Product Description

The debate between science and religion is never out of the news: emotions run high, fuelled by polemical bestsellers like The God Delusion and, at the other end of the spectrum, high-profile campaigns to teach 'Intelligent Design' in schools. Yet there is much more to the debate than the clash of these extremes. As Thomas Dixon shows in this balanced and thought-provoking introduction, many have seen harmony rather than conflict between faith and science. He explores not only the key philosophical questions that underlie the debate, but also the social, political, and ethical contexts that have made 'science and religion' such a fraught and interesting topic in the modern world, offering perspectives from non-Christian religions and examples from across the physical, biological, and social sciences.. Along the way, he examines landmark historical episodes such as the trial of Galileo by the Inquisition in 1633, and the famous debate between 'Darwin's bulldog' Thomas Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce in Oxford in 1860. The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' in Tennessee in 1925 and the Dover Area School Board case of 2005 are explained with reference to the interaction between religion, law, and education in modern America.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62134 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-24
• Original language: German
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
A marvellous book that should be required reading for dogmatic fundamentalists of every persuasion. (Patricia Fara, British Journal for the History of Science )

Dixon shows great skill in composing a book which combines coherence and clarity with a strong forward momentum... The interested reader need not hesitate. (Michael Fuller, The Expository Times )

Bracing initiation (Observer. )

The relationship between science and religion, past and present, is much more varied and more interesting than the popular caricature of conflict. Thomas Dixon gives us the richer picture, and he does it with clarity and verve. This is an ideal introduction to a fascinating subject. (Peter Lipton. University of Cambridge )

Thomas Dixon has made a delightful contribution to this OUP series of Very Short Introductions. (Church Times )

Customer Reviews

A welcome relief!
At last, a well balanced, readable and eminently fair book on this highly topical subject. It is a welcome relief to read such a carefully thought out work; unquestionably a most helpful contribution.

A refreshingly balanced overview
This entry in the "Very Short Introduction" series is an absolute gem. Thomas Dixon is neither a scientist nor a theologian, but, as an academic and member of the International Society for Science and Religion, he writes with authority and clarity on a debate that has been topical at least since the time of Galileo.

Dixon provides an entertaining overview of the debate as it has shaped up from the heresy trial of Galileo in 17th Century Rome, through the seismic upheaval wrought by Darwin's theory of evolution in the 19th Century to the contemporary clashes between neo-Darwinists and the creationist and intelligent design theorists who oppose them. The book presumes no in-depth knowledge of either scientific theory or religious teachings, but provides brief but helpful explanations of how developments in the various branches of science that have taken place since Copernicus first posited a sun-centred astronomy in 1543 have impacted on religion and theology across the different traditions (though the focus is very much on the theistic religions). Dixon shows how the on-going discussion has been shaped by deeper socio-political currents, so that the truth claims made by participants on either side of the debate cannot be understood in isolation from their historical or cultural context. For example, the form and emphases that the debate has taken in America has been largely shaped by the US Constitution and its First Amendment which enshrines the principal of the separation between Church and State.

Above all, what makes this book such a valuable resource for anyone interested in exploring the debate in further depth is the balance that Dixon strives to keep. Where so often the interface between science and theology is seen as one of conflict, Dixon keeps in view the possibility of harmonious interaction between disciplines. By training a keen philosophical eye on the various orthodoxies that have been adopted down the centuries by key players on either side of the debate, Dixon gently exposes the flaws in any form of absolutism or reductionism, be it scientific or religious.

Science and religion: A philosophical view
Science and Religion: A very short introduction by Thomas Dixon, Oxford, 2008, 168 ff.

Science and Religion - a philosophical view
By Howard A. Jones

This is another in that excellent series of introductory monographs by Oxford University Press, many of them republications of an equally successful series of Past Masters published in the 1980s. Here Dr Dixon, Senior Lecturer in History at Queen Mary College, London University, uses his expertise in the history and philosophy of science to give us a highly readable and balanced view of the interaction of science and religion.

Dr Dixon suggests that the science and religion `conflict' is really a debate about the politics of control rather than philosophy. In this context Dixon discusses the Scopes `monkey trial' in America in 1925. The first scientists like Newton and Galileo were natural philosophers trying to establish how God made the universe work - they were not trying to remove the need for God. Similarly, Enlightenment philosophers like Thomas Paine wanted `not an end to religion but the replacement of Christian religion by a rational religion based on the study of nature.'

The Intelligent Design concept, which claims to find scientific validation for scriptural text, is simply the most recent attempt to re-establish creationism or anti-evolutionism with a scientifically respectable façade. ID is rejected by scientists as groundless and unscientific and by theologians as portraying a continually meddling God. ID makes no novel predictions and there is no unequivocal experimental evidence. But then many scientific theories are not directly testable or falsifiable, so these are perhaps not entirely satisfactory criteria for scientific validity. Conformity with an established paradigm is also an important criterion.

Most of our knowledge comes from other people; only relatively little from our own direct experience. Dixon sees four sources of knowledge: sensory, rational, the testimony of others and memory. The last of these I would disagree with, since everything in memory must have been acquired previously in other ways. For the fourth input I would substitute intuition or revelation, and `the testimony of others' must have been acquired in one of the other three ways.

This book surveys well the impact that the physics of Galileo and Newton, the geology of Lyell and the biology of Darwin had on religious ideas in Victorian times. Dixon stresses that `science need not undermine faith', and here the distinction between spiritual faith and scriptural religious dogma is important. Cartesian dualism, ethics and criminality, Moore's `naturalistic fallacy' (that everything natural is good), resurrection and immortality are all discussed in a balanced way.

I would unhesitatingly recommend this book as an overview for anyone interested in the science and religion debate. There is a quite extensive list of References and Further Reading at the end.

Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, UK.

Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith (Philosophy in Action)