Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion

Published by Harvard University Press 2009

Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion

Edited by: Ronald L. Numbers

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674054394

Overview
Contents

About this book

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.” Each chapter in Galileo Goes to Jail shows how much we have to gain by seeing beyond the myths.

Reviews

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

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Ronald Numbers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Myth 1. That the Rise of Christianity Was Responsible for the Demise of Ancient Science David Lindberg Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	8
Myth 2. That the Medieval Christian Church Suppressed the Growth of Science Michael Shank Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	19
Myth 3. That Medieval Christians Taught That the Earth Was Flat Lesley Cormack Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	28
Myth 4. That Medieval Islamic Culture Was Inhospitable to Science Syed Haq Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
Myth 5. That the Medieval Church Prohibited Human Dissection Katharine Park Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	43
Myth 6. That Copernicanism Demoted Humans from the Center of the Cosmos Dennis Danielson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	50
Myth 7. That Giordano Bruno Was the First Martyr of Modern Science Jole Shackelford Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Myth 8. That Galileo Was Imprisoned and Tortured for Advocating Copernicanism Maurice Finocchiaro Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Myth 9. That Christianity Gave Birth to Modern Science Noah Efron Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
Myth 10. That the Scientific Revolution Liberated Science from Religion Margaret Osler Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	90
Myth 11. That Catholics Did Not Contribute to the Scientific Revolution Lawrence Principe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
Myth 12. That René Descartes Originated the Mind- Body Distinction Peter Harrison Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
Myth 13. That Isaac Newton’s Mechanistic Cosmology Eliminated the Need for God Edward Davis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Myth 14. That the Church Denounced Anesthesia in Childbirth on Biblical Grounds Rennie Schoepflin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Myth 15. That the Theory of Organic Evolution Is Based on Circular Reasoning Nicolaas Rupke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Myth 16. That Evolution Destroyed Darwin’s Faith in Christianity—Until He Reconverted on His Deathbed James Moore Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	142
Myth 17. That Huxley Defeated Wilberforce in Their Debate over Evolution and Religion David Livingstone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
Myth 18. That Darwin Destroyed Natural Theology Jon Roberts Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Myth 19. That Darwin and Haeckel Were Complicit in Nazi Biology Robert Richards Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	170
Myth 20. That the Scopes Trial Ended in Defeat for Antievolutionism Edward Larson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Myth 21. That Einstein Believed in a Personal God Matthew Stanley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Myth 22. That Quantum Physics Demonstrated the Doctrine of Free Will Daniel Thurs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	196
Myth 23. That “Intelligent Design” Represents a Scientific Challenge to Evolution Michael Ruse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
Myth 24. That Creationism Is a Uniquely American Phenomenon Ronald Numbers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
Myth 25. That Modern Science Has Secularized Western Culture John Brooke Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	291

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 320

eBook

Published: March 31, 2009
ISBN: 9780674054394