Reconciling Science and Theology
NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER And the Culture of American Science. David N. Livingstone. The University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, AL, 1987. 395 pp. $32.95. David Livingstone, in his analysis of the writings of Nathaniel S. Shaler (1841-1906), documents Shaler’s attempt to reconcile the conflicts between science and theology that dominated scientific discussion in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shaler, a Harvard geologist and prolific writer, was often prophetic in his discussi
Dec 13, 1987
NATHANIEL SOUTHGATE SHALER
And the Culture of American Science.David N. Livingstone. The University of
Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, AL, 1987.
395 pp. $32.95.
David Livingstone, in his analysis of the writings of Nathaniel S. Shaler (1841-1906), documents Shaler’s attempt to reconcile the conflicts between science and theology that dominated scientific discussion in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Shaler, a Harvard geologist and prolific writer, was often prophetic in his discussion of geologic and geographic concepts. These include the creationism-evolution debates; conservation of natural resources, such as soils, minerals and marshes; the origins of drumlins and other glacial features; isostatic sea level changes; the importance of geologic field work and the effects of geography on history.
Livingstone, research officer and curator of maps at The Queen’s University of Belfast, provides a thematic approach to Shaler’s life. The first section, “Man and Milieu” contains an introduction and a chapter on...