John Hedley Brooke, Human nature and belief, Wed 8 July
Duration: 28 mins 56 secs
Share this media item:
Embed this media item:
Embed this media item:
About this item
| Description: | Summary: On no area of human concern has Darwin’s impact been as keenly felt as on matters of religion. Here I shall not dwell on popular constructions of conflict between ‘creation’ and ‘evolution’, which are often simplistic, but rather consider reasons why religious affiliation and practice continue to survive, despite the intellectual challenge of Darwinism. I shall suggest that through affirmative, creative responses to Darwin’s ideas, as well as resistance to them, religious thinkers have sustained their positions. Two thinkers, deeply affected by Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley and William James, provide additional insights into the survival of a religious sensibility. Despite his denunciation of dogmatic theology, Huxley regarded the notional antagonism between science and religion as a contrivance on the part of short-sighted religious people and equally myopic scientists. More dramatically, James contended that in a Darwinian universe it is the religious who are best fitted to survive: “every sort of energy and endurance, of courage and capacity for handling life’s evils, is set free in those who have religious faith”. Do our attempts to give a naturalistic evolutionary account of the origins of religion result in making religion so ‘natural’ that it inexorably survives? |
|---|
| Created: | 2009-10-15 14:49 |
|---|---|
| Collection: | Darwin Festival 2009 |
| Publisher: | University of Cambridge |
| Copyright: | University of Cambridge, Darwin Festival 2009 |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
|
| Keywords: | Darwin; evolution; John Hedley Brooke; darwinism; Thomas; Huxley; William; James; religion; science; faith; revolutionary; natural; theology; religious; thought; |
| Explicit content: | No |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Screencast: | No |
| Bumper: | /sms-ingest/static/new-4x3-bumper.dv |
| Trailer: | /sms-ingest/static/new-4x3-trailer.dv |
| Abstract: | Biography: John Hedley Brooke held the Andreas Idreos Chair of Science and Religion and Directorship of the Ian Ramsey Centre at Oxford University from 1999 to 2006. He is an Emeritus Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford, and Honorary Professor of the History of Science at Lancaster University and, in 2007, was appointed Distinguished Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, University of Durham. He is currently President of the International Society for Science and Religion. His books include Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 1991) and (with Geoffrey Cantor) Reconstructing Nature: The Engagement of Science and Religion (Edinburgh, 1998). |
|---|---|
Available Formats
| Format | Quality | Bitrate | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Video | 320x240 | 261.86 kbits/sec | 55.49 MB | View | Download | |
| iPod Video | 480x360 | 505.5 kbits/sec | 107.12 MB | View | Download | |
| QuickTime (for download) | 384x288 | 761.63 kbits/sec | 161.40 MB | View | Download | |
| QuickTime (for streaming) | 480x360 | 906.76 kbits/sec | 192.16 MB | View | Download | |
| MP3 | 44100 Hz | 125.06 kbits/sec | 26.29 MB | Listen | Download | |
| Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) | 1.34 Mbits/sec | 289.82 MB | Listen | Download | ||
| RealMedia | 878.7 kbits/sec | 186.21 MB | View | Download | Stream | |
| Auto * | (Allows browser to choose a format it supports) | |||||