Ronald Leslie Numbers was the son of a fundamentalist Seventh-day Adventist preacher, and was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist religion and schools well into college.[1] Regarding religious beliefs, he described himself as agnostic, and has written, "I no longer believe in creationism of any kind".[2] He became a leading scholar in the history of science and religion and an authority on the history of creationism and creation science.[citation needed]
Ronald Numbers died on July 24, 2023, at the age of 81.[5]
Writings
Prophetess of Health
In 1976, while still a lecturer at Loma Linda University, he published the book Prophetess of Health. The book is about the relationship between Seventh-day Adventist Church co-founder and prophetess Ellen G. White and popular ideas about health that were fashionable in certain circles in America just prior to the time during which she wrote her books.[6]
The Creationists
In 1992, he published The Creationists: The Evolution of Scientific Creationism, a history of the origins of anti-evolutionism. It was revised and expanded in 2006, with the subtitle changed to From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. The book has been described as "probably the most definitive history of anti-evolutionism".[7] It has received generally favorable reviews from both the academic and the religious community.[8] Former archbishop of YorkJohn Habgood described it, in an article in The Times, as a "massively well-documented history" that "must surely be the definitive study of the rise and growth of" creationism.[9]
Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion
In 2009, he was editor for Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion, where the book focuses on popular misconceptions that are connected between science and religion.[10][11][12]
Among other things the work seeks to debunk various claims, such as that the medieval Christian Church suppressed science, that medieval Islamic culture was inhospitable to science, that the Church issued a universal ban on human dissection in the Middle Ages, that Galileo Galilei was imprisoned and tortured for advocating Copernicanism, or that the idea of creationism is a uniquely American phenomenon.[citation needed]
Bibliography
The Warfare Between Science and Religion: The Idea That Wouldn't Die, (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018) (ed. with Jeff Hardin, Ronald A. Binzley). ISBN978-1421426181
"Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science", (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011) (ed.with Peter Harrison and Michael H. Shank). ISBN9780226317816
Galileo Goes to Jail, and Other Myths About Science and Religion (ed.) (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2009). ISBN0-674-03327-2
Prophetess of Health: A Study of Ellen G. White, 3rd Ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2008).
Science and Christianity in Pulpit and Pew, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
God and Nature: Historical Essays on the Encounter Between Christianity and Science, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986) ed. with David C. Lindberg. ISBN978-0-520-05538-4
^Dixon, Thomas (2010). "Galileo goes to jail and other myths about science and religion. Edited by Ronald L. Numbers. Pp. xiii+302. Cambridge, Ma.–London: Harvard University Press, 2009. £20.95. 978 0 674 03327 6". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 61 (4): 789–790. doi:10.1017/S0022046910001703. S2CID162849038.
^Numbers, Ronald L. "Book Reviews - Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths About Science and Religion". doi:10.1086/659668. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)