Introduction
1. From Galileo to Darwin
2. Religion and Science in Victorian Britain
3. A Church under Siege
4. Defensive Strategies
5. Suppression of the Mivartian Hypothesis
6. Anti-Modernism
7. Catholicism and Science in the Interwar Years
8. Pope Pius XII and the New Theology
9. Science, Faith, and the Second Vatican Council
10. Pope John Paul II's Philosophy of Science and Faith
This is the first general history of the reactions of the Roman Catholic Church to developments in the natural sciences from about 1800 to the dawn of the twenty-first century.
Don O'Leary is professionally qualified in the disciplines of science and history and is currently employed in scientific research at the Biosciences Institute at University College Cork. He is coauthor of four neuroscience papers published in Acta Neuropathologica, The Journal of Anatomy, and Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. He is also the author of Vocationalism and Social Catholicism in Twentieth-Century Ireland. He is a member of the British Society for the History of Science.
"Without being overly hypercritical, this important book lays out a
dispiriting tale of fearful churchmen recurrently either avoiding
or heavily editing scientific information that calls for radical
new ways of envisaging religious truth ...a fascinating and
reliable account of this and earlier episodes in the larger
struggle of scientific reason and Catholic faith. It makes an
important contribution to modern church history as well as to the
present dialogue of science with religion." - John F. Haught,
America, December 11, 2006
*John F Haught*
"A bold and sweeping history of the interactions of the Roman
Catholic Church with modern scientific thought. This book is
deeply researched and thoughtfully argued. It will become the
standard work on the subject and will, because of its strengths,
generate both controversy and new research. It is a
remarkable achievement." - Frank M Turner, John Hay Whitney
Professor of History, Yale University
"A lucid, thoughtful and thorough account of the relationship
between modern science and the Roman Catholic Church ...
indispensable for all those interested in the contemporary dialogue
between science and theology. I found it enlightening and
fascinating, both in its details and in the larger story it
tells."- Denis Edwards, author of The God of Evolution: A
Trinitarian Theology
"In this balanced and lucid treatment of the ‘evolution' of modern
Catholic attitudes towards science, O'Leary ranges across papal
encyclicals, theological pronouncements and scientific
essays. He has drawn on current scholarship on science and
religion and its rejection of simple master narratives to present a
nuanced study of the controversies within the Catholic world as
well as between Catholics and unbelievers." - Bernard Lightman,
Professor of Humanities, York University, Toronto and editor of
Isis
‘A good starting place for any historian interested in Catholicism
and science in the twentieth century' Reviewed in The Journal of
BJHS, June 2010 (UK)
"With this book we now possess a map of Catholic responses to
science from the time of Darwin's Origin of Species to the present
.... Slowly, the dark, repressive clouds of the late nineteenth
century have given way to a thoughtful, restrained attitude to
science that seeks to meditate - sometimes more successfully than
others - between tradition and scientific innovation. O'Leary
has traced the many twists and turns in this story with clarity and
insight." - Geoffrey Cantor, School of Philosophy, University of
Leeds
mention- Faculty of Science University College Cork Annual Graduate
Newsletter & Report
"A great deal of the book is given to an excellent discussion of
the nineteenth century Darwinian controversy. That
controversy has fairly recently re-emerged. O'Leary's
discussion is illuminating and should be widely read, especially by
those who have any authoritative teaching position within the
Church ... always rewarding reading." - Dr Garrett Barden, Doctrine
& Life
"[O'Leary's] excellent and very readable book describes vividly the
bleak aftermath of Galileo in which Catholic scientific scholarship
suffered from self-censorship." - Quentin de la Bedoyere, Catholic
Herald, 2008
"It is a book which deserves the attention of all theologians and
students of theology.." "All readers of church history will enjoy
this refreshing trajectory" "It adopts an exemplary written style
and overall presentation in which theology, church history and the
sciences are discussed with equal authority. The text is detailed
and meticulous" "The notes and bibliography are an outstanding
resource for further study" Science and Christian Belief, Vol 21,
No.1
*Cyprian Love*
"A thorough and painstaking survey of the uneasy relationship
between the Roman Catholic Church and the scientific world." -
Chruch Times
*Church Times*
"This book is a remarkable and unparalleled contribution to the
understanding of religion and science. Thoroughly researched,
meticulously written, and clearly argued, this monumental
historical survey from O'Leary (scientific research, Biosciences
Inst., University Coll.-Cork, Ireland; Vocationalism and Social
Catholicism in Twentieth-Century Ireland) will certainly influence
generations of thinkers. In 12 compact chapters, he insightfully
traces the historical, cultural, and religious implications of
scientific evolution. The scholarship is balanced but critical of
Catholicism's ongoing confrontation with historical and
contemporary scientific progress. From Galileo and bioethics to the
"Syllabus of Errors" and Pope John Paul's philosophy of science,
O'Leary's synthesis of history and science is fascinating to read
and intellectually enlightening, The result is a sourcebook to
understanding the complex dynamic between faith and reason.
Recommended for academic libraries."- STARRED REVIEW, John-Leonard
Berg, Library Journal, August 2006
*Library Journal*
"...how admirably comprehensive, detailed and balanced a survey
this is."- Michael Hoskin, The Tablet
*Tablet, The*
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