Tell a Friend: Reconsidering Eugenics in Science and Religion Scholarship: A Reflection and Invitation
This post was written by John P. Slattery. See the full CFP at the link at the bottom of this post.
The field of science and religion studies is in need of a historical reconsideration of the eugenic era. This reconsideration must include the close ties between the development of evolutionary sciences and eugenic philosophies in the early twentieth century, the related intersections of early evolutionary theologies with eugenics, and the legacy of the connections between anti-evolution and anti-eugenic views in the religious public. Since most would mark the beginning of contemporary science/religion conversations with the published works of Ian Barbour and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, it is also important to reconsider their works as well as those who published and critiqued such works. What role did eugenic philosophies have in the development of the modern field of theological considerations of science, and in what ways have eugenic philosophies been ignored, erased, or supported during the development of this field? It is past time for the science/religion community to seriously consider these questions. I am grateful for the space here to consider this question, and grateful further for a thematic section of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science on this topic in the future.