Table of Contents

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 6
1 MYTHS, MONOTHEISM, AND THE ORIGINS OF WESTERN SCIENCE 9
2 THE ORIGINS OF UNBELIEF
Part 1: Ancients and Early Moderns 24
THE POPULAR MYTH THAT ATHEISM IS NEW 24
CLASSICAL AND MEDIEVAL UNBELIEF 26
THOMAS HOBBES, MATERIALISM,
AND MAN THE MACHINE 31
ATHEISTS, DEISTS, AND UNBELIEVERS 37
3 THE ORIGINS OF UNBELIEF
Part 2: Dreams of a Brave
New World 43
ROMANTIC AND REVOLUTIONARY ATHEISM 43
ROBERT OWEN, GEORGE HOLYOAKE, AND THE VICTORIAN SECULAR ATHEISTS 50
THE MYTH THAT SIMPLE FAITH WAS DESTROYED BY DARWIN IN 1859 56
4 THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
Part 1: Two Persistent Myths 57
THE MYTH OF THE MEDIEVAL “DARK AGE” 57
THE MYTH OF THE “ENLIGHTENMENT” 65
5 THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF ANTI-CHRISTIANITY
Part 2: Myths of Changing Circumstances 75
THE PROBLEM OF ETERNAL DAMNATION 75
BIBLICAL CRITICISM, “MYTH”, AND EARLY BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY 79
NATIONALISTIC CHRISTIANITY 89
THE GROWTH AND POWER OF SCIENCE 92
6 SOME POPULAR MYTHS ABOUT
SCIENCE AND RELIGION 94
CHRISTIANITY AND SCIENCE IN “CONFLICT”: TWO NINETEENTHCENTURY AMERICAN “ATHEISTS” 94
ALL CHRISTIANS ARE REALLY BIBLICAL FUNDAMENTALISTS 98
THE CHURCH HAS ALWAYS PERSECUTED SCIENCE AND SCIENTISTS 100
RELIGION CAUSES THE WORLD’S TROUBLES: ONLY SECULARISM CAN BRING PEACE 107
7 MONKEYING AROUND WITH HISTORY: THE MYTH OF THE BIG 1860 “OXFORD DEBATE” ON EVOLUTION 113
8 THE MYTH OF THE YOUNG EARTH AND THE ORIGINS OF EVOLUTIONARY IDEAS 121
DATING THE CREATION 121
THE ORIGINS OF LIFE: PRE-DARWINIAN IDEAS OF “EVOLUTION” 130
9 CHARLES DARWIN: MONKEY, MAN, AND MYTH 136
10 COUNTERING THE “BIG LIE” 149
WHY IS NATURE CONGRUENT? 149
WHY DO HUMANS RESPOND SO POSITIVELY TO BEAUTY AND ELEGANCE? 151
SCIENCE DESCRIBES EFFECTS, RELIGION TALKS OF CAUSES AND PURPOSES 156
11 DOES SCIENCE CHALLENGE RELIGION? THE GREAT ATHEIST MYTH 160
LACK OF NEW SECULARIST IDEAS 160
WHY HAS RELIGION FAILED TO DIE AWAY? 166
ARE ATHEISM AND SECULARISM MORE SUPERSTITIOUS THAN CHRISTIANITY? 169
DOUBTING SCEPTICISM 173
SEDUCTION BY REDUCTION 176
12 THE AGE THAT LOST ITS NERVE: THE DILEMMA OF CHRISTENDOM IN THE MODERN WORLD
Part 1: Myths and Mechanisms 180
THE MYTH OF A SECULAR SOCIETY 182
FORCED TO ACT: MECHANISM AND EVOLUTIONARY AND NEUROLOGICAL DETERMINISM 186
THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE EXPLANATIONS, AND THEIR EXPLOITATION BY SECULARIST MYTH-MAKERS 194
13 THE AGE THAT LOST ITS NERVE: THE DILEMMA OF CHRISTENDOM IN THE MODERN WORLD
Part 2: The Myth of Secular
Transcendence 204
THE MYTH OF HUMAN PERFECTIBILITY 205

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A lively corrective to popular misunderstandings about key events in the history of science-faith relations

About the Author

Dr Allan Chapman is a historian of science at Oxford University, with special interests in the history of astronomy and of medicine and the relationship between science and Christianity. As well as University teaching, he lectures widely, has written a dozen books and numerous academic articles, and written and presented two TV series, Gods in the Sky and Great Scientists, besides taking part in many other history of science TV documentaries and in The Sky at Night with Sir Patrick Moore. He has received honorary doctorates and awards from the Universities of Central Lancashire, Salford, and Lancaster, and in 2015 was presented with the Jackson-Gwilt Medal by the Royal Astronomical Society. Among his books are Slaying the Dragons. Destroying Myths in the History of Science and Faith (Lion Hudson, 2013), Stargazers: Copernicus, Galileo, the Telescope, and the Church. The Astronomical Renaissance, 1500-1700 (Lion, 2014), and Physicians, Plagues, and Progress. The History of Western Medicine from Antiquity to Antibiotics (Lion, 2016). He is also the author of the scientific biographies England's Leonardo. Robert Hooke and the Seventeenth-Century Scientific Revolution (Institute of Physics, 2005), Mary Somerville and the World of Science (Canopus, 2004; Springer, 2015), and The Victorian Amateur Astronomer. Independent Astronomical Research in Britain, 1820-1920 (Wiley-Praxis, 1998; revised edn. Gracewing, 2017).

Reviews

“The dragons of the title are the myths, half-truths and downright untruths that have … distorted strongly the Science-Religion debate. The author attacks these dragons with the passion of a latter-day St George and in a book that is forthright, clear, readable, convincing and sometimes humorous, he sets the record straight.”
*John Bryant, Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at the University of Exeter. *

“A very enjoyable and instructive read.”
*Keith Ward, Fellow of the British Academy and Professional Research Fellow at Heythrop College, London. *

“From an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject matter, Dr Allan Chapman systematically exposes the multiple myths and flagrant falsehoods propagated by the so-called `New Atheists’.”
*The Revd Dr Rodney D. Holder, The Faraday Institute, Cambridge *

“Allan Chapman offers a robust and highly readable response to the 'not-so-New' Atheism.”
*Edmund Newell, Christ Church, Oxford *

“This is a fascinating, timely and highly accessible study … after reading this book, no-one can doubt that the supposed clash of science and religion has been greatly distorted.”
*John Pritchard, Bishop of Oxford *

An excellent section on popular myths on science and religion.
* War Cry*

Chapman is a committed Christian and a first-class historian of science.This book will appeal to Christians and Athiests alike. The Christians will nod sagaciously, time and again in agreement. The Atheists, new and old, will at least realise some of the huge problems they are up against
*The Observatory Magazine*

`After an absorbing analysis of popular myths about science and religion, Chapman confronts the lie that science and Christianity are inherently in conflict.’
*Christianity*