George Lincoln Burr - The Warfare of Science With Theology

The Warfare of Science With Theology

Starting in 1869, and throughout his career, Professor White argued that history showed the negative outcomes resulting from any attempt on the part of religion to interfere with the progress of science. Burr was heavily influenced by White’s views, and assisted him in editing a series of articles, published in Popular Science, covering all aspects of the debate. The final result was the two-volume History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896).

In addition to paying Burr for his assistance, White offered Burr a place on the title page, which Burr declined, although he subsequently worked extensively on a revision of the work which was never published. This response was typical of Burr. Although he felt a great deal of sympathy for White’s project, Burr ultimately came to believe that the book did not do what its title suggested, and rejected White’s compromise to re-title the second volume the “Warfare of Humanity.” In 1904 he wrote to White, “Your book has, of course, the defects of its qualities. Its looseness of citation and broadness of statement are but a part of that genial companionableness and largeness which are its charm. Its whole treatment suggests rather the conversation of a scholarly and widely experienced man of action than the closet of the bookworm.”