Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Books on the history of science and religion

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Professor Peter Harrison, the Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion at the University of Oxford, has some very useful research on the history of science and religion that may be of interest to intelligent design researchers. Both books reveal important information about the religious foundations of modern science in terms of the desire of members of the Royal Society to recover pre-Fall Edenic knowledge, and how a literal reading of the Bible then enabled a literal reading of nature as opposed to the pre-modern symbolic reading.

The Fall of Man and the Foundations of Science (2007)
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521875592

The Bible, Protestantism, and the Rise of Natural Science (1998)
http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521000963

Comments
I read the Cambridge notes on these two books. Both point or hint what was known in the past. the modern world is a result of the protestant reformation especially among the English and Scottish peoples. Under God's blessing there was a rise in moral and intellectual values and results among greater numbers of the common people. This was the origin of a general increase in moral/intellectual ability with small numbers taking certain endeavors , like science, to higher levels. Science was not from trickle down intelligence in tiny European circles but was from a rising tide of Protestant, better yet Puritan/Evangelical, increase in interest in bettering ones condition for the sake of God and man. Science is just another result of intelligence from mans motives to be better . Whether science, business, culture or anything in mans condition where comparison is made with other men will the obvious conclusion of religious motivation from close following of the word of God segregate the high from the low. Science is the creation of the Puritan/Evangelicaql protestant largely British civilization pound for pound. This is also why creationism should be ex[ected to be found in the Anglo-American civilization today first and most.Robert Byers
June 24, 2009
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Another book I'm currently reading that relates to the topic is "Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion." Very informative, but not ID friendly: one of the myths relates to intelligent design and the essay regarding it was written by Michael Ruse.Barb
June 23, 2009
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