Monkey Trials and Gorilla Sermons: Evolution and Christianity from Darwin to Intelligent DesignFrom the beginning, Darwin's dangerous idea has been a snake in the garden, denounced from pulpits then and now as incompatible with the central tenets of Christian faith. Recovered here is the less well-known but equally long history of thoughtful engagement and compromise on the part of liberal theologians. Peter J. Bowler doesn't minimize the hostility of many of the faithful toward evolution, but he reveals the existence of a long tradition within the churches that sought to reconcile Christian beliefs with evolution by finding reflections of the divine in scientific explanations for the origin of life. By tracing the historical forerunners of these rival Christian responses, Bowler provides a valuable alternative to accounts that stress only the escalating confrontation. Our polarized society, Bowler says, has all too often projected its rivalries onto the past, concealing the efforts by both scientists and theologians to find common ground. Our perception of past confrontations has been shaped by an oversimplified model of a war between science and religion. By uncovering the complexity of the debates sparked by Darwin's theory, we might discover ways to depolarize our own debates about where we came from and why we are here. |
Other editions - View all
Monkey Trials and Gorilla Sermons: Evolution and Christianity from Darwin to ... Peter J. Bowler No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
accept adapted alternative American ancestors animals anti-Darwinian apes argued argument from design Barnes became believe Bible biologists biology Bowler brain Buffon Cambridge campaign century challenge characters Church complex created creation creation science creationists creative Darwin Darwinian Darwinists Dawkins debate divine plan driving earth eclipse of Darwinism emergence ence Erasmus Darwin evangelical evidence evolutionary evolutionism evolutionists explain faith flood flood geology fossil record fundamentalists genes Genesis genetics geological God’s Huxley idea of evolution ideology implications Lamarck Lamarckian later laws liberal Christians living things London materialistic Michael Ruse modern Modernists moral natural selection natural theology naturalists Origin of Species Owen Paley’s popular position produced progress promoted radical religious thinkers reprinted role science and religion scientists selection theory social social Darwinism Spencer struggle for existence theologians theory of evolution theory of natural tion traditional University Press variation vision worldview young-earth young-earth creationism