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For centuries, scripture and theology were the focus of prodigious amounts of scholarship and publishing. Enlightenment philosophy and science, anthropology, ethnology and the colonial experience all brought new perspectives, lively debates and heated controversies to the study of religion and its role in the world, many of which continue to this day. This series explores the editing and interpretation of religious texts, the history of religious ideas and institutions, and not least the encounter between religion and science.

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253 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Religion

Page 11 of 13

On the Power, Wisdom and Goodness of God
  • As Manifested in the Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man
  • Thomas Chalmers
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1834
  • The eight Bridgewater Treatises of the 1830s aimed to contribute to an understanding of the world as created by God. This, the first treatise, by the Scottish mathematician and churchman Thomas Chalmers, proposes an 'argument for the character of the Deity, as grounded on the laws and appearances of nature'. It sees harmonies between the intellectual and material worlds as manifesting the hand of God in their creation, anticipating aspects of today's 'intelligent design' theory. Volume I includes chapters comparing virtuous and vicious personalities; the concept of habit; how external nature is adapted to man's moral constitution; and how moral and intellectual aspects of mankind lead to the civil and political well-being of society. Volume II provides specific examples of God's design including happiness and the connection between intellect, emotion and will, concluding that areas left as open questions by science's lack of proof are indications of divine architecture.

Nature's Teachings
  • Human Invention Anticipated by Nature
  • John George Wood
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1877
  • Nature's Teachings, first published in 1877, was one of many books on natural history by J. G. Wood, a Victorian clergyman who was hugely influential in popularising the subject, as well as being the editor of The Boy's Own Magazine. Here he examines the close parallels between nature and human inventions in areas including seafaring (the raft, paddle and oar), war and hunting (barbs, poisons and projectiles), architecture, tools, optics and acoustics, as well as 'useful arts' including sewage disposal. His text contains over 750 figures and illustrations, and he argues that future great discoveries could be made as a result of careful observations of nature. Although a contemporary of Darwin, Wood largely ignored the evolution debates and focused on communicating his enthusiasm for the natural world to a non-scientific audience. His successful publications still make fascinating reading for those interested in Victorian culture and the history of education.

History of the Conflict between Religion and Science
  • John William Draper
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1875
  • This fascinating text, first published in 1875, is a key early example of the conflict thesis. This theory expounds the premise of an intrinsic conflict between science and religion, and is archetypal of one aspect of this late-Victorian debate. Draper asserts that science has reached a point where its threat to traditional teachings can no longer be ignored, and he offers this history as a means to understanding both the interaction between religion and science and their perpetual opposition. He covers examples of this relationship, from Christianity's origins to the then contemporary crisis of church division and the Prussian–Austrian war, and also examines in turn what both Christianity and science have done for modern civilisation. Discussions of the central points of crossover and change in the history of science and Christianity lead to the conclusion that for religion to survive it must accept fact and reason.

On the Relation Between Science and Religion
  • George Combe
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1857
  • George Combe (1788-1858) rose from humble origins to tour widely in Europe and the United States lecturing on phrenology, the popular Victorian belief that character traits were determined by the configuration of the skull. His most famous book, The Constitution of Man, published in 1828, put forward a naturalist agenda and sold approximately 350,000 copies. In 1857, Combe published On the Relation between Science and Religion. He denounces dogmatism and sectarianism, and argues insistently that religious leaders should encourage the study of science as revealing God's governance. He proposes that phrenology sheds light on the divine purpose and moral laws through an improved understanding of the human mind, and criticises both scientists and religious leaders who maintain that higher thought has nothing to do with the brain. His book ranges widely across the concerns of Victorian educated classes, and addresses questions many of which still resonate today.

The Constitution of Man
  • Considered in Relation to External Objects
  • George Combe
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1828
  • The Scotsman George Combe (1788–1858) was an energetic and vocal promoter of phrenology, natural philosophy, and secularism, who rose from humble origins to tour widely in Europe and the United States and become a best-selling author. His most famous book, The Constitution of Man, was published in 1828, and had sold approximately 350,000 copies, distributed by over 100 publishers, by 1900. It put forward Combe's version of naturalism, and was hugely influential – perhaps more so even than Charles Darwin – in changing popular understanding of the place of humanity in the natural order, as subject to natural laws (physical, organic and moral). Combe's essay illustrates the relations between these laws with a view to the improvement of education and the regulation of individual conduct. It stirred up enormous controversy for decades after its publication, and is central to the understanding of the philosophical and scientific debates of the Victorian period.

