674057418
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“An illuminating study of the relationship between science and religion...This book features the contributions of a team of 25 scholars that includes agnostics, atheists, and Christians. Their collective objective is to dispel the "hoary myths" of the supposedly bellicose relationship between religion and science. Readers will be fascinated by the evidence that for advocating Copernicanism, Galileo was not imprisoned (as commonly thought) but interrogated--albeit under the threat of torture--and set up in an apartment. Other misconceptions concern the connection between Darwinian thought and Nazi biology, Einstein's belief in God, and Islam's alleged hostility toward scientific enquiry.”―C. Brian Smith, Library Journal

“A revealing book...Using "myth" in the popular sense, to mean falsehood, Galileo Goes to Jail debunks widespread misconceptions.”―Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun

“A splendid book.”―Christopher Howse, Daily Telegraph

“As a collection, these myth-busting arguments work to soften the wedge responsible for the schism between science and religion. The topics and writing style will appeal to all readers, but students of science and religion should consider this essential reading.”―J. A. Hewlett, Choice

“Informative and thought-provoking reading.”―Ernan McMullin, The Tablet

“The volume's careful organization and execution reveal the kind of planning and teamwork absent from too many edited collections, but which have come to be expected from Numbers...Each chapter of Galileo Goes to Jail begins with two or three epigraphs that clearly convict scholarly and popular literature of perpetuating the myth in question. Most authors then explore the nuances of the myth, its origin, complexity, and longevity, before telling the "rest of the story."”―Mark A. Kalthoff, First Things

“The authors necessarily spend the bulk of their time debunking attacks on religion in the name of science, but they also clear the muddy waters left behind when pro-religion forces try to obscure the scientific record...As Numbers points out in his introduction, fewer than half of the contributors are religious believers at all; and of those, there are only two evangelicals, one Catholic, and one Jew. In other words, they have no axe to grind, and their only agenda is to set the historical record straight. Given all of the polemics published today, this is a breath of fresh air.”―Ryan T. Anderson, Weekly Standard

“[Ronald L. Numbers] is a religious agnostic whose scholarship on the history of American religion and science is marked by meticulous accuracy and impartiality...[This book was written] with ordinary readers, not specialists, in mind, making this a truly rare book: where else can you find such authoritative scholarship delivered so accessibly and fairly on such an important subject?”―Edward B. Davis, belief.net

From the Back Cover

Myth 2. That the Medieval Christian Church Suppressed the Growth of Science Myth 3. That Medieval Christians Taught That the Earth Was Flat Myth 4. That Medieval Islamic Culture Was Inhospitable to Science Myth 12. That Ren? Descartes Originated the Mind- Body Distinction Myth 16. That Evolution Destroyed Darwin's Faith in Christianity--Until He Reconverted on His Deathbed Myth 21. That Einstein Believed in a Personal God Myth 25. That Modern Science Has Secularized Western Culture

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; Reprint edition (November 8, 2010)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674057414
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674057418
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.4 x 0.9 x 8.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #139,882 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #161 in Science & Religion (Books)
- #543 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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James E. Egolf

Myth vs. Actual Honest History

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 10, 2014

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Robert Numbers edited an interesting book titled GALILEO GOES TO TRIAL AND OTHER MYTHS ABOUT SCIENCE AND RELIGION. Mr. Numbers edoted essays from knowledgeable scholars to refute popular myths These scholars have different religious views, and the book is clear that devout Catholics, Hindus, Moslems, and secularists have made significant contributions to expand scientifie and mathematics.

The first myth was that Ancient Christianity caused a demise in scientic study. For example, the terrible murder of Hypatia in 415 AD was not due to her work re science. Hypatia was caught in a terrilbe political dispute between Bishop Cyril and the Roman Perfect which had nothing to do with Hypatia's scholarship. While some of the early Church Fathers disagreed with "pagan" Greek and Roman thought, these Fathers accepted much of what the Ancient Romans and especially the Ancient Greeks achieved. St. Augustine (354-430) relied on Platonic thought and rhetoric to make his arguements in his work especially his tome THE CITY OF GOD. He was also aware that the Cosmos was much larger than the earth. Mr. Numbers mentioned that St.Basil of Caesarea (330-379) scolded early Christians for making claims against Greek thought when these Christians were totally ignorant of Ancient Greek learning and made themselves, and Christianity, look foolish. St. Augustine whose work was important to Catholcism was clear that the Bible was often allegorical and not meant to make taken literally. As an aside, unless one knows the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek languages, one does not have a perfect understanding of the Bible.

