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Title: When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals (American Intellectual Culture) by Paul Keith Conkin, Paul Conkin ISBN: 0-8476-9063-6 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: 6 essays on how darwin changed american religion
Comment: Even if you disagree with every word he writes, you can't put the book down. it is that good. I have a hard time pointing out exactly what it is that makes this such a good book: partly he is an extraordinarily interesting writer, partly the book is chock full of absolute gems, i highlighted something on nearly every page. Partly the attentiveness to what lies underneath the surface, what isn't obvious about the topic in his hands becomes insight, the ah-ha experience that has you saying "why didn't i see that before?" But mostly, he is an addictive writer, drawing you into his comprehensive research, sharing his love of the ideas he presents, pulling you into his intellectual world more like a good novelist than the historian he is.
He spells out the topic on the first page of the preface:
"What follows are six essays. They involve large, often cosmic issues. They involve a challengeable assumption--that the most foundational beliefs of Americans, almost all of which derive from the Judeo-Christian tradition, faced such an array of intellectual challenges in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as to amount to a major crisis of faith. This crisis first climaxed in the mid-1920's, but the issues have remained at the very center of cultural conflict. The crisis involved the credentials of age-old beliefs in the existence of a god, in a world that exhibits some extrinsic or intrinsic purpose, in the divine origin and special destiny of humans, and in moral values that have some transhuman sanction."
One feature of the book that is admirable is the accuracy he presents the beliefs of people he disagrees with. For instance, his portrait of J.Gresham Machen is one of the best i've ever read, even though the author is not a discipline of Machen's tradition. This desire to be a good responsible historian makes the book at places where a lesser author would distort the record. You instinctive trust the history presented because you know the places he could have fudged, he didn't/
One of his big conclusions, is i believe, the BIG issue in the current Creation-Evolution-Design debate. In his own words, pg 141--"For many, the important issue was not which one of several competing gods fit reality, but whether a belief in either a supernatural or an immmanent god any longer made sense. Could anyone, in a post-Darwinian world, justify such a belief? Theism was now at stake. And those who felt themselves most attuned to the full implications of a Darwinian understanding of nature joined Darwin himself in rejecting any transcendent god (any god outside or beyond nature) and any purposeful divine mind or force within nature (and thus any cosmic teleology)."
I deeply appreciated the book, it interested me enough in the short sketches of several thinkers that i will pursue studies of them. While at the same time it put several pieces into place for me because of the unique and systematic way the author built his case. I hope you find it as fruitful an afternoon with the book as did i.
thanks for reading this short review.
Rating: 4
Summary: A well-focused, unbiased survey
Comment: Conklin does a wonderful job outlining Darwin's impact upon early 20th century intellectuals and their attempts to explain, interpret, or reject the implications of evolution (as they saw them). What kept me from going "five-star" with this work is mostly stylistic - Conkin appears to be a fan of the words "clearly," "obviously," and uses vague pronouns excessively. Substantively, however, this book is a gem. Conkin adheres closely to the value of coherence in religious doctrine, and I really enjoyed his comments regarding the worth and relevance of intellectual and academic good faith. I also enjoyed the fact that I could not determine what Conkin himself believes throughout the piece. An all around good read.
Rating: 5
Summary: A well-balanced, intellectual and thoughtful discourse
Comment: When All The Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, And American Intellectuals by Paul Conkin (Distinguished Professor of History, Vanderbilt University) is a collection of superbly reasoned and presented historical essays about the overwhelming impact science has had upon American religious thought, especially during the 1920s when "all the gods trembled" before the evolutionary theories of Darwinism. A well-balanced, intellectual and thoughtful discourse on the very serious and perplexing questions that science poses to faith When All The Gods Trembled is highly recommended reading for both students and general readers with an interest in the impact of 19th and 20th sciences on religious belief systems in the United States.
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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: Scopes Trial: A Brief History With Documents (Bedford Series in History and Culture (Palgrave (Firm)).) by Jeffery P. Morgan, Jeffrey P. Moran ISBN: 0312249195 Publisher: Bedford Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Freedom Evolves by Daniel C. Dennett ISBN: 0670031860 Publisher: Viking Books Pub. Date: 10 February, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward ISBN: 074325547X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 19 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror by Richard A. Clarke ISBN: 0743260244 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 22 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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