The Destiny of Man
  • Viewed in the Light of his Origin
  • John Fiske
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    29 October 2009
    First published in:
    1884
  • In 1884, American historian and philosopher John Fiske published The Destiny of Man, which discussed humanity's origin, destiny and place in the universe. A leading populariser of Darwin's theory in the United States and influenced by Herbert Spencer, Fiske considers views of human progress via evolutionary social change and the harmony between science and religion. The Destiny of Man is composed of sixteen chapters that anticipate philosophical questions from a typical non-scientific audience: the origins of atheism, the shifting hierarchal positions of humanity through history as proposed by Copernicus and later by Darwin, human brain size, and the 'dawning of consciousness' as a result of the growth and development of moral sentiment and inventiveness through natural selection. Interestingly, at the end of the book, Fiske discusses the historical power relationships of ruling governments and predicts that as humans evolve and become more civilised, war will eventually end.

The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte
  • Volume 1
  • Auguste Comte
  • Translated by Harriet Martineau
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1853
  • The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte is a condensed English version of the French philosopher's controversial work, freely translated by Harriet Martineau and published in two volumes in 1853. Martineau's abridged and more easily digestible version of Comte's work was intended to be readily accessible to a wide general readership, particularly those she felt to be morally and intellectually adrift, and Comte's philosophy indeed attracted a significant following in Britain in the later nineteenth century. Comte's 'doctrine' promoted personal and public ethics and social cohesion based no longer on metaphysics but on strict scientific method, and anticipated twentieth-century logical positivism and secular humanism. The first volume of this translation contains Parts 1 to 5 and sets out the nature and importance of positivism, leading on to an overview of the 'positive sciences': mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry and biology.

Indian Wisdom
  • Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus
  • Monier Williams
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    04 March 2010
    First published in:
    1875
  • First published in 1875, this book reflects a growing nineteenth-century British interest in South Asian culture and literature. In it Monier Williams, the Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford, outlines the patterns of thought and customs of the Hindu religion. He also describes the character and content of Sanskrit literature, which had not previously been attempted in English. According to Williams, Sanskrit literature holds the key to a full understanding of Hinduism. He makes it unequivocally clear that Britain's colonial hold over India involves a particular responsibility and indeed opportunity to study the three religions confronting Christianity there, namely Brahmanism, Buddhism and Islam. Monier Williams writes about the Vedas (the sacred texts of Hinduism), the different traditions of philosophy and the five schools of Hindu law. He elaborates on the epic poems and the doctrine of incarnation embedded in them, and compares this ancient poetry with that of Homer.

Chemistry, Meteorology and the Function of Digestion Considered with Reference to Natural Theology
  • William Prout
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1834
  • This book was the last of eight treatises from the 1830s that were commissioned by the Royal Society with advice from leading churchmen under the terms of a legacy from the Earl of Bridgewater. They aimed to support the idea that the natural world was made by a divine designer. William Prout, a respected physician and biochemist who specialised in nutrition and urology, argues in the introduction to this book that the biological adaptation seen in nature is divinely planned as a means to an end. His text covers chemistry, geology, the ocean, the planets, and processes of the human body. Remembered today for his discovery of hydrochloric acid in the gastric juices of animals, here Prout is on the front line in the early battles between scientific method and religious belief, a debate which continues to this day.

On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism
  • Three Essays
  • Alfred Russel Wallace
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1875
  • The nineteenth-century British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was a major influence on Darwin's theory of natural selection. He was later moved by a variety of personal experiences to examine the concept of spirituality, but his exploration into the potential for compatibility between spiritualism and natural selection alienated him from the scientific community. The three controversial essays in this 1875 book attempt to reinforce his beliefs and validate his claims. The first, written in 1871 and read before The Dialectic Society, reconsiders the credibility or incredibility of miracles. The second, 'The Scientific Aspect of the Supernatural', had been published in a secularist periodical several years earlier, and 'A Defence of Modern Spiritualism' appeared in the Fortnightly Review shortly before this book was published. Wallace's book takes the modern reader to the heart of the raging debates engendered by Darwin, many of which continue over a century later.

