First published in 1951, Genesis and Geology describes the background of social and theological ideas and the progress of scientific researches that, between them, produced the religious difficulties that afflicted the development of science in early industrial England. The book makes clear that the furor over On the Origin of Species was nothing new: earlier discoveries in science, particularly geology, had presented major challenges, not only to the literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, but even more seriously to the traditional idea that Providence controls the order of nature with an eye to fulfilling divine purpose.

A new Foreword by Nicolaas Rupke places this book in the context of the last forty-five years of scholarship in the social history of evolutionary thought. Everyone interested in the history of modern science, in ideas, and in nineteenth-century England will want to read this book.

About the Author
Charles Coulston Gillispie was Dayton Stockton Professor of History, Emeritus, Princeton University. Nicolaas A. Rupke is Professor and Director, Institute for the History of Science, Goettingen University.

Reviews
Here...is a book to be read by all who wish to appreciate the scientific and social background of the half-century or so preceding the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. * Nature *
A lively account of the impact of scientific discoveries in geology upon religious beliefs in the decades before Darwin, [this book] will help to illuminate the one general problem of what happens when scientific ideas come into headlong conflict with ideas cherished by society. * Saturday Review *
A learned and scholarly but at the same time readable and even witty account of a fascinating chapter in the history of British scientific thought and natural theology. * Times Literary Supplement *



Book Information
ISBN 9780674344815
Author Charles Coulston Gillispie
Format Paperback
Page Count 351
Imprint Harvard University Press
Publisher Harvard University Press
Weight(grams) 399g