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Title: Darwinism Comes to America by Ronald L. Numbers ISBN: 0-674-19312-1 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (1 review)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Creationist-Evolutionist Debate: The Real Story
Comment: University of Wisconsin historian of science Ronald L. Numbers has written with grace, clarity and empathy an easy-to-read, interesting, informative, fascinating book. Readers who desire to be well-versed on one of the most controversial issues of the day should both enjoy reading it and find that it dispels "myths and misconceptions that still cling" to popular, journalisitic, and scholarly knowledge about the reaction of Christians and non-believers to Darwinian evolution. Beginning in 1860 with Asa Gray, the first American Christian Darwinian, Professor Numbers charts the reaction of scholarly believers from such leading scientists as Louis Agassiz (who opposed Darwinism) to James D. Dana (who first opposed, then accepted a theistic form of evolution) to the American statesman William Jennings Bryan ( who opposed Darwinism not so much for its biological conclusions but because the survival-of-the fittest doctrine bolstered anti-democratic elitist, racist and race-exterminationist movements like German militarism and Naziism) to the theistic evolutionists and the aniti-evolutionist flood geologists of the twentieth century. Among the myths and misconceptions the author exposes is the belief that the 1960 motion picture INHERIT THE WIND is a true account of what really happened at the Monkey (Scopes) "trial of the century" in 1925. Despite the fact that most Americans only know what they know about the trial because of the film, in fact, INHERIT THE WIND is a terribly distorted, biased portrait of the trial and the issues; anyone who relies on it for historical knowledge is foolish. Another myth exposed is that creationism is no longer believed by most Americans because Darwin's views totally triumphed after the Scopes trial. In fact, Darwin's original thesis was largely questioned by scientists by 1900. Then emerged the neo-Darwinian synthesis, which is in various forms is the prevailing theory today, but even now evolutionists themselves are widely divided on the details of evolution, and some reputable scholars, albeit a minority of the scientific establishment, question the validity of neo-Darwinian theory. Furthermore, despite the "nearly unanimous endorsement of naturalisitic evolution by leading biologists," belief that the universe and humans were created by God runs deep in the United States and Canada. In 1993, for instance, 47 percent of Americans believed that "God created man pretty much in his present form at one time within the last 10,000 years," an additional 35 percent thought that the process of evolution had been "divinely guided," and "58 percent of the public favored teaching creationism in the schools." Professor Numbers demonstrates conclusively that the current evolution-creation debate is not simply between anti-scientific religious zealots who believe in an earth no older than 10,000 years and atheistic evolutionists. Instead, a wide spectrum of views exists. At one end are rabid scientists like the famous biologist who announced that he believes in evolution despite its many unanswered questions because of a rather unscientific quasi-religious commitment to atheistic materialism. At the other end are the self-styled scientific creationists who, notwithstanding powerful evidence to the contrary, believe the earth was created 10,000 years ago and that fossils showing the earth is billiions of years old were deposited by a universal flood four to six thousand years ago. In between are religiously committed, mostly Christian, reputable scientists who hold either theisitc evolution (God used evolutionary processes to create), progressive creationism (God used evolution to create but punctuated it with perioidic special creations of new species including the special creation of human beings), to the new Intelligent Design theory (whether or not there has been evolution, the universe provides indispuitable evidence that there is a great designer--God--who is responsible for it all). And so the debate goes on, and is not likely any time soon, if ever, to end with victory for any of the parties. DARWINISM COMES TO AMERICA is an exceptionally valuable book containing, in addition to the observations heretofore described, many other insights and delights to titillate inquiring minds. No one should say another word about evolution and creation until they have read this book.
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Title: The Creationists by Ronald L. Numbers ISBN: 0520083938 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion by Edward J. Larson ISBN: 0674854292 Publisher: Harvard University Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Tower of Babel: The Evidence against the New Creationism by Robert T. Pennock ISBN: 0262661659 Publisher: Bradford Book Pub. Date: 28 February, 2000 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: Trial and Error: The American Controversy over Creation and Evolution by Edward J. Larson ISBN: 0195154711 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Social Darwinism in American Thought by Richard Hofstadter ISBN: 0807055034 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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