Journal of an Expedition up the Niger and Tshadda Rivers
  • Undertaken by Macgregor Laird, Esq. in Connection with the British Government, in 1854
  • Samuel Crowther
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 May 2010
    First published in:
    1855
  • Captured by slavers as a boy, freed by the Royal Navy, and raised at a mission, Samuel Crowther in 1864 became the first African to be ordained as an Anglican bishop. As a priest, he accompanied the Scottish merchant MacGregor Laird on his expedition to West Africa in 1854, and celebrated Sunday services in a variety of bizarre locations and perilous conditions. This 1855 book is Crowther's detailed record of his journey aboard the steamboat Pleiad. Written from the unusual perspective of an African-born, London-educated clergyman, it is a congenial and evocative account of the day-to-day difficulties confronting the explorers, their interactions with native peoples, and encounters with slavery and civil war. Crowther, a keen linguist, went on to publish several books on African languages including Nupe, Igbo and Yoruba. This book includes a substantial appendix comparing the grammar and vocabularies of the languages he encountered.

Evolution and Religion
  • Volume 2, Eighteen Sermons: Discussing the Application of the Evolutionary Principles and Theories to the Practical Aspects of Religious Life
  • Henry Ward Beecher
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1885
  • Henry Ward Beecher was an American Congregationalist minister, social reformer, journal editor and orator. People flocked to hear his lecture tours and preaching, in which - in addition to campaigning against slavery and promoting women's suffrage - he embraced the theory of evolution at a time when many pastors were violently opposed to it. Volume II of Evolution and Religion, published in 1885, two years before Beecher's death, is a collection of lectures in which he uses the insights of evolutionism to probe various facets of Christian life and doctrine, including love of God and neighbour. Beecher's powerful writing reveals the charisma and enthusiasm which made him such a popular speaker in his day and makes this book particularly rewarding reading for historians of nineteenth-century science, religion and society.

Natural Law in the Spiritual World
  • Henry Drummond
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1883
  • Henry Drummond was a Scottish scientist, Free Church minister, explorer and evangelist who became one of the most influential religious figures of the Victorian era. Written as a means of clarifying his own thoughts on the clash between science and religion, Natural Law and the Spiritual World was published in 1883 to great critical acclaim. Entering the debate on science and religion using the basis of law, Drummond sets himself apart by offering 'a property peculiar neither to science nor religion'. He puts forward the argument that the laws of the natural and spiritual worlds are not completely separate, and explores the connections between them. He concludes by suggesting that the scientific principle of continuity extends from the physical world to the spiritual, offering common ground to people on both sides of the science/religion divide.

A Narrative of Missionary Enterprises in the South Sea Islands
  • With Remarks Upon the Natural History of the Islands, Origin, Languages, Traditions, and Usages of the Inhabitants
  • John Williams
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    25 February 2010
    First published in:
    1837
  • Based on John Williams' meticulous documentation of his travels, this 1837 volume offers an insight into the perilous life of a missionary in the early nineteenth century. The author, an ironmonger by trade, set sail for the South Sea Islands in 1817 with the intention of spreading the gospel and introducing modern technology to the region. As well as recounting the frequent threats to his safety from angry natives, war, natural disaster and disease, Williams provides detailed surveys of the peoples, languages and natural environment he encountered and describes with great exuberance and humour 'the impression made upon barbarous people by their first intercourse with civilised man'. Made more poignant by the author's death at the hands of cannibals just two years after the book's publication, this is an extraordinary account of the perseverance and ingenuity of a man who became a hero and martyr for the Protestant missionary movement.

A General View of Positivism
  • Auguste Comte
  • Translated by J. H. Bridges
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1865
  • In A General View of Positivism French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857) gives an overview of his social philosophy known as Positivism. Comte, credited with coining the term 'sociology' and one of the first to argue for it as a science, is concerned with reform, progress and the problem of social order in society. In this English edition of the work, published in 1865, he addresses the practical problems of implementing his philosophy or doctrine, as he also refers to Positivism, into society. He believes that society evolves through a series of stages that are ruled by social laws and culminate in a superior form of social life. During this reorganisation of society, which will find its greatest supporters among women and the working class, a 'new moral power' will emerge. Under the motto 'love, order and progress' Comte wishes humanism to replace organised religion as the object of spiritual worship.

