Book Review - period ended 1.31.2006

Book Review/Quaker History/Natural Science/Judaism/The Daily Dose: History, science and religion/Science & Theology News/Boston/MA/USA/16-Jan-2006//…In the Middle Ages, Islamic cultures had specific reasons for encouraging specific sciences, such as mathematical astronomy, which could assist in determining the direction of Mecca for prayer. Some Indian traditions have been seen as more conducive to an appreciation of evolutionary motifs than conservative Protestant traditions in the West. A recent book by philosopher and historian of science Geoffrey Cantor, Quakers, Jews, and Science, contains compelling contrasts between Jewish and Quaker communities in England from 1650 to 1900; whereas Quakers were drawn to observational sciences, such as astronomy and botany, Jewish scientists tended to favor the more mathematical and theoretical sciences.

The best science and religion scholarship emphasizes the importance of place, as well as time and tradition, when analyzing responses to scientific innovation. Geography professor David Livingstone’s 2003 book, Putting Science in its Place, captures the complexity perfectly. He shows that a deceptively simple question, such as “How did Presbyterian Christians respond to Darwin’s theory of natural selection?” can elicit a number of answers, each largely dependent on where one happened to be: Princeton Presbyterians were, in large part, more favorably disposed to the theory than those in Belfast, where, for local reasons, there was a contingent association of Darwinism with materialism. ...

Book Review/Simplicity//Heroism in simple acts/Lexington Herald Leader/Lexington/KY/USA/23-Jan-2006/Hartford Courant/Here is what she hated: wearing shoes, skirts or pantyhose (especially the pantyhose); using hairbrushes, toothbrushes or washcloths; going to school; going to Quaker meetings; going to Quaker church camp; and living in a house with rats in the basement and mice in the ceiling.

Book Review/Quaker History/Witchcraft/AUTHOR'S CORNER: Emerson ''Tad" Baker/Boston Globe/Boston/MA/USA/22-Jan-2006//… AUTHOR'S CORNER: Emerson ''Tad" Baker, author of several works on the history and archeology of early New England, will speak at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Salem Athenaeum on ''Quakers in Early Salem and New England."

Baker is chairman of the history department at Salem State College. He is working on a new book, ''The Stone-Throwing Devil of 1682," which examines a case of suspected witchcraft in a Portsmouth, N.H., Quaker tavern.

Frederick Pope, whose ancestor Samuel Pope was a member of the Quaker community in Salem, will join Baker at the lecture. ...

Book Review/Quaker History/Peace Activities/Hodgkin, Theodore/A glimpse into faith, courage of peacemakers/Charleston Post Courier/Charleston/SC/USA/30-Jan-2006//... At the end of the meetings, two friends, Henry Theodore Hodgkin, a British Quaker, and Friedrich Siegmund-Schultze, a German pastor, traveled together to ...

Book Review/Business/Labor//Reviews of Kaye Gibbons’ Books/Charlotte Observer/Charlotte/NC/USA/28-Jan-2006//…The story line is this: Betty Davies Randolph, our first-person narrator, takes us from her mother¿s harsh Irish Catholic childhood in Bell County, Ky., to her marriage to a miserly, hard-working Quaker; their move to a small farm on Milk Farm Road in Piedmont North Carolina; the birth of their child, our narrator Betty; Betty¿s life as her mother¿s dim shadow; and, finally, Betty¿s marriage and the birth of her own daughter, Marjorie. ...

Book Review///Tuesday, Jan. 17/Jackson Hole Star-Tribune/Jackson Hole/WY/USA/18-Jan-2006//... 18, 10-11 am, community services room. "THE Book Review": "Endgame, Newgame: A Quaker Elder's Way to Peace" by author Dr. Robert Murphy of Sheridan. * Jan. ...