The book presents very detailed historical material of the evolution of science and Christianity from the time of their origins up to the late 1800s, and concludes that Christianity, during most that time, severely hampered the vigor and freedom of scientific inquiry.

The essence of the author’s thesis is that in trying to explain everything about everything Christianity had, in large part, stepped on ground that would have been better served by observation and experimentation. In its determination to maintain the upper-hand, and in vacating the ideational ground upon which Christ stood, Christianity ultimately killed people, stifled free thinking and stymied the progress of civilization for at least a millennium before the Protestant Reformation. At least the author implies as much.

This seems axiomatic from the standpoint of the 21st century and it might be true that Christianity lost its way within a short period after Christ’s death. But, in the author’s 19th century zeal to extol the virtues of science he omits an examination of what Christianity did accomplish on ground that it rightly stood.

Seminal Christianity is not designed to be scientific but rather to be interpretive; it’s not to explain what the universe is but why it is there; it doesn’t speak to the human mind but to the human heart. To paint Christianity negatively in contrast to the neo-religion of science might have worked in a culture bathing in the first glow of Darwinism.

It doesn’t fly with the modern mind that knows religion and science try to do different things, notwithstanding the assaults of Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins. As one tradition steps on the ground of the other, it is wrong.

There are two problems with this book: First, its title and introduction lead one to believe that it will be an objective depiction of the anatomy of a conflict. Instead, it is a polemic against Christianity (mostly Roman Catholicism) and an endorsement of Science. Second, although its conspicuous copy-rite year is 2010, the book was actually written in the late 19th century.

Related Books:

1. Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality : James M. Nelson
2. Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future : Bron Taylor
3. A Brief History of Disease, Science and Medicine : Michael T. Kennedy MD
4. Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science 2nd Edition – John Zelle
5. A History of American Law: Third Edition – Lawrence M. Friedman
6. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen – Harold McGee
7. Business : William M. Pride
8. A History of the World in 6 Glasses : Tom Standage