The Hand
  • Its Mechanism and Vital Endowments as Evincing Design
  • Charles Bell
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1833
  • This 1833 study of the hand by Sir Charles Bell, a leading professor of surgery and anatomy, is one of the Bridgewater Treatises, which arose from the preoccupation of nineteenth-century Christians with interpreting God's creation in the light of contemporary scientific developments. Bell's treatise suggests that by looking in close detail at small subjects, God's role in creation can be clearly seen, whereas more general studies of the universe and the great natural cycles of astronomy and geology can obscure the intelligence behind their specific features. Bell stresses the importance of the hand in human history, the progress of society and the development of technology and design. He considers aspects of the mechanical systems of other animals, and sees their structure as a product of their function. This comparison serves to link humans with other creatures, but also defines their superiority through the sublimity of design.

Life of the Rev. David Brainerd
  • Missionary to the North American Indians
  • Josiah Pratt, Jonathan Edwards
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 May 2010
    First published in:
    1834
  • David Brainerd dedicated much of his short life to preaching the gospel to Native American peoples. Josiah Pratt's 1834 biography uses Brainerd's own journal and letters to examine the character of an extraordinary man and expose the discrepancy between Brainerd's self-lacerating writings and the exceptional fortitude made evident by his deeds. It includes Brainerd's moving and eloquent account of his own conversion, his chronic illness and the privations he suffered during a life he described as 'a constant mixture of consolations and conflicts'. This fascinating insight into the private thoughts and struggles of a remarkable figure charts his ceaseless pursuit of God and the battle between his inexhaustible religious fervour and his chronic physical infirmity. The book also includes Brainerd's reflections on the process of conversion and the signs of godliness, and his description of the difficulties he faced in converting Native Americans.

From Comte to Benjamin Kidd
  • The Appeal to Biology or Evolution for Human Guidance
  • Robert Mackintosh
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    24 September 2009
    First published in:
    1899
  • Robert Mackintosh (1858–1933), a professor at the Congregationalist Lancashire Independent College, traces the influence of biology and evolutionism on the study of human ethics and society during the second half of the nineteenth century in this 1899 book. He begins with Comte's founding of sociology, and continues with the renewed appeal to biology for the understanding of human affairs found in the work of Darwin, Spencer and their circle. He then looks at Benjamin Kidd's Social Evolution, published in 1894 (and also reissued in this series). Fifty years after Comte, Kidd argued that sociology required further grounding by a new recourse to biology. Mackintosh supported Kidd's view. If biological clues are to afford guidance for human conduct, Mackintosh contended, they must be supplemented by a clearer moral and religious vision, and in philosophy by some scheme of metaphysical evolutionism. His work marks a transition from Darwinism to a new Hegelianism.

Evolution
  • Its Nature, its Evidences and its Relation to Religious Thought
  • Joseph Le Conte
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1898
  • Joseph Le Conte was the first geologist, natural historian and botanist to be appointed to the University of California in 1869. He founded the successful palaeontology program at Berkeley and acquired important collections of fossils. He also lectured and wrote on evolution, of which he was the leading American proponent. This book, first published in 1888 but revised and expanded in the second edition reissued here, is his attempt to reconcile his evolutionist convictions with his religious faith. Such a synthesis, he felt, was impeded by dogmatism on both sides, and he makes a case for 'a combining, reconciling and rational view.' He considers three questions: What is evolution? Is it true? and What then?, intending to address 'the intelligent general reader' without being superficial or unscientific. Concepts such as 'neo-Darwinism', 'materialism', and 'design' make their appearance in this wide-ranging book, whose concerns remain surprisingly topical today.

A Doubter's Doubts about Science and Religion
  • By a Criminal Lawyer
  • Robert Anderson
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1889
  • This 1889 volume was published anonymously and later ascribed to Robert Anderson, a barrister and theological writer who became Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. Mixing his religious beliefs with his detective skills, Anderson argues for true scepticism to be embraced, comparing the tricks played on people by organised religion and science to the scams of confidence tricksters. Writing from a self-confessed standpoint of 'destructive criticism', Anderson discredits the theory of evolution as a newfangled superstition. Science, he says, assumes the existence of life, but has not the answer to the basic question – how did man come to be? 'The man who can give no account of his existence is a fool, and he who denies a god can give no account of his existence.' A Doubter's Doubts About Science and Religion proposes that the true sceptic cannot deny that the origin of life exists under the name of God.

Page 11 of 13