RLST113 HM - God, Darwin, Design in America: A Historical Survey of Religion and Science

Credit(s): 3

Instructor(s): Dyson

Description: Course examines the relationships between science and religion in the United States from the early 19th century to the present. Starting with the Natural Theologians, who made science the “handmaid of theology” in the early Republic, we will move forward in time through the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and Andrew Dickson White’s subsequent declaration of a war between science and religion, into the 20th century with the Scopes trial and the rise of Creationism, the evolutionary synthesis, and finally the recent debates over the teaching of Intelligent Design in public schools.

HSA Course Area(s): History; Religious Studies; Science, Technology, & Society
HSA Writing Intensive: Yes