When All the Gods Trembled
Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals
Published on 26. June 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-8476-9064-0 (ISBN)
Description
With characteristic eloquence and insight, prominent historian Paul K. Conkin explores large, indeed cosmic issues in When All the Gods Trembled. Conkin focuses his analysis on the numerous challenges in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century to age-old beliefs in the existence of a god, in a world that exhibits some extrinsic or intrinsic purpose, in the divine origin and special destiny of humans, and in transcendent moral values. By the 1920s, these challenges had created a major crisis of faith. Conkin traces the origins of Western beliefs about the gods and about human origins, beliefs shared by the three great Semitic religions. He proceeds with a searching and original analysis of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, rejecting conventional understandings of Darwin in order to probe the logical credentials of his thesis and its implications for Christian theology. From Darwin he moves to the deep rifts that developed between American orthodox, evangelical, and fundamentalist Christians on the one hand and liberals and modernists on the other. These tensions created the enormous public interest in the Scopes trial of 1925, which provides the subject of a revealing chapter. The final two chapters focus on the intellectual debates during and immediately after the famous trial. One involves a dialogue among the most representative and vocal Christian intellectuals in the 1920s-the orthodox E. Gresham Machen, the liberal Harry Emerson Fosdick, and the modernist Shailer Matthews. The last chapter includes brief vignettes of a diverse group of intellectuals who rejected any version of theism, including John Dewey, George Santayana, Harry Elmer Barnes, John Crowe Ransom, Walter Lippmann, and Joseph Wood Krutch. Conkin's survey reveals a degree of the public's disillusionment with American intellectuals during this critical period. The fundamental themes of Western civilization were crumbling, and Americans had to give up on one consoling certainty after another. The loss was great and the possible gains for humanity unsure and precarious. Yet most American intellectuals failed to provide either a deep analysis of the issues at stake or more than myths and fictions to replace the spiritual loss. While recognizing this failure, Conkin eschews any facile condemnation, appreciating how poignant and even tragic were the dilemmas faced by the first generation of intellectuals to confront a world that seemed to exhibit no preordained goal, and provide no promise of human redemption.
Reviews / Votes
These balanced historical essays chronicle the profound impact of modern scientific and philosophical naturalism on American religious thought during the pivotal 1920s, when all the gods trembled before Darwinism and its ilk. Paul Conkin offers keen insights into the historic fundamentalist-modernist controversy and the ongoing debate over science and religion. -- Edward J. Larson, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Summer for the Gods When All the Gods Trembled does a fine job of identifying the specific elements in the Judeo-Christian tradition that evolutionary theory tended to undermine. * CHOICE * Conkin provides a sensitive sociocultural description of the residents of Dayton, who were humiliated by their portrayal in the national media. He is critical of the caricatures provided by those who conspired to uncover, maximize, and even manufacture a kind of 'cultural warfare.' -- Karl W. Giberson and Donald A. Yerxa * Books and Culture * Both satisfying and enjoyable. . . . I am glad that I had an opportunity to review When All the Gods Trembled: Darwinism, Scopes, and American Intellectuals. -- Michael Ruse, Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy, Florida State University * The Review of Politics * Distinguished historian Paul Conkin has given us a provocative book surveying a key period in America's intellectual history. Conkin deserves credit for writing an eminently readable overview with keen insights into important issues such as Darwinism, fundamentalism, and modernism. -- Barry Hankins, Baylor University * Journal of Church and State * Three stars . . . important. * Science and Spirit, Vol. 10 Issue 2 July/August 1999 * Dense typesetting allows the book's short length to conceal a surprising amount of text. With a sympathetic, dense, and readable style that accepts no nonsense, Conkin provides a wide-ranging analysis in this compact, useful volume. -- Randall L. Hall, Wake Forest University * Georgia Historical Quarterly * The real contribution of Conkin's book lies in the chapters that examine the profound issues at stake in the conflict between religious faith and scientific naturalism that the Scopes trial came to symbolize. For its recasting of the putative conflict between faith and science in these unfamiliar terms plus its remarkable incisiveness on the contributing issues, this book is recommended to anyone interested in twentieth-century American intellectual life. * Journal of Southern History * Conkin provides a useful introduction to the cultural crises of the 1920s. * Journal Of The History Of Biology * A worthwhile addition to the literature of the Scopes trial and of the evolution controversy in the United States. * North Carolina Historical Review * The book is a crisp and handy guide to the story of American religious belief in the early part of the twentieth century. * Journal of American History * A well-balanced, intellectual, and thoughtful discourse on the very serious and perplexing questions that science poses to faith When All the Gods Trembled is highly recommended reading for both students and general readers with an interest in the impact of 19th and 20th sciences on religious belief in the United States. * The Bookwatch *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 221 mm
Width: 139 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
259 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8476-9064-0 (9780847690640)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Paul K. Conkin is distinguished professor of history at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of numerous books, including most recently American Originals (A History Book Club Main Selection, ISBN 0-8078-4649-X) and The Uneasy Center (0-8078-4492-6).
Content
Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 Introduction: Christian Cosmologies Chapter 3 What Darwin Wrought Chapter 4 Evangelicals, Fundamentals, and Modernists Chapter 5 The Scopes Trial Chapter 6 A Dialogue among Christian Intellectuals Chapter 7 Beyond Theism Chapter 8 The Gods Still Tremble: An Update Chapter 9 Index