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Description For thousands of years, religious ideas have shaped the thoughts and actions of human beings. Many of the early geological concepts were initially developed within this context. The long-standing relationship between geology and religious thought, which has been sometimes indifferent, sometimes fruitful and sometimes full of conflict, is discussed from a historical point of view. This relationship continues into the present. Although Christian fundamentalists attack evolution and related palaeontological findings as well as the geological evidence for the age of the Earth, mainstream theologians strive for a fruitful dialogue between science and religion. Much of what is written and discussed today can only be understood within the historical perspective. This book considers the development of geology from mythological approaches towards the European Enlightenment, biblical or geological Flood and the age of the Earth, geology within ‘religious’ organizations, biographical case studies of geological clerics and religious geologists, religion and evolution, and historical aspects of creationism and its motives.

Contents Introduction Geology and religion: a historical perspective on current problems, M Kölbl-Ebert Jean-André de Luc (1727–1817): an atheist’s comparative view of the historiography, D R Oldroyd From mythological approaches towards the European Enlightenment Water and Inca cosmogony: myths, geology and engineering in the Peruvian Andes, L F Mazadiego, O Puche & S A M Hervá Explanations of the Earth’s features and origin in pre-Meiji Japan, P Barbaro The providence of mineral generation in the sermons of Johann Mathesius (1504–1565), J A Norris Earthquakes as God’s punishment in 17th- and 18th-century Spain, A Udías The idiom of a six day creation and global depictions in Theories of the Earth, K V Magruder The fossil proboscideans of Utica (Tunisia), a key to the ‘giant’ controversy, from Saint Augustine (424) to Peiresc (1632), G Godard Flood conceptions in Vallisneri’s thought, F Luzzini The Flood and the age of the Earth Discussing the age of the Earth in 1779 in Portugal, M S Pinto & F Amador On the Earth’s revolutions: floods and extinct volcanoes in northern Italy at the end of the eighteenth century, A Candela Scheuchzer, von Haller and de Luc: geological world-views and religious backgrounds in opposition or collaboration? C Schweizer Biblical Flood and geological deluge: the amicable dissociation of geology and Genesis, M J S Rudwick ‘Our favourite science’: Lord Bute and James Parkinson searching for a Theory of the Earth, C L E Lewis Cuvier’s attitude toward creation and the biblical Flood, P Taquet Geology within ‘religious’ organizations Jesuits’ studies of earthquakes and seismological stations, A Udías ‘Red and expert’: Chinese glaciology during the Mao Tse-tung period (1958–1976), J Zhang & D R Oldroyd Geological clerics and Christian geologists Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873): geologist and evangelical, M B Roberts Some nineteenth- and twentieth-century Australian geological clerics, D Branagan Geological observations by the Reverend Charles P. N. Wilton (1795–1859) in New South Wales and his views on the relationship between religion and science, W Mayer Franz X. Mayr, the spiritual father of the Jura-Museum, G K Viohl Religious convictions as support in dangerous expeditions: Hermann Abich (1806–1886) and Heinrich Barth (1821–1865), E Seibold & I Seibold Reverent and exemplary: ‘dinosaur man’ Friedrich von Huene (1875–1969), S Turner Evolution James Buckman (1841–1884): the scientific career of an English Darwinian thwarted by religious prejudice, H S Torrens Franz Unger and Sebastian Brunner on evolution and the visualization of Earth history; a debate between liberal and conservative Catholics, M Klemun Geology and Genesis in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italy: a preliminary Assessment, E Vaccari History of creationism Natural theology in the eighteenth century, as exemplified in the writings of Élie Bertrand (1713–1797), a Swiss naturalist and Protestant pastor, K B Bork The reception of geology in the Dutch Reformed tradition: the case of Herman Bavinck (1854–1921), D A Young From the beginning: faith and geology at evangelical Wheaton College, S O Moshier, D E Maas & J K Greenberg Theodicic creationism: its membership and motivations, R A Peters Theology and creationism The history of the doctrine of creation; a Catholic perspective, M Ostermann An Anglican priest’s perspective on the doctrine of creation in the church today, M B Roberts Index

Reviews

....a fascinating book with provocative contributions on unusual topics that have a bearing on the development of the science geology.  The book is warmly recommended to all natural scientist interested in history and in particular to geologists that want to widen their outlook on their chosen profession.

Tom Reijers
Geo-Training & Travel, The Netherlands

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
16 June 2009

The editor has done a fantastic job in getting all this information together! It is a heavy book - and not just because it weights 2/12 pounds.  It's very scholarly, often very detailed, with lots and lots of names and background.  It requires some historical, theological and science background.........it is a terric book.

Janet Tanaka, Washington, USA

This review was submitted by:
Mrs Julie Webster
15 September 2009