Redeeming Culture: American Religion in an Age of Science

The relationship between religion and science in the United States has often been marked by conflict. According to Gilbert, a history professor at the University of Maryland, the 1925 Scopes trial marked the beginning of almost 40 years in which scientific explanations of the world marginalized religious explanations of the world. Yet, Gilbert argues, even as the American republic became a republic of science, religion discovered a variety of ways to maintain its authority. Gilbert explores the operation of religion and science on three levels-the individual, the institutional and the public-but he focuses his attention on the ways in which the public faces of religion and science have interacted from 1925 to 1962. In a very detailed historical survey, Gilbert examines the rise and growth of scientific authority, especially in atomic science, from the 1930s to the 1950s. He recounts how the scientific community and secular society in general grew to view ""science as a model for moral reconstruction"" while leading religious figures countered by saying that ""science without religion is an invitation to human irresponsibility."" In this always fascinating look at the conversation between religion and science in America, Gilbert also examines the ways in which science and spirituality are connected in popular culture. (June)