Science and Salvation: Evangelical Popular Science Publishing in Victorian BritainUniversity of Chicago Press, 2004 M07 17 - 325 pages Threatened by the proliferation of cheap, mass-produced publications, the Religious Tract Society issued a series of publications on popular science during the 1840s. The books were intended to counter the developing notion that science and faith were mutually exclusive, and the Society's authors employed a full repertoire of evangelical techniques—low prices, simple language, carefully structured narratives—to convert their readers. The application of such techniques to popular science resulted in one of the most widely available sources of information on the sciences in the Victorian era. A fascinating study of the tenuous relationship between science and religion in evangelical publishing, Science and Salvation examines questions of practice and faith from a fresh perspective. Rather than highlighting works by expert men of science, Aileen Fyfe instead considers a group of relatively undistinguished authors who used thinly veiled Christian rhetoric to educate first, but to convert as well. This important volume is destined to become essential reading for historians of science, religion, and publishing alike. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
I The Threat of Popular Science | 16 |
II Christian Knowledge | 60 |
III Reading Fish | 107 |
IV The Techniques of Evangelical Publishing | 141 |
V The Ministry of the Press | 184 |
VI Reinterpreting Science | 224 |
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Science and Salvation: Evangelical Popular Science Publishing in Victorian ... Aileen Fyfe No preview available - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
advertisements Anglican appeared Arnold Atonement audience Author Baptist Bible Biography Britain British Fish Bunbury Bunbury to RLF Chambers Chambers's chap Christian Spectator Christian tone Church claimed classes Congregational Edinburgh editor evangelical faith February Figure Gallery of Nature Ibid illustrations included income infidel involved issue John Kitto Jones Journal jungle fowl Kennedy knowledge launched Leisure Hour Library literary literature living London manuscripts Martin to RLF minister missionary Monthly Series Monthly Volumes narrative narrator natural history Natural Theology nebular hypothesis nineteenth century nonfiction organisations paper Pendennis Penny Magazine phrenology popular science readers references Religious Tract Society reprints reptiles Royal Literary Fund RTS publications RTS Report RTS writers salvation Saturday Magazine scientific Scripture Natural History SDUK secular publishing Society's SPCK species Stoughton subjects success tench Thomas USCL/RTS CCM Vestiges Victorian weekly William Martin wrote Zoological Society