The Warfare between Science and Religion

"This is a book worthy of reading, digesting, and emulating in its close analysis of science and religion. The Warfare between Science and Religion will give the reader a trustworthy account of the most recent scholarship about the religion science nexus."

"Historians of science have been attempting to destroy this myth—that science and religion have been perennially at war—for the past 40 years or so. Nonetheless, as the subtitle of the book conveys, this is the idea that wouldn't die. [The Warfare between Science and Religion] brings together a group of historian myth-busters who have been thinking about this question... One of the virtues of this book is that it also looks at science and religion interactions in Islam and Judaism as well as Christianity."

"The history of the assertion that science and religion are inevitably in conflict is dominated by two late nineteenth-century narratives; John William Draper's History of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874) and Andrew Dickson White's A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896). The present very welcome volume contains seventeen essays that examine these classic texts, their reception by contemporaries and the subsequent history of the conflict thesis."

"The questions whether, why, and to what extent science and religion are in conflict has been one of the abiding motifs of Western culture. This collection by an international group of scholars covers the subject from a rich variety of angles... Those who are interested in the science-and-religion debate, and the impact of science as a cultural force, will find this book a fascinating read."

"Accessible, historically illuminating, meticulous."

"The focus of this outstanding collection that criticizes the idea of conflict between science and religion, represents the historian John Hedley Brooke's call for attention to the complexities of history... The idea of warfare between science and religion largely deserves burial, but as these essays show, the sentiments for conflicts endure."

"The Warfare between Science and Religion is amply successful in its project of providing a historical understanding of the warfare thesis—or, better, of the warfare theses—over a broad historical and ideological range, through a series of accessible and interesting chapters. And it is a vitally important project, considering the persistence of conflicts involving science and religion in the United States."

"This very timely collection is to be valued. The contributors are all first class."

"The best single-volume collection of separate-author essays about the history of science and religion in the major modern monotheistic Western traditions. These essays from a host of distinguished historians remind us that history is complex because people are complex, even scientists."

"When and why did the idea of conflict between science and religion emerge? These insightful and pathbreaking essays take us on an exhilarating historical tour which shows that notions of ‘warfare’ and ‘conflict’ reflected cultural realities of the time. It offers an essential intervention in modern debate."