Quakers, Jews, and Science : Religious Responses to Modernity and the Sciences in Britain, 1650-1900

## Abstract This study examines how two religious minorities — the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities — engaged with the sciences. It argues that for both Quakers and Jews, science offered educational and career opportunities and ways of participating in the wider society. Members of both communities pursued their own scientific interests, with Quakers being attracted principally to the observational sciences. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, this book charts the involvement of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science: scientific research, science education, science-related careers, and scientific institutions ranging from the Royal Society to the Great Exhibition. Particularly instructive are the responses of both communities to the challenge of modernity posed principally by Darwin’s theory of evolution. It is shown that both communities were generally pro-evolution, and looked askance at those dogmatic Christians who opposed Darwin’s theory. During the closing years of the nineteenth century, progressives in both communities deployed science, especially the theory of evolution, in their arguments against traditionalists within their own ranks. "This study examines how two minorities - the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities - engaged with the sciences. With their roots in the mid-seventeenth century, both communities maintained their religious and social norms throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, while standing outside the hegemony of the Anglican Church and being subject to various forms of discrimination. Yet for both Quakers and Jews science offered educational and career opportunities and participation in the wider society. They adopted their own scientific interests, with Quakers being attracted principally to the observational sciences. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, much of which has not been analysed by previous historians, Geoffrey Cantor charts the involvement of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science: scientific research, science education, science-related careers, and scientific institutions ranging from the Royal Society to the Great Exhibition."--BOOK JACKET How Do Science And Religion Interact? This Study Examines The Ways In Which Two Minorities In Britain - The Quaker And Anglo-jewish Communities - Engaged With Science. Drawing On A Wealth Of Documentary Material, Geoffrey Cantor Charts The Participation Of Quakers And Jews In Many Different Aspects Of Science. Introduction : Science In 'dissenting' Religious Communities -- Two Communities -- Education And Careers -- Scientific Institutions -- Trajectories In Science -- Quaker Attitudes And Practices -- Quaker Responses To Evolution -- Jewish Attitudes And Practices -- Jewish Responses To Evolution -- Historical Comparisons And Historiographical Reflections. Geoffrey Cantor. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [366]-397) And Index. How do science and religion interact? This study examines the ways in which two minorities in Britain - the Quaker and Anglo-Jewish communities - engaged with science. Drawing on a wealth of documentary material, much of which has not been analysed by previous historians, Geoffrey Cantor charts the participation of Quakers and Jews in many different aspects of science: scientific research, science education, science-related careers, and scientific institutions. The responses of both communities to the challenge of modernity posed by innovative scientific theories, such as the Newtonian worldview and Darwin's theory of evolution, are of central interest.