Ronald Numbers
Ronald Numbers | |
|---|---|
PhD) | |
| Awards | George Sarton Medal |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | History of science |
| Institutions | University of Wisconsin–Madison |
| Website | Academic homepage |
Ronald Leslie Numbers (June 3, 1942 – July 24, 2023) was an American
Biography
Ronald Leslie Numbers was the son of a fundamentalist Seventh-day Adventist preacher, and was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist religion and schools well into college.[1] Regarding religious beliefs, he described himself as agnostic, and has written, "I no longer believe in creationism of any kind".[2] He became a leading scholar in the history of science and religion and an authority on the history of creationism and creation science.
Numbers was educated at
Ronald Numbers died on July 24, 2023, at the age of 81.[5]
Writings
Prophetess of Health
In 1976, while still a lecturer at Loma Linda University, he published the book Prophetess of Health. The book is about the relationship between Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder and prophetess Ellen G. White and popular ideas about health that were fashionable in certain circles in America just prior to the time during which she wrote her books.[6]
The Creationists
In 1992, he published
Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion
 | This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Ronald Numbers" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2020) |
In 2009, he was editor for Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion, where the book focuses on popular misconceptions that are connected between science and religion.[10][11][12]
Among other things the work seeks to debunk various claims, such as that the medieval Christian Church suppressed science, that medieval Islamic culture was inhospitable to science, that the Church issued a universal ban on human dissection in the Middle Ages, that Galileo Galilei was imprisoned and tortured for advocating Copernicanism, or that the idea of creationism is a uniquely American phenomenon.
Bibliography
- The Warfare Between Science and Religion: The Idea That Wouldn't Die, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) (ed. with Jeff Hardin, Ronald A. Binzley). ISBN 978-1421426181
- Science and Religion Around the World, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) (ed. with ISBN 978-0-195-32819-6
- "Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science", (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011) (ed.with Peter Harrison and Michael H. Shank). ISBN 9780226317816
- Galileo Goes to Jail, and Other Myths About Science and Religion (ed.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009). ISBN 0-674-03327-2
- Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, 3rd Ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2008).
- Science and Christianity in Pulpit and Pew, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- ISBN 978-0-674-02339-0
- When Science and Christianity Meet, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). ed. with David C. Lindberg
- Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), ed. with John Stenhouse.
- Darwinism Comes to America. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1998).
- God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986) ed. with David C. Lindberg. ISBN 978-0-520-05538-4
References
- ^ a b History of Science Society. "2008 Award Winners". Archived from the original on 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
- ^ See introduction to Ronald Number's book (page xvi): The Creationists. See also Prophetess of Health Reappears, an interview of Numbers by Alita Byrd of Spectrum. And Inside the Mind of a Creationist: Ron Numbers & Paul Nelson in discussion Archived 2010-10-10 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ronald Leslie Numbers". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-04-12.
- ^ Numbers, Ronald Leslie (1969). The nebular hypothesis in American thought (Ph.D.). University of California, Berkeley.
- ^ "Ronald L. Numbers". July 25, 2023. Retrieved July 25, 2023.
- Ellen G. White Estate; Glenn Vandervliet. Isis 69:1 (March 1978), p146–47. JSTOR link. See also the reviews in Spectrum 8:2 (January 1977)
- ^ Steve Paulson, "Seeing the light -- of science", Interview with Ronald Numbers, Salon.com, Jan. 2, 2007.
- ^ See references in "notable reviews".
- ^ The creation of Creationism, John Habgood, The Times, July 23, 2008
- )
- S2CID 162849038.
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External links
- PBS Evolution articles
- Interview with Science & Theology News
- Brief treatise on the history of creationism Archived 2017-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
- Interview in Salon
- Beyond War and Peace: A Reappraisal of the Encounter Between Christianity and Science
- Salon.com interview
- Video of discussion about creationism/intelligent design with Numbers and creationist Paul Nelson on Bloggingheads.tv
- Ronald Numbers at IMDb
