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Keith Parsons's avatar

Great summary of this crucial history! I have to add one famous anecdote: The story goes that Napoleon asked Laplace to explain the nebular hypothesis to him. When he had finished, Napoleon inquired, "But where does God fit into this account?" Laplace replied, "Sire, I have no need of that hypothesis."

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Paul Broman's avatar

Hah! Indeed! Thanks for the kudos. I filled in my own gaps in my knowledge when performing this research. I was really focused on finding those first discrepancies between the reality revealed by science and that revealed by religious teaching.

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Keith Parsons's avatar

Allow me to offer a strong recommendation of David Wootton's The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution (2015). It is a potent corrective to the relativism and social constructivism that has infected much recent history of science.

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Dwight Lyman's avatar

Paul, well done. This is a clear, concise review of how the effort to understand fossils and geology led to the realization that earth and species have a complex history—and the impact on natural theology.

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