Category Archives: Religion

Frauds, Fakes and Fossils

Posted on February 7, 2012 by

Almost every student of earth sciences knows the hoax perpetuated on poor Dr. Johann Bartholomäus Adam Beringer (1667-1738), often told in textbooks as warning of blind faith and argument from authority in science. However careful study of the still existing “lying … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Biology, Geology, History, Philosophy, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

History of Landslides – Landslides in History

Posted on September 4, 2011 by

Landslides belong to a class of geological phenomena which occur rapidly, contradicting our common believes of geology occurring only in large time spans. For this characteristic and the often catastrophic and well visible aftermaths such mass movements are widely recognized … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, History, Religion | Leave a comment

The God of Disruption – an Ecological History of Creation

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

In the beginning was the disturbance: God disrupted the pristine formlessness of the deep and created the heavens and the earth.  Literally in a flash.  With His utterance, the darkness was relegated to Night; the light He called Day.  Waters … Continue reading →

Posted in Environmental History, Religion | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Some Thoughts on Historians and Contemporary Anti-evolutionism.

Posted on July 9, 2011 by

In a recent book review for The British Journal for the History of Science, Thomas Dixon asks what contribution historians of science can make to the debate about intelligent design (ID). As myself and others noted in a 2008 Isis Focus article, … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Religion | 3 Comments

[Review] Richard Owen. Biology Without Darwin.

Posted on July 8, 2011 by

Nicolass Rupke. Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin. xxiv + 344pp., Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. $29.00, (paper). The Natural History Museum in London recently unveiled its Darwin Center, the most significant expansion of the Museum since it opened at its present site in … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Book Reviews, History, Institutions, Museums, Religion | Leave a comment

Christie’s Law

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

I think we need a new rule for Internet discussions on the history of science. I present Christie’s Law: In any Internet history of science discussion on the relationship between religion and science the first person to invoke the Galileo … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | 5 Comments

Three for the price of one

Posted on December 28, 2010 by

A Christmas Trinity I A Christmas Trinity II A Christmas Trinity III A ragbag of trivia

Posted in History, Metaphysics, Religion | Leave a comment

[Review] The Voyage That Shook The World

Posted on November 8, 2010 by

In June 2009, Creation Ministries International released a docu-drama, The Voyage That Shook The World, that purported to offer a realistic view of Darwin’s life and achievements. It created a bit of a stir in how it treated comments made by historians Peter … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | 3 Comments

Martyr of Science

Posted on September 27, 2010 by

I wrote this introduction to David Brewster’s collected biography of Galileo, Tycho Brahe and Kepler, Martyrs of Science (1841), some time ago when there was a plan to republish it as part of a collected edition of popular 19th-century works on science and history … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, Book, History, Physics, Religion, Science | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

Gould & Conkin on Science & Religion

Posted on September 12, 2010 by

(The following is the text of a review I wrote that appeared in Journal of the History of Biology in 2000. As both of the books are still in print – and the Gould book is his exposition of Nonoverlapping … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Religion, Science | Tagged | 1 Comment