Another myth that was exploded in this book was the notion that the Catholic Church suppressed scientic thought. Michael Shanks' essay in this book undermines this myth. While no mention of the work of St.Albertus Magnus (1193-1280), is made, Shanks cited the work of another devout Catholic.Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1294) who was one of the most creative scientists of his ear and credited with experimental science. The myth that Fr. Bacon was jailed was proven false by John Helborn, "no apologist for the Vatican," in his book titled THE SUN IN THE CHURCH. Shanks mentioned several other devout Catholic Churchmen who did advanced scientic work.

As mentioned in this review's opening paragraph, men and women of different religious affiliation made significant contributions to science. The essay by Syed Nomanul Haq produced solid proof of Islamic scientic acheivements. Abu Hamid al Ghazali (1058-1111) supported advanced scientific and mathematical study. "For example," Qusta Ibn Luqa (820-912) translated the Greek Diophantus' Greek ARISTHMETIC as THE ART OF ALGEBRA which was an important advance re mathematic calculation. Haq also cited Islamic scholars not only faithfully translated Greek thought, they embellished it with their glosses and commentaries. C. 1259, the Islamic astronomer Nasir Al-Din a-Tusi proved that the geocentric Ptolemic thoery was worng. As Haq Fr.noted, Copernicus (c1472-1543), who was a Caholic monk, used Islamic studies to enhance his work. Haq cited other Islamic scholars whose endeavors contributed to mathematics.

Another interesting essay in this book was written by Katharine destroyed the myth that Catholic Church autorities prohibited human dissection. The Catholic authorities did not make such prohibition. In fact, Catholics dissected human remains to prepare the dead for burial. What the Catholic authorities did prohibit was grave robbing or removing the dead from prisons or poor houses without permission of family members. When Versalius (1514-1564) did his work re human anatomy, Catholic authorities were aware of his work.

The trial of Galileo (1564-1642) is another myth that has been corrected. Maurice A. Finocchiaro's essay makes this very clear. In 1610 Pope V (1605-1621) and in 1624 Pope Urban VIII (1623-1644) both had elaborate celebrations honoring Galileo's work Galileo's secular rivals initiated the issues that brought Galileo to trial. Finocchaiaro disproved the lies that Galileo was placed in a dungeon and torutured. His inquistors never laid a hand him. Galileo spent his "imprisonment" in the Tucany's and Florentine's embassy' and the prosecutor's luxery six room apartment. Galileo has his own chef and wine taster. Galileos' sanctions included house arrest which was a moot point since he was legally blind.He continued his work, and his daughter, a devout Catholic nun, served as his secretary.

Other essays disproved that Darwin (1809-1882) worked against Christianity. The popular notions of Darwin as "the bad guy" or the "good guy" are either exaggerated or simply myths that have no bearing in reality. Other myths undermined in this book is that Darwin & co. were complicit in "Nazi" race halluciantins. Such a connection never existed once readers read the book and sources cited in this book. The essays re Einstein (1879-1955) and quantum mechanics are instructive to understand modern scientific theory.

While this reviewer knew some of the topics in this book, the book was informative. Mr. Numbers could have included the work of Father Le Maitre (1894-1966) whose work on an expanding universe was praised by Einsten. Mention could have made of Father Jaki's (1924-2009) who was a formost mathematician, physicist, and astronomy. Anthony Rizzi's book THE SCIENCE BEFORE SCIENCE could have embellished this book. These omissions should not discourage readers from accessing this book. The book is very helpful as a study of the history of science.

