Science and religion: foreword to the historical geography of an encounter

URL:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJN-45PTR5D-9/2/568fd40e41ad95c7fcc9f33dfea87928

Abstract:

This paper argues for the value of inserting spatiality into the enterprise traditionally known as "the history of ideas" and thus reconceptualizing it as "the historical geography of ideas". The story of encounters between scientific claims and religious convictions constitutes a significant sphere of investigation within this enterprise. I argue that the study of the "history of science and religion" could benefit from taking with much greater seriousness issues of space, place and geography. Something of the character of the historical geography of the encounter between science and religion is illustrated first, by an elucidation of the ways in which the geographies of science and religion may be inter-connected, and then by a case study of how nineteenth century Calvinists in two different arenas--Belfast and Princeton--responded to Darwinian evolution. Local regional factors are shown to have been crucially significant in conditioning how religious conservatives in different places responded differently to the new biology.