Divine Variations - How Christian Thought Became Racial Science (Hardcover)

Divine Variations offers a new account of the development of scientific ideas about race. Focusing on the production of scientific knowledge over the last three centuries, Terence Keel uncovers the persistent links between pre-modern Christian thought and contemporary scientific perceptions of human difference. He argues that, instead of a rupture between religion and modern biology on the question of human origins, modern scientific theories of race are, in fact, an extension of Christian intellectual history. Keel's study draws on ancient and early modern theological texts and biblical commentaries, works in Christian natural philosophy, seminal studies in ethnology and early social science, debates within twentieth-century public health research, and recent genetic analysis of population differences and ancient human DNA. From these sources, Keel demonstrates that Christian ideas about creation, ancestry, and universalism helped form the basis of modern scientific accounts of human diversity—despite the ostensible shift in modern biology towards scientific naturalism, objectivity, and value neutrality. By showing the connections between Christian thought and scientific racial thinking, this book calls into question the notion that science and religion are mutually exclusive intellectual domains and proposes that the advance of modern science did not follow a linear process of secularization.

General

Imprint:	Stanford University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	December 2017
First published:	2018
Authors:	Terence Keel
Dimensions:	229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format:	Hardcover - Cloth
Pages:	200
ISBN-13:	978-0-8047-9540-1
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General Books > History > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > General
LSN:	0-8047-9540-1
Barcode:	9780804795401

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!