James E. Egolf

Novermber 9, 2014

19 people found this helpful

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The History Detective

Good Book but it has a few faults

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 23, 2009

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I do recommended this book and I applaud, as mentioned in the intro, that all of the authors of this book, which includes many atheists, wanted to get the correct version of history out there. As both a history guy and an Engineer this subject greatly interests me, so I was very excited to read this book. Though I may be a conservative and believe strongly in God, I like many of the authors, do want to see history be fair and balanced or be taught without any bias and by the facts. However, this is very difficult with most of the history books, professors, and media out there being very left of center. With that said this book does a very good job in destroying some of the religion vs. science myths that unfortunately have permeated our society for a long time.

The Good: The book does a very good job at getting at the myths that have been created by men such as Draper, White, and Gibbon and have unfortunately been retold over and over again in classrooms around the world. These articles clearly and concretely made the case that the mythical "Dark Ages" never happened, that no one believed the Earth was Flat in the Middle Ages, the fact that the Catholic Church, Christianity and the Noble rulers of Europe have greatly supported science both financially and rhetorically and also by setting up universities and societies, that the Galileo story and its circumstances are greatly over exaggerated and untrue, that religion has played a very important role as the driving force in the lives of many of humanities greatest scientists, that Bruno was not killed for his science but for heresy, and that human dissection and other medically linked issues were not banned by the Church.

The Bad: I do have a problem with 3 myths in the book. I have a small problem with Myth 4 and I guess that the atheists and those left of center had to try and save some face in myths 9 and 21.

Myth 4 - I agree that Islam was tolerant to science and made some very important contributions to science during the Middle Ages. However, I do disagree with the author in that like many others I believe Islamic science mainly carried on and maintained what the Greeks had done and did not do a tremendous amount to advance any of their ideas. However in my experience the inverse of this myth is far more prevalent in school. If you sit in the majority of college classrooms you get a story that sounds more like that Middle Eastern, Eastern and South American civilizations invented faster than Light travel and matter-antimatter reactors thousands of years ago and Europeans simply came along and stole their ideas or ignored them. Now give credit where credit is due, but in terms of scientific advancements, culture, and overall human progress the contributions made by Western civilization have out paced the rest of the world combined by a very large margin. I know it's politically incorrect to say, but that's the way history has played out and I am just tired of all of the spin.

Myth 9 - is pretty ridiculous, I mean sure almost anyone can prove that anything is never 100% true, but as is it is shown in many of the other articles in the book, Christianity has played a HUGE role in the development of science. Sure the types of government and wealth also play a role in where science has developed, but Christianity also had a HUGE effect on the patterns of wealth and the governments that has made Western civilization so successful. As mentioned in other articles the Catholic Church and Christianity greatly supported science financially and rhetorically, while European nobles were also great patrons of the sciences. Christianity was also an important driver in the personal lives of many of the greatest scientists of all time. I think all of the quotations that were used to support the authors statement were taken out of context and the authors was grasping at the notion that somehow all conservatives and those who see the value of religion ,especially Christianity, are racists or close minded.

Myth 21 - Again like the other two myths I believe the opposite of Myth 21 is far more prevalent. I see a hell of a lot more claims that Einstein was an atheist rather than he believed in a personal God. Though to the author's credit he does point out that Einstein rejected atheism as well. From his own quotations it is clear that Einstein believed in something along the lines of Spinoza's God or held a belief of something like Deism, while rejecting the beliefs and doctrine of the mainstream religions. I agree that anyone should be taken to task if they say Einstein believed in a Judeo-Christian God, but the authors should re-title the article to be something more neutral like "Myths about Einstein views on Religion".

Other minor things include that I think there was a bit too much on evolution in the book. I know this is a hot button issue for many, but it just does not interest me too much. To me it just comes down to the individuals own beliefs.

I think it would have bee nice if the great scientific, agricultural and commercial advancements made during the entirety of Middle Ages be further expanded upon. A mention of the Carolingian Renaissance would also have been nice.

It would have also been nice if an article was exclusively dedicated to the importance of religion or the belief in God in the personal lives of some of the world's greatest scientists. I mean the list of scientists who believed in some from of a higher power far outweigh those who have not.

