Overview

Drawing on primary sources made available to scholars only after the archives of the Holy Office were unsealed in 1998, Negotiating Darwin chronicles how the Vatican reacted when six Catholics-five clerics and one layman-tried to integrate evolution and Christianity in the decades following the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species. As Mariano Artigas, Thomas F. Glick, and Rafael A. Martinez reconstruct these cases, we see who acted and why, how the events unfolded, and how decisions were put into practice. With the long shadow of Galileo's condemnation hanging over the Church as the Scientific Revolution ushered in new paradigms, the Church found it prudent to avoid publicly and directly condemning Darwinism and thus treated these cases carefully. The authors reveal the ideological and operational stance of the Vatican and describe its secret deliberations. In the process, they provide insight into current debates on evolution and religious belief.

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9780801883897

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Reviews

Negotiating Darwin provides an assessment of the Vatican's policy toward evolutionism during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Within the context of six case studies, the book displays painstaking knowledge of documents from the Vatican's archives and a thorough awareness of the interpretive issues involved. This is a major, scholarly contribution to the field. - Giuliano Pancaldo, University of Bologna

A well-documented scholarly work. Choice This is a fine study of the Church's response to Darwin and evolutionism in the late-nineteenth century... The work will appeal to a wide readership. -- John F. Pollard and Peter James Reviews in History This book is both a cautionary tale and a welcome piece of historical research. Commonweal Negotiating Darwin is a very important book. -- Michael Ruse Church History Those interested in the history of science and religion and Catholic scholars will find this book useful. -- S. O'M. Southeastern Naturalist A well-researched and insightful study. -- Don O'Leary Catholic Historical Review Negotiating Darwin currently offers the only detailed picture based on the Vatican archive of the actions of the Catholic Church towards authors of evolutionary tracts... should be read by anyone interested in the reception of Darwinism or the relationship between science and religion. -- Juliana Adelman British Journal for the History of Science Historians will enjoy its meticulous scholarship, and even non-historians will find this a useful book. -- Peter MJ Hess Reports of the National Center for Science Education A painstaking study of the archival material that will stand as a basic reference for the history of the Catholic Church's official response to attempts to reconcile Catholicism and evolutionism in the late nineteenth century. -- Barry Brundell Isis Negotiating Darwin is an important work of archival scholarship. -- Richard Rosengarten Journal of Religion

Author Information

Mariano Artigas is a professor of philosophy at Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. Thomas F. Glick is a professor of history at Boston University. Rafael A. Martinez is a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.

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