Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican Confronts Evolution, 1877–1902

by Thomas F. Glick; Rafael Martinez; Mariano Artigas

Publisher:

Johns Hopkins University Press

, 2022

Overview

This “well-researched and insightful study" reveals the secret deliberations that decided the Vatican’s stance on evolution ( Catholic Historical Review).
Drawing on primary sources made available to scholars only after the archives of the Holy Office were unsealed in 1998,  Negotiating Darwin chronicles how the Vatican reacted when six Catholics—five clerics and one layman—tried to integrate evolution and Christianity in the decades following the publication of Darwin’s  Origin of Species.
As Mariano Artigas, Thomas F. Glick, and Rafael A. Martínez reconstruct these cases, we see who acted and why, how the events unfolded, and how decisions were put into practice. With the long shadow of Galileo’s condemnation hanging over the Church as the Scientific Revolution ushered in new paradigms, the Church found it prudent to avoid publicly and directly condemning Darwinism and thus treated these cases carefully. The authors reveal the ideological and operational stance of the Vatican, providing insight into current debates on evolution and religious belief.

Product Details

• Title: Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican Confronts Evolution, 1877–1902
• Authors: Thomas F. Glick, Rafael Martinez, Mariano Artigas
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2022
• Logos Release Date: 2025
• Pages: 469
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Ebook
• ISBNs: 9780801889431, 9780801883897, 080188389X, 080188943X
• Resource ID: LLS:9780801889431
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2025-10-23T06:29:12Z

About the Authors

Mariano Artigas is a professor of philosophy at Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain. Thomas F. Glick is a professor of history at Boston University. Rafael A. Martínez is a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.