Overall I still highly recommend.

96 people found this helpful

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Dr. Peter Davies

Splendid debunking of many myths

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 8, 2012

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This is an excellent book. It shows well the misuse of history and science in service of other agendas. It shows necessary myths being generated to support political and metaphysical positions, rather than to advance accurate description of either historic events or science.

It is fun to read. Each chapter is short and well written. The examples are sufficient to make you realise that many people are misusing science to other agendas other than genuinely finding out about the world.

It is a very useful book and illuminates many current arguments, and makes them look rather silly. Almost as silly as the belief that many people ever did believe in a flat earth. (See myth 3)

Recommended reading to those interested in the intersection of science and religion. The relationship between them is more accommodating, more interesting and more complex than many of us realise. This book shows us the myths, and exposes their falsity.

4 people found this helpful

Frank Peters

and I am very happy that I have read the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 30, 2017

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This book includes a series of essays, each of which discusses a myth about science and religion. The information within this book is rather valuable, and I am very happy that I have read the book. The actual essays are mixed in multiple levels. With many authors from different backgrounds, the essays are not equivalent in terms of readability, philosophy, or science. Some authors write in a way that appears impartial, while others seem to take their subject personally. Then, some of the myths are shown to be totally false, while other myths have large elements of truth and are only declared myths, since the truth is more complicated. Thus, reading the list of myths could be misleading since they are not all myths in the same degree. Nevertheless, I would definitely recommend the book to anyone who is interested in the ongoing discussions and debates concerning science and religion.

Johnny Darkness

Common knowledge debunked.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on May 3, 2016

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I was once told by a person, who quite reading "How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization," that it "went too easy" on the Church's responsibility for severely punishing Galileo. -- Turns out to be close-mindedness based upon untruths or propaganda, as, unfortunately, is too much of "common knowledge." This book, edited by a Professor of the History of Science, who is an atheist, with contributions from numerous other professors and scientists -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, and other atheists -- puts to rest a number of myths (or untruths or lies) about the relationship between Science and Religion. Topics include the rise of Christianity and the [alleged} demise of ancient science, the medieval Church, and Islam, and the growth of science, the role of Catholics in the development of science, creationism, and many other myths (25 in total) with clearly written, accessible, and well-documented argument. I recommend it for anyone who cares for truth and wishes to be well- and properly-informed about the roles of science and religion and their relationship when engaging in discussions. It would be nice if someone could write a book on all the myths of common knowledge, but that would be a massive tome.

2 people found this helpful

MARC JACQUEMAIN

La religion et la science, ce n'est pas forcément la guerre que l'on croit

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on April 8, 2021

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Un recueil d'articles scientifiques revisitant les "mythes" relatifs à l'opposition entre la science et la religion. De courts articles érudits et documentés, qui relativisent la vision souvent monolithique de cette opposition, en rappelant opportunément, par exemple, que Newton était aussi astrologue et alchimiste, ce que tout le monde sait, mais aussi qu'il le fut tout au long de sa vie et qu'on ne peut détacher cela de son oeuvre scientifique; en montrant, également, que Descartes était probablement nettement moins "dualiste" que la position qu'on lui attribue régulièrement; ou encore que Galilée n'a probablement jamais été envoyé en cellule, ni vraisemblement, torturé; que Darwin, s'il n'était sans doute plus croyant à la fin de sa vie, n'a jamais ouvertement critiqué l'Eglise anglicane; que son disciple Huxley n'a pas "écrasé" l'évêque Wilberforce lors de son célèbre débat...
Non pas une révision de l'histoire mais un travail minutieux et passionnant pour "dégonfler" l'image dramatique que l'on en a retenue, notamment suite à quelques textes d'idéologues scientistes du 19ème siècle. C'est passonnant, souvent drôle, et invite à lire plus loin. Malheureusement pas disponible en français, apparemment.

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Kindle Customer

Very informative

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on February 27, 2022

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Anyone that wants to practice proper skepticism in order to avoid buying into the nonsense spread by the religious and secular folks should read this.

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