The God of Monkey Science
People of Faith in a Modern Scientific World
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- 16,99 €
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- 16,99 €
Publisher Description
How to hold true to your faith and embrace modern science
Ever since the Scopes Monkey Trial in the early twentieth century, American evangelicals have considered scientists public enemy #1. But this antipathy to modern science turned deadly during the COVID-19 crisis, when white evangelicals snubbed precautions and vaccines. Herself an evangelical Christian and a science educator, Janet Kellogg Ray explains how we got here and how to fix it.
As the follow-up to Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?, this lively volume covers evolution as well as the coronavirus pandemic, vaccines, climate change, and the frontiers of genetic research. Ray explains the facts accessibly and with verve. Along the way, she vividly narrates the scientific achievements—and political and religious drama—that got us to where we are today.
Ultimately, Ray calls for evangelicals to speak to science, rather than deny it. We need Christian ethics now more than ever to determine how best to act in light of current scientific data and for love of neighbor. If you’re afraid of science hurting your faith, this book will show you how to be true to both.
International Society for Science and Religion (ISSR) Book Prize on Science and Religion Long List (2024)
Sojourners Best Books List (2023)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ray (Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?) zeroes in on the long-standing evangelical animosity toward science in this enlightening if flawed study. According to the author, the primary rupture between evangelical Christianity and science can be traced back to the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial," when a Tennessee schoolteacher was taken to court for teaching evolution; the ensuing controversy resulted in the evangelical community's adoption of "a choose-your-own-adventure approach to all science" that prized "values and beliefs" over facts, framed evidence as optional, and engendered an anti-intellectualism that eventually led to suspicion of vaccines, Covid-19 policies, and climate change. Though Ray assures readers "there is a faith that makes room for trusting science," which involves accepting that "all truth is God's truth, including scientific truth" and acknowledging that "parts of the Bible can be truth without being literally, historically, and scientifically true," she mostly fails to explain how exactly one might go about this. Nonetheless, the author tussles bravely with pressing questions related to such issues as anti-intellectualism, denominational siloing, and the role of religion in American politics, and she persuasively uncovers the roots of evangelicalism's anti-science bent and its potential future harms. Christians questioning received anti-science narratives will find this an accessible and thoughtful resource.
