Although this is not the first reprint of White’s classic statement on the relations of science and theology, its availability as a paperback in the Dover series should give it the wider reading that it deserves. The original was published in 1896, but many of its parts appeared as articles during the previous quarter of a century.
The thesis of a “warfare” between science and theology has undergone considerable revision now that more amicable relations prevail between the two. However, the thesis was prompted by the formidable theological resistance that White and Cornell met in trying to set up a non-sectarian university. The writings in this book were in part an attempt to educate the public and they helped to establish the more amicable relations we now enjoy. Deeply religious himself, White wrote with understanding rather than with malice. If the lines are rather too sharply drawn along the theme of conflict, it was because of his own involvement in such a conflict.
Bearing in mind the subjective position of the author and the less developed state of knowledge available when he wrote, this still remains the primary work on its subject. Furthermore, it is filled with curious and fascinating information. The treatment of Galileo is rather more dramatie than accurate. There is an air of optimism about the victory of science over terror and fanaticism. But it was written for the lay public and it has not lost its appeal.
