Joel Cannon wrote:
>
> Hello all:
>
> Ted Davis's comments about Andrew Dickson White's book brings up what
> I find to be an interesting question concerning anti-Christian writing.
>
> What books, articles tracts against Christianity do the people on the
> list find to be most convincing? This need not, of course, involve
> science (and in my opinion won't).
>
> We might add a second question asking what tracts are most effective
> because like advertising, religious arguments can be effective while
> having flawed logic or bad premises (which are accepted by the general
> audience). White was apparently quite effective but maybe less
> convincing to someone familiar with the data.
>
> I am interested to hear people's responses.
Without disagreeing significantly with Ted's evaluation of White, I think
it's also important to point out that his oft-quoted book was NOT written "against
Christianity." Recall that the full title is _A History of the Warfare of Science
WITH THEOLOGY in Christendom_ (my emphasis). I.e., what White saw as the enemy was
theology, by which he meant essentially uncritical dogmatism. He wrote as a fairly
typical Enlightenment liberal protestant of the 19th century. His understanding of
what theology is, and of the need for serious theology, was as badly flawed as view
of the history of science & its interaction with Christianity, matters upon which Ted
has commented. But he did not understand himself to be at war with Christianity.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
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